Lincoln

God who suffers well – Part 1

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

Watching others suffer is a distasteful part of life, and sadly, it’s possible to become insensitive to it. However, when suffering is personal, it usually brings our innermost character to the surface; for better, or for worse. And although we may not think of it often, if at all, the same is true of God.

Officially, the teaching about God suffering is called the doctrine of Impassibility. This doctrine does NOT teach that God is changeable, has mood swings, or cannot control His responses, because God is never the victim of circumstance. The doctrine of passibility does teach however, that God is emotionally invested in His creation; that He is involved because He cares, and because He cares, He feels pain when His creation suffers.

For humankind, it began in Genesis 1:27-28, God created man in his own image… male and female he created them. And God blessed them saying… “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Humanity was the most spectacular and privileged of all God created, unparalleled in design and capacity for glorifying their creator.

Genesis 1:31 summarizes, God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. As Yahweh microscopically examined everything, particularly volitional humanity, His conclusion was that it all surpassed being good. It was very good! Tragically, it wasn’t long before the first two people bought into the lies of God’s enemy, and they sinned, introducing death and suffering into the world. Before long, human rebellion was so rampant, that the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart (Genesis 6:6). The original word for “grieved” carries the idea of pain that carves its way into the heart. Although sin causes God the deepest pain, He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:10).

Stepping forward in time, we see unfaithful Israel becoming the source of great suffering for God. They rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel (Psalm 78:40-41). In the New Testament, it was Peter who publicly explained Israel’s ultimate wound to God’s heart. Men of Israel…  Jesus of Nazareth… attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst… this Jesus, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men (Acts 2:22-23). Yet, despite the pain suffered by the Father at the murderous rejection of His Son, God has not rejected his people Israel (Romans 11:2). Such mountainous grace displays God’s holiness through His suffering.

The Lord’s mercy towers above the immense suffering caused by mankind, especially Israel. His integrity shines brightest when upholding His many covenantal promises to Israel, and especially through the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 10:10-18). His grace prevails over His suffering, seen by only a partial hardening which has temporarily been brought upon Israel. As stated by Paul, it remains God’s firm intension for all Israel to eventually be saved (Romans 11:25-26). Such is God’s integrity, who suffers well for His glory and the ultimate blessing of His covenant people.

When this world suffers, grace is often among the first qualities to get dropped. But not so with Yahweh, His suffering only highlights His incalculable grace. God’s innermost character is seen best through His sufferings, may the same be true of us.

To be continued…

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God of Patience

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

Looking over humanity’s brief history, we see an extraordinary degree of God’s patience with mankind. After all, humanity alone was created in the image of God (Gen 1:27), and it was humanity who reasoned through the serpent’s arguments against God and decided disobedience was the pathway to greater Godlikeness. So it was, that sin and death was introduced by humanity (Gen 2:16-17; 3:1-19).

God would have been justified in executing the promised death penalty upon Adam and Eve right there in the garden of Eden. Yet, that’s not what we see. Instead, we see God’s mercy patiently working with independent humanity. Yes, immediate judgement was enacted upon Adam and Eve. And yes, death was initiated immediately, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5:12). But the Lord restrained the extremity of His justice, displaying mercy that would work through His patience, leading to Christ’s substitutional death on the cross.

Nowhere in Scripture is this explained more clearly than in Romans 9:22-23. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. Even though we feel the tensions created by sin, human will, judgment, and God’s purposes, the Holy Spirit states that these all work for God’s glory. Therefore, mankind are both vessels of wrath and of mercy. The Lord’s indomitable will employs the worst of man’s rebellion to exercise patience that endures long after a defiant person passes away. God continues broadcasting His grace to the very sinners who live under His wrath, waiting for their response of repentance.

As believers who can look back at our salvation, the Lord patiently spoke into our lives through others, through God’s Word, through life’s events, and through Holy Spirit conviction. God’s patient grace was investing in His glory through our lives, and we didn’t realise it. We thought the gospel was all about us. Therefore, Paul told Timothy, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life (1 Timothy 1:16). The patience of Jesus Christ is gospel mercy in action towards the unsaved for the purpose of bringing them to eternal life. Just as Christ patiently brings sinners to repentant faith, so we must be patient in prayer, then engage with the lost. Every interaction with the unsaved which exposes them to the loving gospel is God glorifying.

Although grace is patient, we need to be careful not to presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance (Romans 2:4). Divine patience has purpose and destination in mind. Even unwilling sinners are drawn by grace under the Lord Jesus Christ for God’s glory through repentance. Although repentance seems to have fallen on hard times lately, God intends repentance of sin to remain a key expression of faith in Christ, for God’s glory.

As we mature in Christ, the unsaved should be able to observe Christ continuously changing us; again, this takes time and gracious patience by the Lord. As always, Christ is our template, patiently leading us through the internal ministry of the Holy Spirit to greater Christlikeness. May we be increasingly grateful for the Lord’s gracious patience with us, and quick to tells others of it.

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Willing

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

A willing Christian spirit is one that is compliant and anticipates surrender with a measure of enthusiasm before any request or expectation is made of God. Just as a willing spirit enriches human relationships, so it is the quality of willingness that infuses vitality into our spiritual relationship with the Lord. Willingness must be mutually active to produce the glory and the blessing that both God and believer desire.

In John 10:18, we read of Jesus saying that no one would take His life from Him, “but I lay it down of my own accord.” Jesus’ willingness to obey His Father and sacrificially serve sinful humanity on the cross is our template for right attitude. Such an expensive, self-sacrificing attitude by Christ, displays the richness of Jesus’ holy, loving, and merciful character.

Therefore, it should not surprise us to see a reflection of this willingness in the lives of those who follow the Lord. When David turned back to the Lord from his disastrous backsliding, he recorded the words of his repentance in Psalm 51. Central to his repentance was understanding his dependence upon the Lord to change every level of his heart attitude. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you (Psalm 51:12-13).

When a child of God discovers they have been swept down a path of sin, it is only the restoring work of the Lord which brings recovery. Only the Lord can rejuvenate the joy of salvation within a person who has been hijacked by sin. Joy is the expected fruit within the sinner when our Saviour does His work of regeneration. Consequentially, joy authored by the Lord, overshadows the pains and struggles of repentance with peace.

However, David also recognised he needed more than forgiveness to prevent him reverting to sin. He needed God to make a foundational and preventative change within His spirit/heart. David asked God to strengthen his walk of obedience with a willing spirit. A heart that desires to comply by default. A heart that considers the choices of life and chooses obedience without negotiation, and without complaint. This is the level of willingness we see in Christ, and we seek for the Holy Spirit to generate within us. An unnatural and unworldly compliance authored by Yahweh that gives evidence of His supernatural work within us.

As David continues, he understands the outworking of such a shift in attitude. Willingness should desire to teach transgressors your ways. A God authored transformation will cause the repentant sinner to look for others who need to be save, as they have been. Again, only God the Spirit can germinate a willing desire to share Christ with others. Similarly, David realised that telling others is not sufficient in and of itself. David’s newly shaped willing spirit expected sinners will return to you. It is Christlike character, generated by the Holy Spirit, that desires to be actively used by the Lord in the process of sinners turning away from a life of sin to a life under the Lordship of Christ. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Whether we are outgoing by nature or not, quiet or loud, find conversation easy or not, should not interfere with our desire of willingness to serve God. Personality and abilities are not in David’s or Jesus’ thinking here. I encourage you to seek a willing spirit/heart for the Lord Jesus Christ.

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There is but one God

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

There is but one God and heavenly Father, creator of everything, and we know Him by His name, YAHWEH (Exo 20:2). YAHWEH has but one Son, Jesus Christ, sent to humanity by His Father (Jn 5:37). Father and Son share their essence equally with one Holy Spirit who indwells and seals all who believe in the Son (2Co 1:21-22).

We have access to the Father through the Son by the enablement of the Holy Spirit. In all things, the Father, and the Holy Spirit desire for believers to exalt the Son. For it was God the Father who delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Jesus Christ), in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14). As redeemed and cleansed sinners who now have their identity in Christ, we discover a growing appetite to know and walk with the Son of God because He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).

Therefore, it is Christ we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28). Assisting the unsaved in coming to Christ for salvation is just the beginning of our ministry with one another. In Christ, we have an ongoing mutual service together, proactively helping one another to grow towards mature Christlikeness. Abandoning this God-appointed mission should be unthinkable. Therefore, like Paul, we toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within us (Colossians 1:29). This is the ministry of disciple making (Mat 28:19-20), entrusted to us by Jesus for the glory of God and the salvation of lost sinners.

Growing faithful followers of Christ is challenging work. The success of our mission is dependent upon the spiritual working of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through believers committed to one another as they are committed to Christ. From our tool kit of spiritual resources, we take the sanctifying truth of God’s Word (Jn 17:17) and implant it within one another. We then surround that truth with earthly Christian fellowship, support, and faithfulness, as we walk the life-long path of interdependence. In this way, we together grow in beholding the glory of the Lord. Together, with all our inconsistencies and struggles, we recognise that we are being transformed into the same image of Christ, from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Not surprizing, our arch enemy’s tool kit is packed with resources to counter God’s work. Worldliness, fleshly appetites, futile thinking, unfaithfulness to the Lord and His people, disunity, with possibly the most seductive being isolation from the body of Christ, the church. Satan does not hesitate to invisibly unleash as many flaming darts (Eph 6:16) as required to damage and hinder God’s mission through God’s people.

Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (Ephesians 6:13-18). Walking in obedience to God’s Word, under the controlling Holy Spirit, we are able to destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Today, may we join with the apostle Paul in saying, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

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The God who forgives

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

Forgiveness is a wonderful blessing to enjoy. But, when forgiveness is not available, or withheld, life can become bitter and dark. Humans have always struggled with the issues surrounding forgiveness and the lack of it from others. Some claim that forgiving yourself is all that is required, but this can only lead to self-delusion. The human heart, whether it knows it or not, craves to experience forgiveness in the highest court that exists, in God’s court.

While the Bible records many examples of forgiveness, there is a particularly beautiful expression of it found in Luke 7:36-50. Jesus, having accepted an invitation from a Pharisee to an evening meal with his friends, finds Himself reclining on His side, next to the low dinner table. Without notice, or invitation, there appears a woman who was known for her sinful lifestyle. She came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him (Jesus) at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them (Lk 7:37-38).

Obviously, this lady knew who Jesus was. She was conflicted in her heart by her sinful living and faith that caused her to desire forgiveness. As you can imagine, the legalistic pharisee host, Simon, objected to Jesus allowing this to happen. So, momentarily Jesus turns His attention to correct the wrong attitude of Simon towards Jesus, and towards fellow sinners. So, Jesus tells a short story; two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more? (Lk 7:41-42). To which the Pharisee rightly replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven (Lk 7:43).

Jesus then makes application to both the Pharisee and the lady at His feet. Simon, you did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown… (Luke 7:44-47).

No matter how repeated you are in life’s sin and failures, Jesus’ offers forgiveness and restoration. If your heart, your conscience, and your faith feel drained of life from the relentless assaults of sin, Jesus’ offers a declaration of innocence which carries authority from the Courtroom of heaven. Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved you; go in peace (Luke 7:48-50).

As the hymn by Matt Papa and Matt Boswell declares, “Our sins they are many, His mercy is more.” If you are crushed by the weight of sin, Jesus offers forgiveness in response to your faith in Him. It’s forgiveness that delivers peace into your heart and the assurance of never being reversed or undone. No matter what others say, Jesus has the authority to forgive because He carried our sins in his body on the cross… (1 Peter 2:24). The grace of Jesus’ repeated forgiveness for our repeated sin cannot help but grow our love for Him even more.

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