The Pastor’s Pen

An often-misunderstood subject is that of Christian maturity. Just as we would think something very wrong if a baby fails to grow and mature physically, so it is equally wrong if a believer in Jesus Christ fails to grow and mature spiritually. A babies growth demands routine feeding, washing, clothing, possibly medication, human interaction, and exercise. These essentials enable growth and maturing, and they must be facilitated by parents or caregivers. These are the non-negotiable necessities of life.

Likewise, believers in Jesus Christ, from rebirth onwards, require routine feeding, washing, clothing, spiritual exhortation, fellowship, and exercise through service. There are no exceptions, and no valid excuses for stepping aside from or resisting these God given essentials. Similarly, there is no justification for preventing, withholding, or limiting these life-critical elements from other believers.

Peter’s exhortation to grow in our salvation has no expiry date (1Pe 2:2), because growth is the correct response for all who have tasted that the Lord is good (1Pe 2:3). In fact, Peter says our desire for spiritual growth should reflect the craving of a new baby for milk, and this milk is the living and abiding word of God (1Pe 1:23).

Proclaiming Christ was central to the apostle Paul’s teaching, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me (Colossians 1:28-29). Paul, like Peter, understood the necessity for Christ centered biblical teaching that would stimulate spiritual growth. Regardless of his struggles and the many setbacks he experienced from others, Paul persevered in this task with unparalleled tenacity.

For Paul, spiritual growth towards maturity (Christlikeness) was not optional, nor could it be exchanged for any worldly focus which would distract from it. However, the arch enemy of God, accompanied by our fleshly humanness, seek to interfere with God’s plan for spiritual growth towards maturity in Christ. Jesus included this in His parable of the seed in Luke 8:14. As for what (seed) fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

More than ever, those who hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, who have the Word of God faithfully invested into them, are confronted by the world’s loud and persistent voices demanding to take the place of authority in their minds. Sadly, all too often, the world’s compelling messages convince the listener that the cares and riches and pleasures of life are to take priority over Christ.

God’s ingenious and protective design for His people is that they will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming (Ephesians 4:14). This is discovered within the local Church, where Christ provides teaching leaders to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-13).

May the year 2022 be a year when distractions are pushed aside, and Christ and His Word alone take the place of authority. May we pursue Christlike growth for His glory and the sharing of His gospel.

In the flurry of what’s proven to be a topsy turvy year, it is all too easy to get caught up in whatever the world’s media is pumping and leave Christ out of His own celebration. While gift giving and decorated celebrations are good fun, at best they are superficial and short lived. More than ever, it’s easy to be distracted and give only momentary recognition of Jesus’ significance at Christmas time.

Looking at Matthew chapter 1, we learn from Joseph on the matter of Christmas focus and priority. It was only months before the first Christmas, and Joseph had only just discovered that his fiancé (Mary) was pregnant, but not to him. Having reasoned through the distasteful situation he found himself in, Joseph decided to break away from Mary through a discrete divorce from their betrothal (engagement) period. Joseph, no doubt feeling betrayed and emotionally bruised, thought he could walk away and make a fresh start elsewhere. But that was not God’s plan for either Joseph or Mary.

Unexpectedly, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).

What startling news! Nothing in his life had prepared Joseph for such a revelation. God the Holy Spirit was responsible for Mary’s pregnancy, which meant the child would be God’s child, and not Josephs’. What’s more, the child was to be a boy with a divinely predetermined name, Jesus. I imagine Joseph felt  quite overwhelmed when he awoke. However, the most gripping piece of information was not the immaculate conception, and it was not the fact of a soon to arrive pre-named son. No, it was that this baby boy would somehow save his people from their sins. How could Joseph comprehend such an out-of-this-world idea.

Jesus would become the Saviour of sinners, and those sinners would not want to be saved from their sin initially. The very people who were dead in their sin, detached from God, disinterested in God, and happily living in ignorant darkness of coming judgement, would somehow get rescued by Jesus. What was Joseph to think of this?

Well, as we know, God’s Word tells us that Jesus did precisely what the angel said He would. For all who received Jesus by faith, who believed in his name, he (Jesus) gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). To these believers in Jesus, explains Paul, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). 1 Peter 2:24 adds that Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. Sin would no longer govern the lives of those who believed in Jesus.

God became a man; Jesus is His name. He stands alone as the only human child ever born of a virgin, truly the Son of God and the Son of man. This child came for the purpose of doing His Heavenly Father’s will on the Cross, delivering a death blow to the power of sin over mankind for all who would ever believe. This is the Jesus we celebrate at Christmas.

I’m signing off ‘The Pastor’s Pen’ for 2021, and I look forward to joining you again in 2022. May we all speak well of Christ and His gospel as we wait for our Lord’s return.

Buried deep in the centre of Christian faith is relentless and thankful worship of Yahweh. Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! (1 Chronicles 16:34). Authentic worship does not speak out because it has received all the things it wants, no, worship cannot contain itself because of who God is. Believers worship throughout the highs and lows of life because the nature of Yahweh is unchangeable, and He alone proves to be their one constant in the midst inescapable change. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; ²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴ The LORD is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him (Lamentations 3:22-24).


Jehovah’s persistent and loving mercy never stops doing His work regardless of whether we perceive it or not. Throughout any complaining or ingratitude that we may show towards the Lord, He faithfully continues to administer sufficient and refreshed mercy for the needs of each day; continually reminding us that “I the LORD do not change; therefore you… are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). The dreadful consequences of our sin are withheld daily because of His immutability. Despite our struggle to acknowledge the active presence of God in life’s difficulties, His loving kindness relentlessly perseveres with us and continues to meet our needs. Not one of salvation’s blessings are lost, our standing in Christ’s righteousness remains unaltered, and the certainty of eternal life is untouched.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4). Every one of our difficulties presents fresh opportunities for us to speak well of Christ as He proves Peter’s words to be true. Belief in the gospel of God entered us into a divinely appointed relationship that moves our focus onto Christ more than on the world.

As the ugly realities of this sin cursed world become more oppressive, we respond by sharpening our focus on the clarity and sufficiency of Christ as seen in God’s Word. This world’s darkness serves to accentuate the light of Christ brilliantly. Man’s depravity serves to amplify the beauty of gospel truth. May we never forget the core truths which attracted us to Christ; faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

We have a rich legacy of faithful believers who have carried the truth of God down through the ages. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. ³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised (Hebrews 11:37-39 NIV). May God enable us to keep a heavenly perspective of our lives in Christ. May we never lose sight of believers in other places who are suffering far greater than we. May we thank God and draw strength from their example as we carry them to God in prayer and look for ways to serve them. And may we see the steadfast love of the Lord in all circumstances pointing to and calling us to our heavenly home.

The white space between Daniel chapters 4 and 5 house a shift in the governing politics of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar is gone, along with all the life changing lessons he had learned from God. Babylon is now under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar’s son Belshazzar, exchanging humble faith towards God for drunken rebellion and idol worship.

As is often the case, the younger generation quickly discard the lessons of their parents. In his alcohol  bolstered arrogance, Belshazzar commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them (Daniel 5:2). While drinking wine from cups made for worship to Yahweh, they arrogantly praised their false gods.

And then the unthinkable happened. Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace… And the king saw the hand as it wrote. ⁶ Then the king’s colour changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together (Dan 5:5-6). Self-belief failed him, and it only took a little divine handwriting.

As none of the king’s scholars could translate or interpret the writing on the wall, King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his colour changed, and his lords were perplexed (Dan 5:9). In the providence of God, the queen possessed a little more sense, who suggested that Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation (Dan 5:12). It is the grace of a loving God that provides voices of wisdom to instruct sinners in the most perplexing times of life.

The fearfully desperate king promises Daniel great reward if he would read the writing and make known to me its interpretation (Dan 5:16). To which Daniel replied, let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation (Dan 5:17). Daniel proceeded with humble confidence in God, reminding the king of the lessons learned by his father Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will (Dan 5:21).

Belshazzar chose to ignore these familiar lessons; he chose to ride high on pride and a sense of self-authority. He wilfully rejected humility, he rebelled against the Lord of Heaven, and he worshipped idols (Dan 5:22-23). So, God wrote on his wall for all to see, and Daniel explained it to Belshazzar. “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.” God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end… you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting… your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians (Dan 5:25-28). Belshazzar rewarded Daniel, and that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. ³¹ And Darius the Mede received the kingdom (Dan 5:30-31).

Belshazzar had exhausted the many gracious opportunities provided by God to humble himself before the God of Heaven as his father had. Now, on the other side of death, Belshazzar was confronted with judgement instead of grace. May we choose humility towards God, expressing humility towards others as we apply the lessons of those who have gone before us.

Few Bible readers would not know the name Daniel, who stands out as an encouraging and thought provoking character for all the right reasons. Most commonly, Daniel is remembered for his courageous stand against the oppressive rule of Babylon and the Medo-Persians. With his loyal friends, Daniel was preserved by God through incredible trials. For those more studious Bible readers, Daniel received amazing visions of Israel’s, and the world’s, prewritten future, and the future establishment of Christ’s literal earthly kingdom. The prophecies of Daniel rise in the Old Testament to be what John’s Revelation is in the New Testament.

The name Daniel means “God is my Judge,” and he lived through two overthrows of Israel; first by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (Dan 1:1-2), and later by Darius the Mede (Dan 5:30-31). As a youth, Daniel was among many Israelites taken captive to Babylon. Conscripted into the king’s 3 year palace program for learning the language and literature of the Chaldeans, Daniel excelled along with his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah (Dan 1:6). But to Daniel, God also gave understanding in all visions and dreams (Dan 1:17). As part of their integration into Babylonian culture they were given new names by their chief; Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego (Dan 1:7).

Although integrated, renamed, and educated into Babylonian royal society, Daniel never lost his grip on faith in the one true God – Yahweh. Consequently, when called to betray His faithfulness to Yahweh, Daniel stood his ground irrespective of the cost. We see that God blessed him with better health and appearance when choosing to eat vegetables and drink water (Dan 1:8-16) instead of the king’s diet. When evaluated by king Nebuchadnezzar at the conclusion of their 3 year initiation training, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. ²⁰ And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom (Dan 1:19-20).

Daniel went on to reveal and interpret king Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams (Dan 2, 4), then interpret God’s handwriting on wall (Dan 5:1-12). He witnessed God saving the lives of his 3 friends when thrown into the fiery furnace (Dan 3:19-27). God further preserved Daniel’s life when fed to the lions. Turns out, the king’s lions were pussy cats in the hands of Jehovah. Daniel witnessed the 7 year humiliation of king Nebuchadnezzar living in the wild and eating grass as an animal. Daniel also witnessed the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar to rulership, and the king’s new faith in God. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble (Dan 4:37).

Throughout his life Daniel was both wise and courageous. He was humble yet determined to remain boldly faithful to the Lord His God. Therefore, it should not surprise us that God revealed visions of future realities that still challenge many today. He saw Christ years in advance, who was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Dan 7:14). Just as many of Daniel’s prophecies have been fulfilled, so every unfulfilled prophecy shall find literal fulfilment through the righteous sovereignty of God (Dan 9-12).