IT'S NOTHING STRANGE

A few days ago, at our gathering, I and my friends experienced some serious push back from our other brethren over the things we teach and advocate; legalists afraid that we are giving people too much Grace and are encouraging people to go and sin because God loves them anyway (this of course is not true, even at that meeting we constantly said that to flirt with the Law is to court sin). I have also been getting the feeling from my friends on social networks that they are experiencing such treatment from friends and respected leaders alike.

It’s not much of a big deal when people from outside misinterpret what we are doing. It will hurt, but not so much. However, It could be quite disheartening when people you consider your family and friends do not understand your heart and join in persecuting you and accuse you of being a heretic, just because you choose to teach what the Bible says without diluting it. I believe this is why Jesus said he had come with a sword to bring division between family members (Luke 12: 50-52). It’s not that the message of Grace is divisive or confrontational. It is that when people refuse to agree with the message, it could lead to some serious conflict

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (1 Peter 4: 12-14, NIV)

Sometimes we use the preceding verse to console ourselves during trying times, like when a person is sick, broke or something like that. While I tend to agree with that; we shouldn’t let the vicissitudes of life get to us. Everybody has problems, we shouldn’t take that as a punishment from God, rather we fight the devil, resist him and he will flee. However, the context of these verses is clearly persecution; he speaks of participating “in the sufferings of Christ” as being “insulted because of the name of Christ”. But note what he says we should do when this happens; don’t be surprised, it’s not strange. I personally take solace in this statement.

I think it’s time for us who are coming to know the Grace of God (especially we younger ones, I believe the older generation of Grace Preachers have been through A LOT) to come to terms with this fact. The Gospel is news that sounds too good to be true, for that reason we sometimes get frustrated when our friends don’t get it and accept it. However, let us realize that they don’t get it BECAUSE it sounds too good to be true. Most of them are well meaning religious folk who are trying their very best to please this angry God that they have been told about since their youth.

Let’s take a journey into ancient history and see how the Jews of the early Church were being treated by their brethren. History records that they were seen as heretics, their properties were confiscated, they were excommunicated from the synagogue and everyone refused to do business with them, sound familiar? This is coupled with the fact that Jewish and Gentile believers were constantly being imprisoned and brutally killed by the Roman Empire. Now I admit that many of us might not be exposed to such extreme persecution (and many of us will), but none of us will escape persecution. “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”(1Timothy 3:12, NIV)

My take on this is that as we begin to move deeper into the truths of the Gospel and as the true Gospel continually takes root, the devil will increase his pressure to persecute us using every avenue possible, especially the religious establishment. It is what it is. So don’t feel bad or discouraged when people go against you and call you names because you say God is a lot nicer than we think. It’s just normal. In fact, expect it. The only people who will not be persecuted are those who speak lies and try to please everyone with their sweet tongues (the Epistles have a lot to say about such people, and the ruin that awaits such liars).

Let’s not feel frustrated about the way people treat us, rather let us pray a prayer that the Apostles prayed when they were persecuted:

 “Lord, consider the bad things they say they are going to do. Help us to be very bold when we speak your word.  Stretch out your hand to heal. Do miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus”

Delighted to have you

In my life, I have been around couples who have been earnestly expecting their babies. People who have been married for a long time; 2years, 3 years, 4 years, even 8 to 10 years. I have seen them live without having a baby. They go from month to month in hope and expectation. Months turn into years and some of them loose hope, others keep fighting. Then at last the conception comes to full term and a baby is born.

There is nothing more incredible to see than the joy on the faces of these couples when they finally have a baby. The way they light up when they talk about it, the gratefulness in their voice when they think of all they have been through and how God has resolved it. The way they look at the child; they love and cherish that child. At that moment, they are the happiest people in the world.

“Before the creation of the world, he chose us through Christ to be holy and perfect in his presence. Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this” Ephesians 1: 4-5 (GWT)

Before anything that was made was made, before the beginning of time, the Father had purposed in his heart that humanity would be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. Before he said the words that precipitated the Big Bang, God already decided that mankind would end up as his children. Sometimes we go off on all these various tangents on the will of God for our lives. We have reduced it to things that we have been created to do; heal the sick, evangelise, plant a Church, start a multi-million dollar corporation. The real will of God for us is adoption through Jesus Christ. All these things we do are a result of this one will of God; we do these things from our position of security and assurance of our adoption.

Now, just how long did it take for God to accomplish this goal in us? Four thousand years!!!!!! Since the creation of Adam till the birth of Christ, it was close to Four Thousand years. I personally don’t believe it had to be that long; if Adam had not taken a bite from the wrong tree, I don’t think it would have taken too long at all. But he did and the Trinity had to painstakingly work out their plan through the murk and the wreckage of a fallen humanity. Until thousands of years later, Jesus was born. When he was born, God had to wait another Thirty Three years for the Son to fully accomplish his ministry and go to the Cross to complete the work of atonement. Now, the Father had to watch him being shred to bits for our sake, he was beaten beyond recognition and killed in a most humiliating way; just to have us as his sons, just to have you as his son. Then after his death, the father had to wait another three days for him to rise again, marking the beginning of the New Creation. The first Adam was dead and the last Adam had emerged. Finally, the Father had to wait another fifty days for the Holy Spirit to descend on the One Hundred and Twenty disciples marking the beginning of the Church.

At last, God had his Children, we had been reconciled unto him, and we have become his sons. The idea of sonship here is not about making us one gender; it is about making us heirs with Christ, and bringing us close to himself. If Humans who have waited for years for their child to be born can be so ecstatic, how much more our God who had to wait thousands of years in order for him to send his Spirit into us, enabling us to at last call him “Abba, Father, Daddy, Papa” (Galatians 4:6)

Then you were born. You probably had no idea of what has happened to you. You were told by people whose minds were still in Adam that you are far away from God; that you are an abomination to him. That he would have nothing to do with you until you did this or did that. Maybe you believed that there is no God. Or you believed that there are many ways to God. Until one day, you came to realize one way or the other that Jesus is the Way to the one true God and that he loves you. At that point you acknowledged him in your heart; you decided to follow him, you prayed the prayer, you cried or whatever other ritual you engaged in, bottom line: you acknowledged him. You changed your mind about God and made a positive U-turn. This is what Jesus has to say about moments like that:

“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy IN THE PRESENCE of God’s angels over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10 NET)  

There is an important point here. Growing up, I was told that the angels had joy over the sinner’s repentance. That is not what he said; the joy is in the PRESENCE of the angels. My friend, the day you repented of your false vision of God, God rejoiced. He rejoiced that you were getting one step closer to understanding his heart towards you. He is not disappointed in you. He is pleased to have you. He has waited for over two thousand years to have you brought into existence and be in his presence, he wants you to enjoy him as much as he enjoys you. Neither is he surprised at your mistakes and pitfalls. Your sins are not coming as a shock to him. He knows all about it and he is working at making you shed off the skin that Adam has put you in and put on the image of his first born, Jesus; which is your true image (1 John 4:17)

He enjoys watching you play. He loves to watch you do your little hobbies. He loves it when you kiss your wife or hug your friends or relish a good meal. He has waited a long time to have you and he is happy that you are here. It is a joy to have you, and as you repent even more by reading this blog and realizing that the Father is happy to have you, you will feel joy in your heart. That joy is a reflection of the joy the Trinity feels about your mere presence and about your repentance; it is the Holy Spirit giving you a glimpse of how they feel about you.

Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit for loving us before we existed and making sure your love plan for us did not fail- Even when we tried to abort it