Blessings, Protection or Forgiveness?

Protection, Blessings or Forgiveness?

Many of our prayers ask God for blessings. And at this time of year many are earnest to ask for his protection. What do we mean by blessing and protection? Are they the heart of our human needs?

By ‘blessings’ we usually mean things like health, wealth and other daily needs. A prayer for protection typically mans we ask gone to protect us from harmful events and forces, whether of a temporal or spiritual nature.

Let’s say that it is good to depend on the Lord to provide for our daily needs and to be content with how he provides. Thus Jesus teaches us to pray that the Lord will give us our daily bread. Note that this is a day to day provision and not a lifetime order. Note also that it is bread (or rice, in Asian terms) and not a gourmet dinner. So, it is right to seek blessings such as food, good health, material provisions. Today’s passage (Lke 8:40-56) tells of an anxious parent and an ill woman seeking such blessings and being rewarded.

Likewise with protection. There are some things against which we cannot protect ourselves and it is good to seek God here too. Thus we think of David when confronted with overwhelming earthly threats(eg Ps 35) or we think of Paul talking about malevolent spiritual forces against which only God can protect (Eph 6:10-18). God is our protector when we cannot help ourselves.

However, our greatest need is not these kinds of blessings and protection. Our greatest problem is that we all sin and fall short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23). Our greatest need is the forgiveness that God provides through Jesus and his atoning sacrifice (Rom 3:22-25).

When God forgives us we have the greatest blessing of all – abundant life now and eternal life with our creator. Likewise, the Cross of Jesus is God’s greatest protective act – protecting us against the effects of our sin.

There are many ways of coming to Jesus and many reasons for coming to him. But we should always be open to the possibility that he will help with needs bigger than the ones we see. Four friends came seeking a health blessing for their friend but he received the greater blessing of forgiveness (Mrk 2:1-12). Others sought their daily bread but missed the greater bread of eternal life (Jn 6:26-27).

Let us come to Jesus with our greatest need and find his greatest blessing in the forgiveness of our sins.

The Cup of Care

The Cup of Care

I am the person who cares for your kids but can’t swim in your pool
Who rides in the back of a truck to make your garden pretty
Who sleeps in a dormitory while I build your home
Who clears the table when you just walk off
Who keeps your place safe, night and day
Who sells you a ticket that I cannot afford
Who drives the taxi to take you to a party
Who takes the trash from your office.
You look at me …
but
do you see me?

Old Testament Israel was the special people of God. They were his church. They had been chosen, rescued, provided for and covenanted with by God. Another people were ejected from the promised land for them to move in. They alone had these privileges.

When we feel special, it is easy to be arrogant, dismissive and oblivious to others. We may even start to think that we deserve our position and that others are fortunate to know us. When this feeling of being special has a religious motive it can become very ugly.

Deuteronomy puts us in our place. Israel was privileged because God loved her, not because of her qualities (7:7-8). She only possessed the land because the Canaanites sinned (9:4-6) and she would lose it if she did the same (4:25-28). Israel was his chosen people, but God made all and was partial to none (10:14&17).

God ‘sees’ the orphan, widow and alien – the three main categories of marginalised people at the time (10:18). God not only saw them, but he was their champion. Israel was the chosen people, but she was not the only people. Witness for example, his provision for care of the needy in his law. Part of this provision was that God’s chosen people were to love and care for them – remembering that they were once in the same position (10:19-22).

Let’s ‘see’ such people and pour them a cup of care in God’s name, for this is pure religion and is a service to our Lord himself (Jas 1:27; Mat 25:40). We are a special people, but the responsibility equals our privilege.

Do you see me?
God does.

A Prayer of Confession,

Dear Heavenly Father,

In all of creation we see your fingerprints. Christians or non Christians alike, you are in the fabric of our lives. In our hearts we know you are there, because you teach us right from wrong.

Yet Lord, we seldom treat you like God or worship you. Please forgive us.

We like to think of ourselves as nice people. We are really not bad. We do not rob or kill, we shake our self righteous heads at adulterers, at backstabbing and ambitious colleagues, and the like.

But are we so good? Envy stabs at our hearts when we meet others better off than us. We cloak ourselves with the obligatory Christian humility, but in reality, we puff up with pride inside at the slightest success or praise. We bicker over matters that reflect the smallness of our hearts. We cheat, sometimes, when we think nobody is watching. We find it natural to bully those weaker than us. Greed gets the better of us, enough is never enough. We want a bigger house, more houses, a bigger car, a second car. More bags, more shoes. More food, better food, more varieties. An endless and aimless chasing after the wind. That’s us.

Forgive us Lord. For it is for people such as us that Jesus came.

Until He came and took hold of us, we had no purpose in our lives. We trade your glory and eternal kingdom for idols made by our hands that do not satisfy. We do whatever we feel we can get away with, allowing our sinful nature to be in charge.

But now, we thank you for Jesus, because through him, we are no longer chained to sin, but are free to live a new life according to your purposes.

So, help us Lord, to leave behind the sinful nature that you detest. Help us do so by allowing the Spirit to do its work in us, instead of depending on our own efforts. We know that when we try to change on our own, we end up testing our strength but achieving little. We become absorbed in ourselves, ignoring who you are and what your Spirit is able to do.
Remind us often, instead, to trust in you and welcome your Spirit’s dwelling in us— so that though we still experience the limitations of sin, we are alive in Christ and our hope and purpose is in our inheritance in heaven.

Even when we tire of our struggles and our aching bodies, we ask that you help us maintain a heart of joy and expectancy, thanking you for the gift of your Spirit who prays alongside us and keeps us present before you.

All this we ask in Jesus’ name.

(Prayed at ORPC 16 August 2009).

All People Need the Lord

All People Need the Lord

Jesus told the first church leaders to make disciples from all peoples (Mat 28:19). We read that heaven’s church has members from all corners of humanity (Rev 7:9).

Likewise Paul writes of his obligation to preach the gospel to all kinds of people and thus his desire to visit Rome so that he could also evangelise there (Rom 1:14).

Paul also tells us why all people need the Lord (Rom 1:18-32 – the passage for our 6pm service today). Every human being knows enough about God to be without excuse (Rom 1:19-20) but we all suppress and pervert that knowledge instead of acting on it. Paul develops this melancholy theme at length and shows how it applies to all people in detail (Rom 1:18 – 3:20). In ourselves, we are all outside of God’s salvation.

However, the news is good! As Paul explains it, the gospel of God’s righteousness through Jesus is sufficient for all and efficient for all and any who believe (Rom 1:16-17). There is no distinction in our need of Jesus, nor in our access to him (Rom 3:23-24).

The flipside of this is that Jesus must be made available to all. And that is where the Great Commission comes in. Every local church and every Christian agency is under the command and obligation to make disciples of all nations.

This means a global vision. We cannot leave other churches to do outreach with this or that people. ‘That people’, wherever they are, and whoever they are, are our responsibility if we have opportunity and access.

This does not mean that we try and do outreach to everyone in every place for we must be realistic about our capacities and concentrate our energies. However, it does mean being open to the Lord’s callings and opportunities locally, regionally and globally. While the command to make disciples of all nations remains in our Bible, missions is a global imperative on us all.

This will sometimes mean big personal sacrifices and a big use of resources. Some of our leaders and members show the way as they give up their time, money and comfort to go and share in our various overseas partnerships. Others do the same as they invest time and reputation to share the gospel at home and at work. This should be the normal order of things for God’s people.

All need the Lord. He came for all. Let’s tell all.

David Burke

Rome Exists in Her Ruins - National Day 2009

ROME EXISTS IN HER RUINS

The Roman Empire was the monolith of New Testament times. All roads led to Rome, all power belonged to Rome and all revenue flowed to Rome. Other powers quaked and fell before her and Roman hegemony threatened to crush all before it.

Many European countries have archaeological and museum projects to study, and preserve the artefacts of the Roman Empire. The effects of her influence can be traced in western civilisation, but it is only vestige. Rome exists only in her ruins.

The same is true of all great empires. Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Greece all had their dawn, noon, dusk and nightfall. The great Khmer empire is now only decaying rubble at Angkor Wat. Where is the Qing dynasty of China, the Vijayanagaran Empire of India or the once-great shogunates of Japan?

All earth’s kingdoms go to the dustbin of history within temporal time and pass to insignificance in eternal time. Augustine summarised it thus in the dying days of the Roman Empire: the cities of men fade while the city of God endures and flourishes.

Meanwhile we live in earth’s cities. Jesus paid his taxes and submitted to civil legal process. Paul teaches us to submit even to bad government (Nero was Emperor when Paul wrote Romans 12:1-7). Peter urges submission to earthly authority (1 Pet 2:13-17) and was probably himself martyred in Rome under these same authorities. Further, we are told to pray and give thanks for kings and those in authority with the goal of being free to live quiet and peaceful lives (1 Tim 2:1-2).

All this helps us relate to national day as Singapore enjoys the noonday sun of history. Christian people should be thankfully and positively engaged with our earthly city – knowing that it is God who has placed us here.

Let us be good citizens of this earthly city. But let us know that Singapore’s day in the sun will pass. Future tourists and scholars will peer at her ruins and vestiges. Can we imagine Shenton Way and Orchard Road strewn with rubble and relics where archaeologists pick and poke?

Above all, lets keep the great love and hope of our hearts on the city that is to come - which is the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Heb 12:22; 13:14). This heavenly city is our lasting nation, for the rest is ruins.