Faith-Patience-Perfection

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Jam. 1:2-4

The first thing I want to say is how attractive the two words “patience” and “perfect” appear to me. They fascinate me. From afar. They draw me to them with a great sense of wonderment.

Is it even possible to imagine that one could ever arrive at being “perfect and entire, wanting nothing” in the Spirit? The thought seems presumptuous. And yet the Apostle James coolly tells us here that it is possible; and he makes it appear so easy. In just a few steps, he makes it possible for us to arrive at Godly perfection.

But… You cannot just wake up one morning and say, “Abracadabra! I am perfect!” To arrive where the Apostle Paul arrived at – “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20) – is an incredibly long and painful step process. But it is joyous and relieving in the Spirit.

Joy

Every believer loves dancing and rejoicing like David in the Bible. It is all good and acceptable before God to sing with joy when things are going in our favor. But have we ever stopped to think that the Bible specifically commands us to rejoice when things are going against us. Like when we are being opposed. Or when we are financially broke. Or, even, when we are sick.

The charismatic gospel teaches us that anything that comes contrary to our physical, material or financial welfare is of the devil, and that we should rebuke it. But such teachings could not be further from the truth. The true gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that these contrary things try our faith. Our faith is so precious it has to be tried by fire. It will be tried and tried until it stands pure and unadulterated.

For this reason, therefore, we ought to rejoice with extreme joy, not just when things are going well in our lives; but even more so when they are not.

Have you ever suffered a little for the gospel’s sake and rejoiced for it? If you have, you are on the right track.

Patience

“2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

I have absolutely no doubt that patience is a virtue that most of us would give anything to have. From reading this scripture, it is clear that patience is a step away from Godly perfection. The man who can exhibit Godly restraint in the face of opposition is not far from being perfected in the Spirit (or they already are).

But did you ever stop to think about the cost of patience? The Bible gives it right there. The cost of patience, the Bible says, is joyfully accepting “divers temptations” in one’s life.

The call to salvation is no picnic. On the contrary, it is a call to deny ourselves and to take up our cross and follow Christ in His sufferings and death.

The ‘King’s Kids’ creed and the prosperity gospel that birthed it both belong to the garbage dump. Those are silly and childish beliefs and they will never work patience in anyone’s heart.

What does scripture mean by ” the trying of your faith worketh patience”?

Far from the popular belief that our faith is for claiming cars and private jets, scripture here makes it abundantly clear that our faith has been given to us in order that we may endure suffering. Our faith brings far more glorious blessings than the material blessings of this world. Yes, it is true that the trying of your faith could bring you a new car, money or any other material blessing. But that is a very small blessing.

The Bible tells us what the grand prize is when it comes to the trying of our faith. The Bible says it is… patience. Patience connotes suffering. But it is also a blessing of unspeakable magnitude. Why? Because it is eternal. As our faith is tried over and over in the fire of adversity, it grows stronger and stronger and it brings down bigger and bigger strongholds of the enemy. Like our pride. Or anger. Or fear.

Perfection

“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Are we so soon there? Have we so soon arrived at perfection? Yes, we have. But… not just yet. Notice that we have to “let patience have her perfect work” in order for us to be perfected.

Becoming perfect is a result of a life that is ruled by patience. If you are the kind of believer who cannot be touched, you need to know that you are not letting patience have her perfect work in you. In other words, you are not allowing the cross in your life. But the cross is exactly what you need. You need to work at killing your ego or whatever it is that is preventing you from becoming patient.

And how, pray, do you go about working on that? It is by ‘letting’. We have to allow things into our lives; things that chafe at us. In other words, be happy when trials and temptations are chipping away at your anger, pride, etc.

When we have become perfectly patient, that is when perfection begins working in us. When we have been perfected in patience, then we are “perfect and entire, wanting nothing”.

Whew! what a work! But, again, what a goal!

The Cross, The Final Solution – Part 2

7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Phil. 3:7-11

In the Swahili Bible, the word used for “righteousness” is the same word used for “justice”. Therefore, we could re-write verse 9 thus:

“And be found in him, not having mine own justice, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

The Apostle Paul wanted, not his own justice, but Christ’s.

Now, that word, “own”, is crucial here. We all know that nothing good comes from the word “own” as far as it refers to man. So what is our “own justice”?

Our own justice is our rights. It is our worldly, human rights. According to the Bible, we should give them up. All of them. Including the right to life.

With the Bible, there are only two things: law and grace. If we are to be men and women of grace, we are to surrender our rights. If seek after justice for ourselves, we have become men and women of law, and Christ is become of no value to us. Christ is of value to whoever will lose their lives.

Notice verse 7:

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”

What were the things that were gain to Paul? Paul is talking about his worldly rights. He counted his rights loss for Christ. That means he gave them up, that he might gain true life, which can only be found in Christ.

Paul surrendered all. Not some, or half, but all of his worldly rights. He surrendered even his life (Acts 21:13).

But Paul was simply obeying what our Lord Jesus taught. Jesus taught:

“38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” (Mat. 5:38-41)

And,

“10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Mat. 5:10-12

Moreover, in Romans 8:35-36, the Apostle Paul himself writes:

“35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

And, finally, in 1 Peter 4:1 we read:

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin”.

All these scriptures go against what the world teaches; but, again, the Bible is not the world. The Bible is the Word of God. The world teaches an eye for an eye; the Bible teaches to surrender your life. If we would have true life in us, we must account ourselves as given to suffer and to die with Christ – literally.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is no soap opera. On the contrary, it is all about being man enough to face the cross of Jesus Christ.

Emboldened by the realization that nothing else could save this woman, my pastor friend asked the lady, “Would you be willing to take your own life because you cannot bear to lose? Ultimately, the real problem here is not your husband, but you, if you cannot bear to lose. In Jesus Christ there is abundance of everything you are lacking: peace, joy, and love. You need to love your husband just as he is, with all his weaknesses. But these things can come into our own lives only when we allow Jesus into our hearts, and we do that by losing.”

And with many other words he preached Christ to the lady.

The lady bowed her head and let the words sink into her heart. When she raised her head, she told the pastor, “I will come to church on Sunday.”

And, true to her word, the lady went to church on Sunday, and worshiped. She was filled with joy and a new hope in her life. The pastor had given her the secret to beating one of the most difficult situations she could ever face in life. It was to surrender her rights.

The cross is the final solution to absolutely any problem on earth.

[Women are the most oppressed members of society. In Christ Jesus, though, this state of affairs translates into a blessing, for these same women have the best head start in the Spirit if only they can take up their cross and follow Christ]

Do Not Murmur

Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 1 Cor. 10:10

Recently, someone failed to deliver on a promise he had made to me. The worst part of it was that he began giving excuses and, listening to him speak, it appeared to me as if he did not care that it was going to affect me adversely.

As I sat there listening to him, I could feel my heart beginning to turn black. But, just as quickly, something spoke to my heart. It went, “What is important to you? Is it for the man to deliver, or is it for you to maintain a clean heart?”

The answer was as clear as day. Nothing could come close in importance to me keeping a pure heart.

At that very moment, I felt the biggest burden ever lifting from off my shoulders. I thought, I can forgive and let go; and I did so immediately. In fact, I spoke so peaceably to the man I could see the surprise written all over his face.

At about the same time, someone showed me a clip of some Arabs, purportedly Libyans, beating to death a young black man, supposedly an immigrant. They had stripped him down to his pants, bound his hands and feet with tape, and sealed up his mouth completely with the same. They had locked him in a room and were beating him with what appeared to be a baseball bat. They beat him until every bone in his body was broken. Someone grabbed him by the back of his head and stabbed him repeatedly in the back with a large knife, and soon the boy was swimming in his own blood as he struggled for his life. Finally, as they went on bashing, he gave up the struggle. I had to steel myself to watch the video to the horrible end.

Again, I felt the old anger and hatred rising up in me. But, again, just as quickly, something spoke to my heart: “Watch out!” It was telling me to watch out for the purity of my heart. In my heart I immediately cried out to God; and just as quickly I felt the anger and hatred seeping away.

I am not blowing my trumpet and, indeed, the victories in my life are not always so forthcoming. But I rejoiced greatly when I saw clearly my responsibity in these two cases, and the grace of God that was so easily accessible to me.

Most of us don’t realize how important it is to watch over our hearts. But the Bible in Proverbs 4:23 tells us that watching over the purity of our hearts is the most important exercise that we can engage in here on earth.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Notice, “with all diligence”. The Swahili Bible reads, “Guard your heart above all the things that you guard…”

Murmuring means grumbling, complaining; and it prevents us from keeping a pure heart. Ultimately, it destroys us. In fact, murmuring can be considered the silent killer of the spirit. It is so subtle and muted we often are not aware of its existence in our lives.

Much of the time, of course, we murmur because we feel we have been robbed of our rights. But that is what the gospel is all about. In fact, the gospel is more about us gladly giving up our rights rather than just waiting to have them grabbed from us. It is about rejoicing in persecution (Mat. 5:11-12). As children of God, we must pay the price to maintain a pure heart at every occasion and at all costs. And this state of affairs can only be achieved by the revelation of the cross of Jesus Christ in our lives.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 6:14:

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

And, in Galatians 2:20 he writes:

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Paul’s faith was revealed in his dying to self.

Let us not murmur. However great the injustice, let us not murmur. Let us learn to rejoice and give thanks to God in every situation. Notice the Bible says that, when they murmured, the Israelites were given over to the Destroyer. Murmuring will destroy us; it will destroy our souls. Instead, let us learn to take every injustice with patience, for injustice is God’s way of testing our faith. We are to be men and women whose lives are ever full of love, forgiveness, joy and peace.

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Rom. 14:17)

[And now, for your listening pleasure…]

 

Hurray for Joe!!

Joe is my son. Yesterday, the 29^th, we celebrated his 18^th birthday. Everyone was so happy for Joe to be finally initiated into adulthood.

But we celebrated something else also, which was of far greater value and significance to us as a family. Joe had just brought in a trophy! Joe had just finished his secondary education and, during the graduation ceremony at the school where he had been studying, he was presented with an award for the best-disciplined student for the year 2016.

I was not even aware that such an award existed. In the days when we went to school, such awards were unnecessary simply because indiscipline was the exception rather than the rule. But today, it is all a different story. This is a fact which everyone is aware of today – which made the award all the more remarkable.

In his closing remarks, the school headmaster nailed the proverbial final nail in the coffin by stating, “In this school, we do not regard academic performance over discipline.” By inference, this meant that Joe was the top performer in the class of 2016!

(The presentation)

I am so proud of Joe! And I thought… since I have so many friends in the blogging world, I might as well share my joy with them!

(Joe with a friend…)

(… and with a very proud dad)

By the way, we wanted Joe to select a song among the many that we listen to, to celebrate his accomplishment. Joe is a deeply God-fearing young man and we all thought he would choose a gospel song. Instead, he chose this song. We asked him the reason for choosing this song. He told us, “You will find it in the song.”

“A Joyful Heart Is Good Medicine”

1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

7 And he arose, and departed to his house. Mat. 9:1-7

Jesus’ first order of business is always the condition of our hearts. Always. The Lord is unchangeable about this. Even if you were to be brought to Jesus just about dead and desperately clawing for your last breathe in a gesture that commanded the highest levels of pity, still the Lord wouldn’t be half interested in your precious body as He would be with your heart.

I know of a man, a friend of mine, who was very rich in the early 1990s. He had the biggest hardware business in town, and when he visited the big cities he would travel by plane. And when he went to those cities he stayed in hotels with such names as the Hilton, Intercontinental and Serena. By any standards, the man was a very ‘big’ man.

One day, this man met the Lord Jesus Christ and he became born again. There are people who think that a rich person cannot get saved. But Jesus died for all men and, in any case, it is God who knows men’s hearts. You would never have known it then by the kind of lifestyle that he lived, but after he got saved, this man demonstrated the most humble heart you will ever find anywhere.

Soon after this man got born again, two revenue officers came to his office and they told him that he had a big backlog of taxes which he had to pay. They told him, however, that he could settle the accounts by giving them a fraction of the money.

The man told them he was now saved and that he was not willing to bribe them. At which they stiffened and intimated that they could slap him with even bigger taxes, legitimate or not, if he did not play along. The man did not flinch. He told them to list all the taxes that they wanted him to pay.

The next day, they came. When I say they came, I mean that they came to finish off our man. They felled on his table a demand note that amounted to all the money that he had. The man took the paper, looked at it, and he told them to wait for him at their office. He graciously walked them out his office door then he went straight to the bank where he withdrew all the money that was there. With this money he went and paid off his taxes to the last cent.

Afterwards, he went home and informed his wife what he had done. The next day, he opened his business as usual. The fact, though, was that he was preparing to close shop. His business could never again rise from the ashes. Not long afterwards, he actually closed down his business and went home.

When his wife, who was also saved, learned of what the man had done, she stumbled in her spirit. Her heart became resentful towards her husband. She became so bitter, in fact, that she suffered a physical disability. A nerve in her backbone ruptured, or something, and she began suffering excruciating pain in her back.

She went from one doctor to another, receiving treatment after treatment at great financial cost. But her back did not improve and the pain only worsened.

In the meantime, her husband bought a piece of land with the money he had left and he began cultivating vegetables. The woman’s condition only worsened with the descent of her husband’s fortunes and status.

One day, a prophet of God came to our church. During one of the services, he called the woman over and told her the exact condition of her heart. He told her even how it had affected her physical health and how God would only heal her if she let go of the bitterness in her heart.

Obviously, this was a big demand upon the dear sister, for she had completely closed her heart. But the man of God encouraged her by telling her that all she needed to do was to be willing to let go.

Finally, the woman acquiesced. She nodded her head to indicate a ‘Yes’. At which the man of God placed his hands upon her and prayed over her and God healed her instantaneously. It is now many years hence, and this woman has never again spoken of the pain in her back, just as the man of God said.

But the point here is that her physical disability had been caused by the bitterness in her heart. When she agreed to let the bitterness go, God intervened and healed her.

It is no secret, and even many doctors own up to the fact, that many serious ailments are a result of people’s difficult heart conditions. Bitterness and unforgiveness especially are big culprits in this regard. There is nothing any earthly doctor can do to heal such conditions. There is only one doctor who can heal a heart condition: Jesus Christ, who defeated death. A heart disease is a deathly disease, and Christ is the only one with the authority to heal this most deadly of diseases.

Epilogue: After a fit of starts and stops, the brother finally settled comfortably into his new farming career. Small-scale nonetheless, but the man was content with it. That was many years ago. I have been to his farm many times and his is the best-managed farm I have ever seen. Financial-wise, it is a dim shadow of his former glory in the hardware business. But the Lord blesses in many ways. After many years of hard work, this brother’s efforts came to the attention of the regional government. Today, he showcases the region’s agricultural prowess in nearly all their agricultural exhibitions.

The best news, however, is that his wife is happy and contented by his side and they are a precious couple to behold. They are a big blessing to the church and to the community as well.

Proverbs 17:22 says:

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

Grateful Beyond Measure

Without a doubt, the greatest scourge that ravaged the African continent during the 19^th century – although it is reputed to date back to as far back as the 6^th century – was the infamous trade in slaves. The slave trade was an evil that was as indescribable as it was unprecedented and it brought untold misery to the African peoples.

There are many stories, all true, of how the great Scottish missionary, David Livingstone fought the war against the slave trade both in small and in big ways. The story is told of how David Livingstone once met a slave caravan and, although he could do nothing to halt it – the slave traders were armed and dangerous – David stopped the caravan and managed to bargain for the release of one of the slaves upon whom he felt extreme pity.

The negotiations ended successfully after money had exchanged hands, and the slave was untied from the caravan. And there he stood in front of David, thinking he had merely exchanged hands from one slaver to another.

At which Livingstone told him, “Friend, you are free. You are free to go home.”

Upon hearing these words, the slave fell down at Livingstone’s feet and declared, “I will freely serve you all my life!”

He was overcome with the love and compassion that Livingstone had shown him.

Apart from writing this blog, one of the tasks that I do on my laptop is to translate gospel material from English to Swahili. The material that I translate comes mostly from brethren in the West.

When local people find me working on my laptop, they often ask me about the nature of my work, and I tell them. I tell them, “I am translating gospel material written by brethren from European countries.”

When they hear that, more often than not they say, “You must be receiving a lot of money from the white people for all this work!”

To which I reply, “No. I do not get paid to do these translations. Actually, I do not need any money to do this work. It gives me the greatest joy to do it for free. If they paid me to do this work, I would not have as much joy as I have doing it for free.”

Serving my Lord Jesus Christ is my joy. The opportunity to serve God the way I do is an indescribable reward from Christ to me. Many times I wonder at the incredible favor that I have to serve my Master in this way.

This joy is something that only my spirit comprehends, for my spirit knows well the redemption that Christ wrought for me.

But translating gospel teachings is not the only way that I am called to serve Christ. There are many other ways that the Bible calls us to serve Him. In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, chapters 11 and 12, the Apostle Paul lists three levels, or areas, of service to Christ, culminating with the famous thorn in the flesh. Paul’s bottom line in all his service to Christ is:

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Cor. 12:10)

Paul took pleasure, not only in serving God in peaceful terms, but even in conditions where the service involved suffering. This was a man who truly understood how much the Lord had paid to redeem him.

This is the place that the Lord calls us to arrive at.

[Below: In one area, at least, I serve my Lord with great joy!]

Immense Grace For Our Perfection

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Rom. 12:1-2

Perfection is on my mind tonight, but I will probably present the subject in a different manner than you would expect. Still, I welcome you to join me as we make the long journey towards perfection, for we must.

Perfection has been on my mind for sometime now, and I came to understand that God wants me to go on towards perfection. To be perfect, the Lord showed me, is to be like Christ, and especially in the grace that He had. In connection with this, recently the Lord reminded me about our Lord Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot. God showed me in a clearer way Jesus’ attitude to Judas whom He knew was stealing from the ministry coffers (Jn. 12:6). Even though the Lord knew about Judas’ sin, yet:

1. Jesus allowed Judas to continue keeping watch over the church funds!
2. At no one time do we read of the Lord rebuking or even mentioning to Judas that He knew what the man was doing.

This talks of grace, immense grace. The Lord Jesus Christ had so much grace! He had the grace to be patient with Judas even under such extreme circumstances.

I haven’t yet heard of a church where the accountant or cashier stole money from the church account and it didn’t bother anybody. What I know of most churches is that if such an occurrence were brought to light there would be a small tremor in that church. Human nature (of which most of us have tons of) is such that we react with extreme hostility to the likelihood of such a situation. If a brother or sister is caught stealing, he will be made to feel the heat.

But, on the other hand, God has tons and tons of grace. I love the unflappability that Jesus had with regard to Judas. We all know that there were men amongst the disciples of Jesus – the likes of James, John and Peter – who did not have the patience that Jesus had. Had they caught onto what Judas was doing, the fellow would have been chased right into the Sea of Galilee!

The grace of our Lord Jesus is revealed even further in His ability to live with someone (this same Judas) whom He knew would one day betray Him. If I knew that somebody was intent on doing me harm, all my defences would come up. But not our Lord Jesus! Jesus calmly lived with Judas for three years while He waited for the day when Judas would betray Him.

What grace!

And how about Paul and the man whom he found sleeping with his father’s wife? In most cases when someone commits sin in the church, and especially sin of a sexual nature, he is dealt with harshly (fair enough); but it is what happens afterwards that saddens God’s heart. Much of the time, such a brother or sister is turned into a pariah and no one wants to associate with them again – ever. He or she is left to slowly die alone.

That is incredibly tragic, but it is not the heart of God towards His people. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, we see the immense grace that he had. Apparently, all along he had been thinking about the same brother whom he had ordered the church to punish! In this second letter, all of Paul’s attention is once again on this brother; but now it is to plead with the Corinthian church to reinstate him into their midst. The fact that it necessitated Paul to do this indicates that no one in that church ever considered that brother worthy of salvation again. But Paul was a man who had much grace and the revelation of God’s heart, and he could allow for a repentant man to come back into the fold and even to make him feel welcome.

Lastly, let us consider the freedom that God, out of His richness, has given to us, His children. Most believers are not aware of the immense freedom that God has given the church.

I have two children, and one of the benefits that I have received as a result of living with them is that I have learned to appreciate the heart of God for His children. Sometimes my children will do something that hurts or pains me. Still, I always find that my desire is for them to do the right thing in freedom rather than through law. When my kids were young, I did not have that expectation. If they crossed me I would simply cane or spank them. Now they are much older, and I no longer even have the desire to punish them. On the contrary, I expect them to be able to understand the responsibility they have.

That realization really hit me when it first came upon me. I came to realize that that is exactly God’s heart for us. God desires us to obey and serve Him in freedom. Unlike we human parents, God will never put law on us. He is extremely rich in grace. The fullness of God’s grace is so we may arrive at the perfection, or full realization of God’s will in our lives.

In ending, I would like us to make the connection between the cross and grace. The Lord Jesus Christ had all that much grace because He carried His cross. The Bible says that He “… became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8).

The Apostle Paul also had immense grace because he followed in the footsteps of Jesus. He took up his cross daily and followed Christ. He says,

“30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Cor. 15:30-31).

Grace is not a feel-good sensation. Grace is a work of the cross in our hearts. Grace is a surrender and denial of self.

We need grace.

Grace for peace.

Grace for joy.

Grace for righteousness.

We can only arrive at the fullness, or perfection of these things through the cross.

[Below: My desire is to have my children obey me in freedom, not through law. This also is God’s desire for us.]

A Church In Exile (Part 2)

10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.

11 And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. Ezr. 3:10-11

Notice that Israel sang and praised God, and that the people shouted with a great shout only after the the foundation of the house of the Lord had been laid. In other words, the reason for their rejoicing was because the temple foundation had been laid.

Before that, the children of Israel had been in captivity, and the enemy had destroyed the temple down to the foundation. But now God had visited them again, and they had began to build the temple.

The Bible says that we are the temple of the living God and that the Spirit of God dwells in us (1 Cor. 3:16). There is no way you can build a temple before you have laid the foundation.

The foundation of the temple that God is building in us as believers in Christ is “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Before we even begin talking about the temple, we must first consider its foundation. If we do not catch the revelation of the cross in our hearts, we cannot build the church of Jesus Christ. The foundation of this new temple is humility and brokenness.

But, alas! today we see that the church submitting itself to other gospels. The church is in captivity to many other gospels. The church is looking for other things other than the inner work of the cross.

That is why the church today is a church in exile. The church may be shouting on the outside, but in the Spirit the church has nothing to shout about. The children of Israel were wiser than we; when they were in captivity they asked, “How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?” (Ps. 137:4)

They just couldn’t do it.

Today we ought to be mourning for how far the church has been taken from her borders. We can only truly rejoice when we have returned our lives onto God’s chipping block, the cross.

[Below: Moshi Town, with the beautiful Mt. Kilimanjaro towering in the background]

Joy In The Cross!

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. Mat. 5:21-26

God wants us to grow and mature to the point where we can look scripture in the eye. The words that Jesus spoke here are not to be trifled with. But, many years ago, I read these same words and concluded that God did not really mean what He said. I had so much bitterness in my heart! In the early years of our marriage, I cannot count the number of times when I did something in church while in my heart I was at war with my wife. Anything close to me was susceptible to my violent temper, and she just happened to be the closest thing to me.

Our fiercest brawls always occurred on Sunday mornings. I remember one Sunday morning the pastor had appointed me to lead the morning service. On that morning my wife and I had a row which would certainly have found a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, if only they recorded such things. After the epic row I rushed off to church, leaving wife behind.

I went to church and ambushed my wife there. I stood behind the pulpit and pretended to be leading the service, but in actual fact, I was waiting for her. From where I was I could see all the way to the gate of the church, so when she rounded the corner at the gate, I prepared myself. The minute she stepped into the church, I let go one single salvo that I knew would cripple her completely. I cannot remember now the exact words that I spoke (indirectly, of course), but I do remember it was a perfect hit. As everyone else was cheering at my words, she sat down like a rock.

That was mission accomplished for me.

But God wants us to grow. When we grow, we find we can carry a heart of mercy, we can forgive, and, probably most important of all, we find we can repent. Repentance is not simply saying, “I am sorry.” In those early days, I would say “I am sorry”, but I never really meant it. There was no work in my heart. At that time I was hearing the gospel of prosperity, and there was nothing going on in my heart.

Years later, I came to hear “the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ”. The change in my life began right there.

I believe that when we carry bitterness and unforgiveness, somewhere we will miss a blessing (v. 26). That is what scripture is telling us here. It could be in our personal lives, or in our relationships; but definitely in our spirits we will miss God’s blessing.

But when we are hearing the right gospel, we allow the work of the cross in our hearts, and we can grow up to the stature of Christ. This pleases the Lord exceedingly, for it is His will for us.

Today, the biggest accomplishment I can boast of in my life is where I have arrived at in my relationship with my wife. If I can go to church on Sunday morning and feel the peace of God emanating from me to my wife and vice versa, that gives me greater joy than anything else.

I believe that it is only by surrendering to the work of the cross that we can rise to the level of looking scripture in the eye, which is God’s will for us.

Need we wonder anymore why, when the Apostle Paul went to the Corinthians, he “determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2)?

[Below: True joy is found where there is true repentance and forgiveness]

A Tremendous Heart, A Tremendous Price

1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.

3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.

4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.

6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.

8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Lk. 19:1-10

This Zacchaeus guy had to be joking… pay his (probably hundreds of) debtors four times the amount he owed them, and that after he had given half of his goods to the poor?! But, again, we know that the Lord Jesus Christ does not hang about with jokers (Psalms 1), so we are bound to pay careful attention to the words that Zacchaeus spoke here.

Secondly, scripture here says that Zacchaeus received Jesus “joyfully”. I haven’t read that he sang the “Joyfully! joyfully!” song. In fact it does not say that he sang any song at all. But there was a profound meaning to Zacchaeus’ joy; it was the joy of the man “… who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” (Mat. 13:46).

Zacchaeus had found the one thing that mattered to him, and he had no more need of the riches of this world.

Let us consider the deliberate progression of Zacchaeus’ words here. Notice he did not say, “Lord, I will settle accounts with all my debtors first, after which I will  give half my remaining goods to the poor.” No. Instead, he put himself in the most hazardous position possible, by dividing his gross earnings with the poor before he would settle accounts with those whom he had robbed along the way.

Zacchaeus put himself in a position where he would lose everything – and probably more. There was no easy way here. It was a difficult road he had chosen, one less well-travelled. Jesus called it the narrow way (Mat. 7:13). What a great price Zacchaeus would have to pay! But also, what a tremendous heart he had!

The road that Zacchaeus took has nothing to do with material goods. On the contrary, it has everything to do with our hearts. It could well be that you all you are required to do is humble yourself and ask for forgiveness from someone you have wronged; but your hard heart prevents you from doing so. You find yourself unable to pay the price.

What is so difficult for most of us to do, Zacchaeus did with incredible ease. It was the result of a humble, thirsty heart. A heart thirsty for righteousness.

Finally, let us consider something else in this scripture that is of equal significance, and which of necessity is tied in with Zacchaeus’ declaration. It is the words that Jesus spoke.

Notice that Jesus said, “This day is salvation come to this house” only after Zacchaeus had made his remarkable declaration. Many people think  that salvation is attained at the initial confession when they accept Jesus into their hearts. That might be so; but in this scripture, Jesus shows us that true salvation is experiential. Just as the Apostle Paul was taken up into the third heaven, there are varying degrees of salvation.

So it was that when Zacchaeus spoke the words that he did, only then did the Lord say, “This day is salvation come to this house”.

Jesus was not saying, the way we do, “This man just got saved”, after we have prayed for someone to receive Christ. On the contrary, Jesus was talking about a higher level of salvation (if we may put it that way), a perfection  in the Spirit.

Many believers think they can accept Jesus into their lives and continue living any old lives that they want. But true salvation, the Lord shows us, involves a transformation. That is why the Apostle Paul insists in Romans 12:1-2 that we must be transformed in order to be fully pleasing to God. The initial acceptance of Christ into our lives is commendable indeed, for in it we accept the redeeming work of Christ. But there is the perfecting part, for which God gives us the opportunity to lay down our lives, take up our cross and follow Christ.

And so it was that Zacchaeus, upon believing on the Lord, made this incredible declaration. On the road towards perfection, Zacchaeus paid a price, a tremendous price.

The Bible says,

“And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”

And the Lord, who knows men’s hearts and who knew Zacchaeus meant what he said, replied,

““This day is salvation come to this house”

In concluding, we could well ask each one of us who reads this post, “Has salvation come to your house?”

[Below: A woman arranges fruits to sell at Marangu-Mtoni, on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro]