December 7, 2020 -- John 16:13 -- The Spirit of Truth and no compromise

When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

John 16:13 English Standard Version

Clearly the truth we need is given to us by the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. God our Glorious Father has spoken and the Spirit of God has made His will known all through the generations. God the Father spoke most clearly in Jesus Christ—the Prophet, the Perfect and final High Priest, and King. The Spirit of God was given to Jesus without measure and we know that the Spirit Who resides in Jesus is given to believers.

There are many times a man will speak with me and say, I want to date a woman. She is not a Christian, but I am seeking the Lord’s will on this. Hm. He has spoken clearly about this in the Bible—the Old and New Testament are filled with examples of God’s clear declaration. And mentally I count down for the “yes, but” and usually the immediate example to refute this is Solomon. The man will argue with me, he had lots of wives. To which I reply something to the effect true they were not “Christian” or God'-fearers”. They also turned his heart from serving God. What makes you think you are smarter than Solomon?

All that believers need for faithful living as followers of Jesus Christ is given in the Bible. The Spirit of Truth guided the followers of Jesus to write the New Testament. This has been preserved by the Spirit of God through the generations so that believers have the clearest manual for living as grace-receiving, obedient children of God.

Are you prepared to be guided into all truth? Where are you making small compromises? Where are you thinking “this is too much for God to ask of me”? How are you examining your life so that you choose to follow Jesus into all truth rather than in compromise. Notice the Spirit only speaks what has been given to Him by Jesus. Notice that Jesus reveals the Father’s will. Such committed love and unity in work and purpose should be so instructive for believers. Clearly the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit devote themselves to One another in love and unity in accomplishing their purpose. Clearly the point is for believers to yield obedience and worship and love to God the Triune without any hint of compromise to the world around. The Spirit will guide the believer in all truth—what a glorious promise!

The lament today, from Job, shows how God answered Job’s cries and pleas. The help long-sought for by all humanity has fully been given in Jesus the One Who cleanses us and the Spirit Who speaks to our spirit. What a Savior!

Job 9:30-35

If I wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
33 There is no arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
34 Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not dread of him terrify me.
35 Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.

https://youtu.be/nwSV-b9vAUQ

December 6, 2020 -- John 16:7 -- The Helper, the Holy Spirit

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

John 16:7 English Standard Version

Jesus’ departure—His betrayal, trial, being whipped, mocked, beaten, and crucified, death, resurrection and appearances to His disciples and finally His ascension into heaven are all part of His departure—is to the advantage of His disciples. By this the Father has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of the Son He loves. Now Jesus tells of more blessing yet in store.

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, is given to believers. What a fitting title for the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps Christians to understand Scripture. The Holy Spirit shows believers the condition of their hearts revealing all that needs to be confessed, helping believers to seek to be cleansed in Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in the followers of Jesus so that they can be kept safe by Him through any and every storm—especially the persecutions Christians will suffer at the hands of authorities. The Holy Spirit is for believers the deposit, guaranteeing the salvation of believers. Jesus, when He walked the earth, received the Holy Spirit without measure, without limit. The Spirit of God filled Jesus’ humanity so that Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Father. This same Spirit, the Helper, enables believers to resist the sin that lingers in their hearts and so that they are able to fight sin and live in the grace won in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity Who is Mighty, sustains the weary Christian, who feels bruised and unable to carry on in the fight for faith.

No wonder Jesus claimed it is to the advantage of His disciples, to the advantage of His followers through out past generations and for our advantage that Jesus went and faced the cross and death and then rose up. What a glorious Savior. What great blessing is given by the Father, through Jesus, such that believers are filled with the Helper, the Holy Spirit!

The prayer-reading is directly from Isaiah 11. The “shoot from the stump of Jesse” is Jesus Christ. The work of the Spirit in Jesus’ life (and consequently in the life of believers) is described. Then the tumult of the world now being brought into full submission to Jesus the High King of Heaven is revealed, showing believers why they need the Helper more than ever.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isaiah 11:1-5 ESV

https://youtu.be/VrNHG5JOWjg

December 5, 2020 -- John 16:2-4a -- Prepared to live for Jesus

They will put you out of the synagogue. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

John 16:2-4a

From January 2020 to September 2020 363 Nigerians have been killed by the Boko Haram. This is an Islamist military group operating with almost no opposition in Northern Nigeria. In the last week an additional 110 people were slaughtered. Farmers were tied up and their throats slit. While Canadian news seems to focus exclusively on Covid-19, the world around us burns with the conflict ignited by the arrival of Jesus Christ. The constant haranguing about Covid-19 and the fears the state media whips up in order to deflect Canadians’ attention from the gross scandals and the constant, continuing ethic violation of the government prove Jesus’ words, “they do these things because they have not known the Father” nor do they know Jesus.

Christians know the violence and the evil, the killings and the scandals are nothing new. Every generation had to deal with the machinations of wicked men and women, corrupt governments and violence. Christians, do not live in constant fear! The LORD your God knows every atom, directs every storm, works in and through every tragedy in order that His glory and majesty would be made known across the earth and proclaimed into the cosmos.

Pray with urgency for those afflicted. Praise with confidence King Jesus, Who once came as a babe in a manger, He is now ruling with power. Live in the confidence of the salvation given you in Christ Jesus. Do not measure your success by the standards of the world. Success for the follower of Jesus Christ is to live by the power of the Spirit, defying the dictates of godlessness and knowing our lives are precious to the Father in heaven because of Jesus Christ. Be prepared for suffering and persecution. The Father’s watchful gaze is on you. Obey the government as far as it agrees with the Word of God. Show yourself a faithful citizen of Jesus’ kingdom even as you live faithfully wherever it is God has called you to live.

Prayer today is Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 2 ESV

https://youtu.be/pj6vzfkk8II

December 4, 2020 -- John 16:1 -- Great warning and greater assurance

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

John 16:1 English Standard Version

There is tremendous assurance and great warning in these 14 words! The warning is that there will be great persecution and struggles in our faith. The warning is that the disciples themselves will face the sin of their own hearts and wonder “can God really love me still?” No doubt, that is a question many of us wrestle with, “Can God, Who sees all and knows all, love me still?” So often we are cast from from our moorings and the temptation is to throw in the towel and stop striving for holiness.

The tremendous assurance is this: God is not done with you. God is not done with me. In Jesus Christ believers are rescued from their allegiance to sin. Sin is thrown down. Sin is made powerless over us. Christ has taken away the wrath of God which was properly leveled against us and against our sins. Jesus took our place at the cross. Jesus keeps us from falling away.

See the manger there—Christ the Lord, the newborn King—has come to live a life without sin and without any rebellion against God. He is the spotless Lamb of God Who takes away our sin! He is glorious. He knows our need and to our weakness is no stranger—as the carol “O Holy Night” reassures the singing-believer.

I can’t do this. I can’t live for God as I am supposed to do. True that. Jesus told His disciples and tells us these things, all these things—the Spirit Helper, the Spirit of Truth will bear witness to all Jesus taught and strengthen the believer so that are kept from falling away. Confess you need. Fall on your knees—His power and glory ever more proclaim!

The prayer today is Zechariah’s prophesy-song, Luke 1:68-79

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

https://youtu.be/fB3Fo6yG2n0

December 3, 2020 -- John 15:26-27 -- Disarming cultic lies with the Word

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 15:26-27 English Standard Version

It is important to clear up one huge misnomer—the cult that calls itself “Jehovah’s witnesses” are in fact heretical. This brief text explains why. The Spirit of Truth—Whom those calling themselves ‘witnesses’ do not acknowledge as God, the Third Person of the Trinity—the Spirit will bear witness to Jesus Christ. The first true witness to Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Truth: the Spirit given to Jesus without measure (John 3:34).

Jesus Christ is in fact fully God and fully human and He lives now at the Father’s right hand in heaven. True witnesses, Bible literate and empowered by the Spirit of Truth, confess Jesus Christ Who was from eternity, took on flesh, was born that first Christmas, declared the kingdom of God and the need for people to repent of their sins, died bearing the punishment of God against sin and rose from the dead in triumph. This is what the first apostles and believers declared with joyful wonder and were prepared to face persecution, the loss of property, imprisonment and death in order to declare.

When you receive the knock at your door (or the email from Jehovah’s witnesses, or the letter, which is what is happening now) know the Truth given by Jesus in the Word of God. Do not fall for the lies which are being perpetrated by this cult. Do not allow these false witnesses to use their rewritten false-book-that-masquerades-as-a-bible be used to insult Name and glory of Jesus, trampling it the mud. Do not let them blaspheme the Holy Spirit in your presence.

Remember this passage! Notice how strongly trinitarian it is: The Spirit of Truth, bearing witness to Me [Jesus, the Speaker of these words], Who [the Spirit] proceeds from the Father. Notice how the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all are intimately connected with the salvation of believers. This is what we declare with wonder and joy—Jesus Who came that first Christmas will come again in glory!

Today’s prayer is based on John 1.

King Jesus, You are the True Light Who has come into the world! The world was made through You, yet the world does not know You. Blessed are You, Faithful Father, for giving to the world the Son; glorious and merciful are You Father Most High Who gives the right to all believers to be called sons and daughters of God! Blessed are You, Spirit of Truth, Who bears witness to Jesus so that believers know themselves to be sons and daughters of God. This Christmas season, Spirit of God, embolden us to bear witness to the Father Who in His great love sent the Son. Spirit of God, instill in us a longing for Jesus’ return in glory. Amen.

https://youtu.be/TT3cfXd3Shk

December 2, 2020 -- John 15:20 -- Stick Close to Jesus

Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

John 15:20 English Standard Version

What is the goal of your life? Are you looking to be popular? Thinking you’d be happy if you could make a lot of money? Maybe you desire just to be comfortable? At the start of this chapter Jesus gave to Christians the goal of their existence: “Abide in Me, and I in you”. The goal of all Christian living is to know Jesus Christ and to follow Him in all things. He leads the believer to the Father in heaven where the Christian understands the great love of God the Father.

Living for Jesus means there are people in your life—school, family, or work-place—who will hate you and undermine you and accuse you of all kinds of things. Those who persecute you are actually rebelling against the fact that in your life, words and actions they see Jesus. Amazingly Jesus promised that those who keep His commandments, even under such pressure, will glorify the Father, bear much fruit and be confirmed as the disciples of Jesus (all this in verse 8). And the crowning promise in verse 9 is that believers, who stick close to Jesus despite ridicule and persecution, will be confirmed in the Father’s love and Jesus’ love. The Spirit of God will give you the strength and grace you need to endure.

Living for Jesus also means you will meet people and immediately you recognize in them the presence and love of Jesus. No matter their circumstances or yours, you will find you have delight in speaking in with them. Your conversation will glorify God, you will see the fruitfulness the Spirit of God is bringing each in the other’s life and you will joyfully confirm—here is another believer! The love of God is confirmed to each of you.

Are you living for Jesus? When you are faced with a decision do you pray? When you can get away with cheating and no one would know, does your heart cry out and your conscience prickle? Are you openly declaring your love for Jesus in a world that is hunkered down in Covid-chaos and in desperate need of the Good News that Jesus is near? This is the glory of Christmas—Jesus had entered into this world of trouble. He will never leave His people nor abandon them. Abide in Jesus—pray, read your bible, trust in Him in all circumstances, do not compromise your faith. It is the most glorious work, requiring all your heart, mind, soul, and strength—but there is no greater task, no greater purpose than to abide in Jesus and He in you.

God of Wonder and Love, joyful are those who intentionally come into Your presence, cultivating the awareness You are near! Worshiping You leads us to want to express our love and devotion in action. As believers worship You, we are reminded You made us. You claimed us in Jesus Christ. You have spoken Your claim over us to our very hearts by Your Spirit living in us. Forgive us for the times we have tried to hide our faith in order to foolishly accommodate ourselves to the world. Renew in us thankful hearts and minds that form thoughts and actions of praise to Your Name. You are Good! Your steadfast love never ends, it has been evident through-out history, Your steadfast love carries on from generation to generation! Triune God reigning in splendour and magnificence, in our lives—individually and collectively—be glorified. Amen.

https://youtu.be/e6v_TAIF_qI

December 1, 2020 -- John 15:18 -- Test of True Christianity

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

John 15:18 English Standard Version

Interesting how my French classes have helped me to better understand my own language. Let me explain. Right now as I am being tutored in French I am learning to carefully examine conditional sentences. There are many similarities between English and French in the use of verb forms for conditional sentences. A quick review will be helpful.

A conditional sentence has a first part or clause which begins with “if” and the second part or clause uses the word (or implies the word) “then” as the result. A conditional that has a present verb in each of the two parts is a general truth (called a Type 0 conditional). Now go back to the verse for today.

Look at the key verbs in each part of the sentence. The first part has the present verb “hates” and the second part has the present imperative “know”. It is a general truth statement. The world hates the followers of Jesus. The world hated Jesus and the world will hate those who follow Jesus.

Why is this the case that the world hates true Christians?

~Christian faithfulness to Christ is a stark contrast to the world’s devotion to evil

~Christians cannot join in doing the wicked things the world does

~Christians have a focus not on a best life now, but on the life that is best in Christ, one that looks to eternity in the glorious presence of Jesus the King

Why are many Christians not hated now?

~Most people who call themselves Christians today are so compromised with the world and accommodating to its evil that the world has no reason to hate them

~Most so-called Christians today join in the world’s wickedness with no compunction so the world has no reason to hate them

~Calling oneself a Christian but living as if this brief existence is one’s best life reveal’s one’s claim of being a Christian as a lie and again, this fits right in with the world

Chapter 15 of the Gospel of John highlights Christian living:

~abiding in Jesus—reading the word and prayer—reading and praying until one knows His life-giving presence and hope

~bearing fruit—by word and deed demonstrating an allegiance to Jesus

~love—for God and for fellow Christians and even for one’s enemies. I Corinthians 13 demonstrates this love, which empowered by the Spirit takes a manly man or an excellent woman to fully live it out

~dedication to the Father—not to the government, not to money, not pursuing conspiracy theories, no devotion, no worship, no god above the Father in heaven.

Little wonder then, that so few of us are hated by this world.

If what is written here is really bothering you—excellent. Let God’s Spirit move your conscience and heart to confess what you need to confess. Abide in Jesus.

God our Father, in our feebleness and fainted-hearted living, transform us so that our hunger and our thirst is focused on You alone. Father in heaven, You sent Jesus so that Your love, Your mercy, Your goodness, Your forgiveness and Your transforming power would be known to those You call Your children. Spirit of God, holy and mighty, as Jesus has asked the Father to give believers Your presence into our lives, act in us to renew in us a holy zeal for Jesus. Spirit of God, cause us to be unsatisfied with anything less than whole-hearted love for God; deep love from God which is reflected back in praise and love made evident in our prayer, practice and proselytizing. Amen.

https://youtu.be/mXBzrutelZA

November 29, 2020 -- John 15:17 -- Commanded Love

These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

John 15:17 English Standard Version

The count is on. This is the First Sunday in Advent—there are a total of four Sundays of Advent—and then it is Christmas. This marks the time between Jesus’ birth as a baby in Bethlehem and the anticipated time when He shall return in glory. We remember Christmas because it teaches us of God’s great love shown to us in Jesus Christ. We celebrate Christmas with the glowing expectation of the moment when the heavens will be filled with the majesty of Jesus and brilliance of all His holy angels as He gathers His people to Himself for eternal life in His presence.

In the previous verse Jesus taught His followers that by the power of the Father they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the strength of the Spirit followers of Jesus Christ can live for Jesus and in so doing bless others. Jesus told believers they are appointed to “bear fruit”. “Fruit-bearing” means using your gifts and abilities, your talents and likes in order to encourage others in the blessed Name of Jesus.

For example, recently at our home Carolyn and I hosted two young men as we watched church and then ate lunch. These young men are attending a recovery centre so it is rare to go off-site. I can do so in these Covid-19 times because I am volunteer staff there and as staff am part of their one-household bubble. As the men left they said to Carolyn, “thanks for hosting us”.

When I returned home Carolyn said, “Why did they thank me?” A bit of background might be necessary. I made the lunch for the men: roasted potatoes and turnips, peas, sausage and sautéed onion, with crepes for dessert. I explained to Carolyn she’d used her gift. She’d made the men feel very at home. She chatted with them. She asked them questions without being intrusive. They felt welcomed and heard. That is Carolyn’s gift of hospitality shining through.

Do you like to give gifts—find a recovery centre and ask a staff member or manager what gifts you could make gifts for those who are going to be there at Christmas. Do you like to fix things? Keep your ear to the ground for a neighbour or co-worker who might be like me, unable to fix anything and appreciative of any help. Perhaps you are a prayer warrior. Prayer regularly for those whom God has placed on your heart. You see, whatever your gift, use it and in so doing you show the love of God which has rested on you in Jesus.

If you are unsure how to use whatever gift He has given you. Ask a friend whose faith you admire to direct you as to how you can use your gifts so that you show love one to another. Now, more than ever, as Canadians feel the isolation of Covid-19 and all the restrictions imposed by the government, the need for the experience of love and demonstration of it is more vital than ever. Know that God’s goodness and love will be shown to others by the way in which you bear fruit. And God our Father in His great and extravagant creative majesty will cause you yourself to feel blessed even as you serve others. You really can’t out-give God.

LORD of heaven and earth, You are the Everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

You do not faint; You do not grow weary;

Your understanding and wisdom are limitless

and it is the glory of Your people to search out Your wisdom.

You have promised, Faithful Father, that You will renew the strength

of every person who prays to You, learning to lean on You for every good thing.

Help us, LORD, help us by Your Word and Spirit to show the love of Jesus to our hurting world.

Amen.

The prayer is based on Isaiah 40:28-31

https://youtu.be/VXT0XGAImIU

November 27, 2020 -- John 15:16-17 -- The Spirit, the Helper, the Truth

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:16-17 English Standard Version

How did Jesus hold it all together? When He faced the great betrayals in His life? His mother and brothers wanted to take him home. Even His family was saying “He is out of His mind” (Mark 3:21). His disciples could not understand what He was teaching them, or the miracles which accompanied His teaching. Jesus rebuked them “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” People around Him constantly sought glory for themselves not for God (John 5:45).

Jesus endured in His humanity, in His flesh because He had the Holy Spirit in Him. The Spirit was given to Jesus without measure (John 3:34).

Jesus lived for the glory of His Father. His heart and mind, obedience and life were fixed on that one goal that God should be glorified (John 17). It was the Spirit Who enable Jesus, in His flesh to accomplish this.

Jesus knew His purpose—to go and preach to other towns also (Luke 4:43)—even when it would have been easiest to stay in one place where His teaching was applauded and welcomed.

Jesus knows our failures and our weaknesses. He came to us not because we are basically good and can take care of ourselves. Jesus came to this world because we are in desperate need of His Spirit, the Helper, Who sustains believers.

Jesus knows we seek our own glory and when we are credited with this or that, we can barely hear the adulation, because immediately we wonder if we are good enough, if we can handle the next task. The Spirit of God, our Helper, makes our life valuable because we finally understand our purpose—to glorify God—not ourselves, but God and the result of this is enjoying Him (!!) forever.

Jesus knows people flop from one thing to the next, never quite satisfied—the longing is better than having. This is true for all things except one. When we are filled with the knowledge of the love of God shown to us in Christ, then our life’s purpose is transformed—we know we are to serve God with all we have and all we are. And it is the only worthy goal of our living The Spirit, the Helper sent from the Father at Jesus’ request, fills us with the knowledge of our life’s purpose—to declare the glory of God.

Jesus, we hold up to You the promise You gave Your disciples, we ask You send Your Spirit of Truth. Send to us this Helper so that in the light of this rich salvation which You have shown us in Christ, we will live for You when things are easy or times are tough. Send Your Spirit to overcome our weaknesses and failures as the Spirit testifies to our Spirit we belong to Father in heaven on the basis of Jesus’ glorious work. Send Your Spirit so that we will not seek our own glory, but shine the radiant glory of Jesus in all we say and do. As the angels proclaimed it, let our lives declare: “Glory to God in the highest!” Jesus, send Your Spirit so that our ordinary lives, working or jobless, married or single, marriage, raising children or cultivating friendship dear as family, sickness or healthy times, riches or poverty, we will in all circumstances honour our Creator, Redeemer and Helper. Amen.

November 25, 2020 -- John 14:15 -- Love leading to Obedience

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:15 English Standard Version

You can almost hear the scoffers comment bitingly: “Oh, there those Christians go again—it is all about laws and rules.” Note carefully how Jesus frames this conditional sentence. Take a moment and reread it. I can wait. Let it sink in. Love is the motivator. Love is the basis from which obedience springs.

When a man loves a woman—all the other 3.7 + billion women on the planet are off limits to him. That is the commandment of love—a man keeping himself in dedication and love for this one woman to the exclusion of all others. Love commands such faithfulness.

When a woman has a baby that she loves, she gives her time, her love, her attention, to this child. She willingly changes diapers. She gets up for feedings in the night. She holds and rocks a fevered child—love commands such faithfulness.

When a believer understands the depths, the height, the width and the breadth of Jesus’ extravagant love then the only response is love expressed by faithfully keeping His commandments. The Spirit of God has shown us in Scripture what is good, what the proper response to Jesus’ love is and therefore, the only fitting response to Jesus’ prior love for us is faithfulness to His commandments. In this the Father is well-pleased. When believers love Jesus and obey His commandments, the Father Who sent the Son, is confessed as True and praised.

The prayer comes from Psalm 119:57a, 62-64

O LORD, You are my portion; at midnight I rise to praise You because of Your righteous rules.

I am a companion of all who fear You, of those who keep Your precepts.

The earth, O LORD, is full of Your steadfast love; teach me Your statutes! Amen.

https://youtu.be/Xa5Nh77GDXg

November 24, 2020 -- John 14:8-11 -- The Mystery

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

John 14:8-11 English Standard Version

This passage seems like a repetition of John 14:7. Why is Jesus repeating Himself? Great question. Jesus is speaking of a great and wonderful mystery—the Trinity. There is One God in Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A mystery is different than a contradiction.

Many people like to watch crime shows. We are familiar with the component parts of such shows. There is a body. There is a search for clues. The show revolves around a mystery that needs to be illuminated. Sometimes the investigators will reexamine the evidence over and over again seeking to put all the pieces together until the mystery is solved.

Jesus is inviting His disciples to consider, to meditate on over and over again, the information that will help them assemble the mystery of the Trinity. It is worth pondering. It is important that we, as believers, listen to Jesus Christ and consider His words. He is putting together the great truth of the Old Testament and revealing the Father’s purposes in His life and work. He is giving the Spirit so that believers who look to Jesus will see the purposes of and the loving-glory of the Father.

Remember a mystery and a contradiction are fundamentally different. A contradiction will not be untwisted no matter how many clues are given, no matter how much light is shed on it. When you are confronted with a contradiction it speaks against law and reason, it is ultimately nonsense.

Jesus is teaching His disciples concerning the mystery of the Trinity. He is giving information that will inform their minds and confirm to their hearts the reality of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God forever blessed!

Blessed be Your Name—from everlasting to everlasting. Your Name is glorious, exalted above all blessing and praise. You are the LORD alone. You made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them! Praise the LORD, let the earth hear Your voice. People of this great blue planet, come to the Father through Jesus the Son and as the Spirit gives us expression, let us give God the glory, now and forever more. Amen.

The prayer today is based on Nehemiah 9:5-6 and the chorus of To God be the Glory

https://youtu.be/JwI7TuLaPFs

November 23, 2020 -- John 14:7 -- What Wondrous Love

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him also.

John 14:7 English Standard Version

This is an amazing and comprehensive statement—Jesus reveals the Father—that is what He said to His followers. John 1 teaches us we have seen the glory of Jesus, “glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). What about this: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (John 1:18 New King James Version). Now, just before His arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection Jesus is declaring that those who know Him know the Father also. Jesus’ words and His actions declare the Father so that all who look to Jesus and believe will see the Father.

It was the Father Who so loved that World that He sent Jesus as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin.

It was the Father Who had decreed from the time before the world was created that He, in love, would give His Son. In dedicated love to the Father and deepest reverent obedience Jesus left the splendors of heaven and the tenderest intimacy with the Father in order to be incarnate. The Spirit of God filled Jesus without measure so that Jesus would be strengthened to live for the Father in fullest obedience.

Look to Jesus and see in Him the measureless love of the Father. Look to Jesus and understand how the Spirit of God drives away all sins and temptations that threaten to overwhelm us so that we, in Christ, can walk in joy-filled obedient love before our Father in heaven.

Today’s prayer is the beautiful hymn: “What Wondrous Love is This” performed a cappella by the Concordia Choir

https://youtu.be/TDk0WDGaBtw

November 22, 2020 -- John 14:6 -- Who Jesus IS

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6 English Standard Version

There are not many paths to God—Jesus is the One path. Following Him in the obedience which flows from faith in Jesus demonstrates we know that the grace of God has taken hold of us and we live not to earn salvation, but live following Jesus because in Him our sins have been punished and we are already saved. Following Jesus demonstrates the freedom and joy of salvation.

Jesus is the Truth. According to our government the “truth” changes constantly. The lies of gender fluidity is the “new truth”. It is all part of the government’s intentional destruction family revealed by its policies promoting abortion, celebrating “alternative families and life-styles” and Medical Assistance in Death. Such policies reveal the depths of the hatred of our country’s leadership for the things of God and the Truth of Jesus Christ. In Jesus we find the “Yes” and “Amen” of the Bible. What God stated, what is revealed in the Bible has been inspired by the Spirit and has been guarded by this same Spirit so that what God has revealed is true yesterday, today and forever. Blessed be His glorious Name now and forever! That is the most glorious Truth to stand through-out eternity!

Jesus is the Life. Why do we, as Christians, vehemently support life from conception to natural death? Because our lives are not our own—we belong, body and soul, in life and in death to our Faithful Savior Jesus Christ. While we draw breath on earth there is every opportunity to confess Jesus Christ. When we die, those who believe in Jesus are separated from those who do not. Those who do not believe face eternal punishment in hell. Those who believe in Jesus Christ find the abundant life He has given now, will grow bigger, fuller, and more perfect through all eternity in the light of His glory and presence.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Amen.

Psalm 51:10-12

November 21, 2020 -- John 14:1-2 -- Smashing down the troubles of the heart

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

John 14:1-2 English Standard Version

Dearly loved sons and daughters of God the Sovereign LORD of Heaven and Earth—of course the disciples’ hearts were troubled. Jesus had just told them He was going where they could not go. Jesus just declared Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crows. Judas had just gone into the night to betray Jesus into the hands of Jewish authorities and Roman soldiers.

Jesus is commanding His torn apart, emotionally upended disciples: “do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me”. Greater than our sins; greater than our denials; greater than our worst moment is the love of God poured out on us in Jesus Christ. Our work is not to focus on our troubles and imagine how these keep us from God, our work—the task of faith—is to believe in God and believe in Jesus Who has revealed the Father.

What is the result of faith? The result of faith is the joy of knowing we have a Father unlike any earthly father. He determined to find us, to go to the ends of the earth and rescue us from the pit of despair and the depths of our misery. The result of faith is awe that Jesus should leave the splendors of heaven, suffer, endure unbelieving disciples. The result of faith is seeing Jesus, He is the perfect One, Who is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. This is the work of faith which results in believing Jesus truly is, now, preparing a place for us with Himself in eternity.

The trouble of our hearts melt away because of Jesus’ accomplished work as Savior. Our troubles fade into obscurity because Jesus is the Warrior-King Who has rescued us from hell and death and the grave by bearing our punishment. The disquieted fearfulness of our hearts is dispelled like mist in the summer sunlight because Jesus is greater than our sins; Jesus’ Spirit will apply the salvation of our Savior to every part of our mind, soul, heart, and every place of need so that we are presented pure and blameless in the sight of God our Everlasting Father.

What sin is nagging at you? What taunt is Satan using against you? What secret doubt do you have the you are not enough, you will never measure up? Fellow Christian, preach the Word to your soul—Do not let your heart be troubled—believe in God and believe in Jesus—for you have been raised from the tomb of your sins and the accusations of Satan and by Jesus blood you are cleansed, dearly loved sons and daughters of God the Gracious. Live in such faith—throw down the lies of the world, the devil and the lies of your own heart and mind. Live knowing Jesus is returning to bring you to Himself.

Spirit of the Living God, smash through our fears and doubts. Renew in us the joy of our salvation. By the Scripture show us over and over again the victory of Jesus which is given to us. Spirit of God, give us songs of salvation, holy hymns of deliverance which shout down the troubles of our hearts until assurance breaks over us, flooding every part of our being with the great, confident, and glorious hope Jesus is preparing for His people a place in eternity in the presence of the Father Who has given us such salvation! All this we pray in the Name of Jesus, Amen.

November 20, 2020 -- John 13:36 -- Following Jesus

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

John 13:36 English Standard Version

Simon Peter did not understand all that Jesus would suffer and endure as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. The full wrath of God against sinners would be poured out on Jesus. No man or woman would bear such intense suffering, agony and punishment. No one could follow Jesus into this.

Think of the weight of sin you carry: sexually impure thoughts; toying with immoral video games and the lusts for anger, sex, violence and crime they incite; allowing anger to govern your thoughts; disrespect for authority; avenging wrongs and perceived wrongs; worshiping things and desires. No doubt this list just scratches the surface as you could easily name the sins which threaten to overwhelm you personally. There are times when your past sins threaten to undo you. No wonder Simon Peter couldn’t follow Jesus to the place of punishment, the cross, the agonies of hell and the death which followed.

The glory of the cross, where Jesus was punished for all your sins, God cancelled the record of debt that stood against you with its legal demands. When Satan reminds you of your sins, remind him Jesus was already punished for that sin. You no longer carry the sentence of hell against you. That is the place where Simon Peter could not follow Jesus.

Simon Peter could, however, follow Jesus in victory. Death is now the final moment when you are released from any possibility of sinning anymore and your lives are fully, finally united with Christ in the new resurrection bodies and sin is no more! Simon Peter would follow the resurrected Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit given to all those who believe in Jesus and know He has conquered sin, the grave and hell and even death itself it being captive led. Simon Peter can follow Jesus into paths of suffering, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, because Simon Peter would then have the full assurance that sin has been thrown down, heaven has been opened and believers walk in victory and great assurance. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

What was true for Simon Peter is true for believers today, believers can now follow Jesus. Sins cannot be used to blackmail believers: Jesus paid the price for such sins. Confess them and the power of them is thrown down because of Jesus. Torture and suffering, painful and wicked and horrible as they are, will not cause a true Christian to deny the King of Kings or LORD of Lords because He is the Prize, the Goal of all true believing. Christians follow Jesus through suffering, death, the grave and rise with Him to new life in the splendors of the new heaven and the new earth. That is where Christians follow Jesus—now and until He returns in glory.

Today’s prayer is the ascription of praise found in Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how ^inscrutable his ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?

Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

^impossible to understand or interpret

November 16, 2020 -- John 13:34-35 -- Love as Jesus loves

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know you that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

John 13:34-35 English Standard Version

Yes, I can hear it already: “that is not a new commandment”! in fact, you can find it in Leviticus 19:18. Read carefully what Jesus said to His disciples then and says to you today “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another”. How did Jesus love?

Jesus sacrificed Himself—leaving the splendour of heaven.

Jesus did not insist on the prerogatives of divinity, but fully and perfectly obeyed the Father in heaven.

Jesus bore with the weakness and failings of His followers.

Jesus did not come to the earth, as Ravi Zachariah used to say: “to make bad men good but to make dead men live”! While you were yet sinners, Christ died for you so that you might rise to new life in Him.

Note then the parallel between Jesus’ work and yours—serving as He served, loving as He loved.

Christians follow Jesus, leaving their comforts in order to demonstrate love to others in Jesus’ Name. Christians do so knowing this will cost them money, reputation, and in the eye of the world this kind of love will all seem so foolish.

Christians are prepared to humble themselves to love and help others. Just like Jesus, Christians are not insisting on their privileges and rights, but with eyes fixed on the Father in heaven Who loves them and has prepared them for good works step out to do what the Father has appointed to be done in Christ.

Christians know their own weakness and failings and realize Christ has borne these in love in order to bring sons and daughters to maturity—so Christians patiently, lovingly teach others.

Christians understand it is the joyful, loving task to speak and live the Word of God in the power of the Spirit. Sowing such seed far and wide with the deep-rooted assurance God will produce the germination and growth and abundance.

LORD of heaven and earth, we give thanks to You! Your steadfast love endures forever. Thank You, Father in heaven, for the riches of Your love which You have demonstrated so perfectly, so completely in Jesus Christ. Thank You, Father in heaven, for the Holy Spirit Who equips us all to live in the steadfast love of Jesus so that many sons and daughters are brought to glory. Forgive us for our faltering words and the many times our witness is sputtering and incomplete. Renew in us a holy zeal for Jesus so that we truly will love as Jesus loved us and continues to love us. Oh, Triune God—You are worthy of all blessing and honour, glory and worship—Amen!

November 14, 2020 -- John 13:31-32 -- Glory!

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

John 13:31-32 English Standard Version

It is when Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, goes out into the night to betray Jesus, that Jesus turned to His disciples and said to them “Now is the Son of Man glorified”. It is almost as if the language breaks down because Jesus speaks of glory five times in these two short sentences.

The glory of God is something the angels see and because of the weight of His splendour they cry out: Holy! Holy! Holy! Is the LORD of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! Isaiah 6:3. The glory of the Living God is His splendour; His excellencies; His radiant beauty. Glory is an attribute of God which requires our study and deep contemplation because it is so wholly different from our experience of life. An athlete’s glory is brief. Once a record is achieved, the very next question becomes—can he beat that record? When will someone else beat it? God is magnificent beyond the reach of anything else, ever. It is never to be bested or eclipsed. God is light and perfect and the zenith of all that is pure and excellent.

The Son of Man is glorified in the betrayal and kangaroo court trial He undergoes and His execution at the cross because He is perfectly obedient to His Father. He always had in view revealing the loving-kindness of God the Father in seeking and saving lost sinners. Jesus proved His glory in His enduring love.

God the Father is glorified in Jesus because the plans of the Father, from before the creation of the world to bring ruined sinners to Himself was perfected accomplished in the Son and the Son highlights the Father’s abiding promises to save in love.

Our experience of glory is fading. Christine Sinclair has won the winner’s jersey four times at the FIFA World’s Cup! Imagine the adulation when she stands with her team. But at some point the cheering stops. The fans clear out of the stadium. It is impossible to hold that moment of exuberant emotions and the reason for the cheering becomes eclipsed by the need to go home, relieve babysitters and eventually see who will win the next victory.

The Glory of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is ever new, ever brilliant, and cannot be eclipsed. That is why the LORD our God is worthy of worship—for Who He Is—that reason alone should bring us to to our knees in awe and praise. The greatness of the salvation which is ours in Christ and the inestimable cost of this salvation should humble us with wonder. This is the tiniest glimpse of glory. Eternity will be filled with growing delights and blessing and marvel as our brains ever grow in our capacity to glimpse and comprehend and delight in His glory.

Blessed Spirit of the Living God by Your presence as we read the Word and our contemplation on it may the glory of the LORD rise in us. Tear our eyes away from all that is unworthy and inappropriate and bring us to our knees lost in wonder and in love. Stir up in us a greater, deeper, hungry longing for the knowledge of the glory of God revealed in creation, and demonstrated in salvation. Stir up in us anticipation for the glory of God to be experienced in ever greater rising measures in eternity. For there the throne of God will be and that of the Lamb and His servants shall worship Him. Night will be no more. The LORD God will shine in glory as the Light. Amen!

November 12, 2020 -- John 13:21-22 -- Persistent, Patient, Paternal Love

After saying these things, “Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.

John 13:21-22 English Standard Version

“Listen, if I knew you were going to blow me off and wound me,” the exasperated voice huffed, “I would not have invested all this time in you !”No doubt many people have said such things. Imagine scenarios where this might be said:

A couple on the verge of breaking up.

An angry parent exhausted by trying to teach a near-adult child.

A boss working with a new recruit.

You can think of countless instances in your life where you just felt thrown away.

Jesus, though troubled in His Spirit, though experiencing human heart-break, did not give up on Judas Iscariot. Nor did Jesus short-circuit Judas’ chance for redemption. As long as Jesus lived and ministered, Judah had every opportunity to return to Jesus and find grace and forgiveness.

The disciples were so confused. It was not obvious to them that Judas Iscariot was the betrayer. Nor was it obvious to them that Peter would deny Jesus. Nor was it clear that everyone of them would abandon Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested a few hours later.

This should give all reading this devotion tremendous hope! God is not done with you! He sent Jesus so that lost and ruined sinners—even those who’ve walked with Him for a long time and still do not “get it” will receive the wonderful, healing forgiveness only He can bring. The Spirit of God is knocking on the door of your heart, He is working on your conscience. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time to open your heart and confess how much you need Him!

The prophet Hosea’s words (chapter 14) form the basis of today’s prayer.

Return, O wayward people, return to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your immoral, vile hearts. Take words of confession with you and return to the LORD with your whole heart, accepting the good He will pour out. The LORD promised, and fulfilled these promises in Christ: I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them; I will be like dew to My often-times wayward people, refreshing them so that they shall blossom like the lily and take root like tall, strong trees. Spirit of the Living God, igniting in us understanding and a desire for what is good, move us to act on these feelings so that the riches offered in Jesus Christ are poured out all proving in this generation again God’s promises are “Yes” and “Amen”.

November 11, 2020 -- John 13:20 -- Peace

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

John 13:20 English Standard Version

On this Remembrance Day, we are keenly aware that Canada has long played an important, international role in peace-keeping. Men and women are sent to various world hot-spots and enforce a negotiated peace settlement. The presence of soldiers seems daunting and aggressive, but their presence directs people away from their former hostility against one another and helps them to live a “new normal” where fighting is no longer an option. Life without the former in-grained conflict riddled view of the world must first be imposed and then naturalized and finally something embraced.

We are sent as Jesus’ messengers of peace. We declare the peace which Jesus brought to us because of His accomplished work at the cross. The cross, which is the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, brings the ultimate peace between God and people; peace between formerly hostile people; and peace which fills the soul of the one who has received Jesus.

Do not be surprised if those who first meet you and see Jesus’ peace in you are recalcitrant and hostile in their response to you. Peace is such a foreign concept in our world today. But those who receive you receive Jesus Christ and those who receive Jesus receive the Father. The Father in heaven is the One Who has purposed to bring many sons and daughters to salvation. Blessed be the Triune God of majesty and righteousness, love and justice, peace and salvation.

Blessed are You, God Most High! Praise and honour be to Him Who lives forever and ever—for Your dominion is an everlasting dominion and the kingdom of this world is the Kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ—enduring from generation to generation! Who can stop Your purposes or criticize saying, “What have you done?!” By Your Spirit You close the hearts of the wicked and by this same Spirit You direct men and women into the peace which started at the cross and expands and stretches, building and wafting in glory unto all eternity. Amen.

November 9, 2020 -- John 13:18-19 -- Known and loved

I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.

John 13:18-19 English Standard Version

Jesus is declaring His divinity—I am He. He is telling the disciples what will take place—His betrayal and crucifixion are not a surprise nor unexpected. It must take place. Jesus is aware of the identity of the betrayer. This brings to mind these words:

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done

saying my counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish my purpose…

Isaiah 46:9-10 ESV

Jesus is fully aware of the darkness that lurks in your heart and in your thoughts. He knows the evil you’d planned and carried out. In fact, the context of Isaiah bears that out as well. The Isaiah prophecy was spoken to “you transgressors”. The God of eternity has purposed to bring salvation to those whom He has chosen. He will deliver you from the death grip of sin and bring life and renewed, transformed thinking.

Nearing the end of his life, it is said that John Wesley was somewhat forgetful, but he could confidently declare: ‘My sin is great, my Savior is greater!’

Lord of Righteousness and Justice You have no equal, there is none that can rival Your wisdom and understanding. Blessed are You, Who have chosen Your people from before the foundation of the world. Blessed are You, Jesus the Savior of ruined sinners. Blessed are You, Spirit of God Who brings both the awareness of sin and the greater, glorious awareness of new life which is given in Christ to believers unto the praise and honour and blessedness and hallowing of the Father. Amen.