My idol factory

Growing up I never took seriously the Bible’s warnings against idolatry as I thought there were not that relevant. Maybe in Thailand where bus drivers take their hands off the wheel to say a silent prayer at every Buddha shrine they drive past! Very few of us have private shrines in our homes to other gods. How wrong I was. Idolatry is, according to Roman 1, the underlying sin of our age as people have “worshipped and served created things rather than the creator”. Our hearts are idol factories.

Ten Commandments

Have no other Gods before me, is the first commandment. The Bible is not politically correct and the competition commission would certainly not be happy. But God demands that we treasure him alone for he is the only God. This means turning from rebellion towards God and trusting in Jesus.

Have no idols, the second command, clarifies the first. To have other gods before God is idolatry. An idol can be ANYTHING that takes the place of God in your life. ANYTHING that demands your devotion and where you seek your security and significance. ANYTHING you treasure instead of God.

It could be the sex idol. You know you’re serving this god when you demand sex - when you want it, how you want it and you’re angry when you don’t get it. You’re even willing to hire an escort, watch porno or swing with someone else’s wife.

The work idol demands that we spend all our daylight hours in the office and only see our children on weekends

The money idol demands that your happiness is caught up with the JSE.

The leisure idol allows you to worship Jesus at church only when the weather on Sundays is too windy to go the beach or not wet enough to stay in bed.

The worship of the acceptance idol calls for your Facebook status to be changed every hour and it is also because of the worship of this idol that girlfriends allow boyfriends to take naked photos of them.
Of course there are also religious idols like my right-doctrine idol or my moral-record idol, and even my ministry-achievement idol.

The media calls you to worship these and other idols by “worship-calling”, known also as advertising.

So, do you worship Jesus alone, or some other idol? Do you strive to keep the first two commandments?

Are you a (irritating) compulsive grumbler?

Have you been to a braaivleis recently? Did you come home depressed because of the compulsive grumblers? I did. Too much corruption in the government! Too much unemployment! Too much crime! The petrol price. The schools. The youth. The weather! You name the subject, it gets grumbled about. Perhaps even more seriously, we grumble privately to ourselves: Life is so unfair. My salary is too low. If only God would… Grumble, grumble, grumble. Grumbling should be declared our national hobby! What astounds me is that Christians are often the biggest grumblers.

It may astound you too to know that in the Old Testament after God had supernaturally, miraculously and powerfully rescued the Israelites from Egypt and killed their enemies (read Exodus 15!) they grumbled about how unfair life was at the first opportunity. The Bible reveals some deep insights into the truth about grumbling:

1. Grumbling is always against God
Moses reminds the discontented crowd in Ex 16:8 that they are not grumbling against him, but against God. Interesting point. The God the Bible presents us with is the Sovereign God who controls and purposes all things, even calamity (c. Ex 4:11, Ps 115:3, Eph 1:11). Therefore when you grumble about the government you are really grumbling against God who ordained and appointed that government. When you grumble about South Africa want to emigrate, you are grumbling against God who ordained that you were born in South Africa. King David sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite with adultery and murder. Yet, David could say in Psalm 51 that he sinned against God and God alone. Why? Sin is ultimately always against God! And therefore ultimately only God can forgive sin. The same with grumbling.

At the Lausanne Congress the sobering point was made that there are no countries “closed” to Christianity, only "countries where Christians are not currently willing to pay the price to take the gospel there." I may add “or to stay there”.

2. Grumbling is evidence that we make much of ourselves and not of God
The ultimate purpose of God rescuing the Israelites and killing the Egyptian army was not to that the Israelites could make much of themselves, but that God would be made much of. God acted to “gain glory” for himself (Ex 14:4, 17, 18). God was and is at work in the world and in our lives, not so that we may think we are something, but that we and the world may see that God is worthy of all glory. When we grumble about circumstances we show that we are more concerned about our happiness and comfort, than showing our confidence in the sovereign God to an unbelieving world. When we grumble we show that we are concerned for our own glory and not God’s.

3. Grumbling shows how spiritually immature we are
“Why do you keep on testing me?”, God asks the Israelites (Ex 17:2, 7). Did I not control nature for your rescue? Did I not open the Red Sea? Did I not destroy your enemies? If I have done all this for you, do you not think that I can and will keep on providing for you? Grumbling shows that we do not trust God in our present situation and that we are failing the maturity test. God ordains tough times for us so that we will keep trusting in him for our joy and his fame; instead we often distrust God by grumbling and rob ourselves of joy and bring dishonour on God’s name.

Romans 5:10 speaks to this: For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

If God did so much for us when we were his enemies, how much more will he keep doing for us now that we belong to Jesus? Stop grumbling and start trusting.

Claiming your miracle

I’m constantly surprised by the number of miracles crusades, healing services and even (I’m not lying!) raising the dead ceremonies in Cape Town in the name of Jesus. The basic premise underlying the theology of the organisers of these events is that signs, wonders and miracles should be common place in the Christian’s life. In fact, if they are not happening, you should doubt whether you are a real, bona fide Christian.

The Bible however would differ with the theology of the “signs & wonders” (S&W) movement. In the Bible S&W occur only twice: in the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt & in the time surrounding Jesus in the 1st century. God had said to Moses: “I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.” (Ex 3.20) Moses in turn told the Israelites that God would rescue them with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment (Ex 6.6). God’s purpose was to demonstrate his power, so He told Moses: “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you.” (Ex 7.3-4)

When God acts in history to rescue his people it is accompanied by signs and wonders. The same signs are to some (i.e. the Israelites & believing Egyptians) signs of salvation and to others (i.e. Pharaoh) “acts of judgment”. During the centuries after the Exodus there were no S&W! Indeed, one of the job descriptions of the prophets was to remind the Israelites of the how mightily God had acted in the Exodus. The prophets did not perform new S&W, but called God’s people to remember the S&W performed during God’s rescue in history (E.g. Micah 6.4, Jer. 11.1-4, 34.13 etc.) Life in Israel after the Exodus was not miracle crusade after miracle crusade, but rather dogged, relentless trust in the God who rescued them. The Israelites lived by faith, not by sight.

One fine day, after centuries of few miracles, a carpenter from Nazareth turned water into award-winning wine. Then he started healing people, exorcising demons, controlling nature and even raising corpses back to life. The ultimate wonder was Jesus himself dying on a Friday and then rising that Sunday. S&W accompanied those who were delegated by Jesus to carry on his work. God was acting in history to rescue his people again. Not from Pharaoh, but from Sin, Death and Satan. By the later writings in the New Testament we see few S&W. Paul does not heal Timothy, but tells him to take his medicine (1 Timothy 5:23).

Like the believers in the Old Testament, we are to life by faith not by sight. We are to put our faith in God’s recue on the basis of what Jesus has done in history. God may and does perform miracles and wonders today, but our faith should not depend on them, our theology should not demand them, and our gatherings should not insist on them.

Suffer the Child: Jesus' disarming of Satan

Judith Spencer, tells in her book (Suffer the child) of little Jenny who was born to a mother who was member of Satanic cult. As a pre-schooler she was initiated into this group and remembers how she read from a bible that cursed God and praised Satan. She watched people have sex on the devil’s alter and witnessed torture and sacrifice of dogs, cats, chickens, squirrels and goats. She experienced blood drawn from her genitals and skin scraped over her body for use in satanic communion rituals. The title of book is from a phrase that Jenny often heard the priest use, “Suffer the little children to come to me, for such is the kingdom of hell.” Two psychotherapists have been treating Jenny, as she created over 400 personalities as a method of psychic survival.

The big point is this: Satan is around and he seeks to destroy you, your family, your marriage and your children. The bible says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and Jesus referred to himself as the stronger one who attacks and overthrows Satan (Luke 11:20-22). How did Jesus do this? Colossians 2:13-15 gives us a good description:

At the cross Jesus made the forgiveness of our sins possible (v13). The written code that was against us was cancelled (v14). The written code was a signed acknowledgement of debt in those days, much like your house bond with ABSA bank or your credit card statement at the end of each month. The debt we owe though is death, because that is the consequence of sin. That written code was cancelled as Jesus paid up our debt by his substitutional death. More than that, he nailed it to the cross (v14). The picture here is the titulus which hung above the crucified person’s head listing their crimes. Our “written code” symbolically hung over Jesus head and he died for our crimes. Not only was the written code wiped out, but the document it was written on was destroyed. The result is that the (demonic) powers and authorities were disarmed or stripped of their power (v15). That means that Satan’s power to accuse us and demand our death has been lost. We belong to God and Satan has no hold over us. We are free to love God and say no to sin. At the cross Jesus overcame Satan for us.

A satanic strategy
Satan’s popular ploy is to remind us of old sins and evil we have done. He seeks to reassert his control over us by pretending that he can re-manufacture the “written code” and accuse us before God. Satan says things like: “God doesn’t forgive you. Those sins were too evil. You deserve God’s judgement. You don’t deserve God.”

Re-read that passage in Colossians and thank Jesus, the stronger Man.

Top Billing a.k.a. getting your priorities straight

I think the programme that I dislike most on TV is Top Billing. Top Billing idolizes luxury, extravagance, opulence and excess. So we strive for bigger mansions, more exclusive interior designers, softer carpets and heated towel railings. Before you ask (I know you will): I live in a comfortable house worth over a million rand and have just painted half of it inside so it looks nice.

What I am blogging for is perspective. Sure God gives us every good thing to enjoy and as Christians do deny or reject God’s good gifts would be dumb. But somehow I think that we as Christians have got our priorities somewhat lopsided.

God, through the prophet Haggai in the Old Testament, lashed out at his people for decorating their own home while the temple (God’s symbolic home) in Jerusalem was lying in ruins. God’s people had returned from 70 years in exile and their houses were in a mess and no doubt needed some attention. Yet, by the time of Haggai’s prophecy, God’s people had been back 19 years from exile and the temple remained unbuilt.

The excuse was that the timing was not quite right for the rebuilding (Haggai 1:2). Interestingly, the people did have time to decorate and beautify their own homes (1:4). The reason for this, according to God, was that the people did not fear or revere the LORD Almighty (1:12), nor did they live for his pleasure or honour (1:8). In other words, God’s people didn’t think much of God and were living for their own entertainment and comfort. As a result, their experienced lack of pleasing and judgment. Four times in the book of Haggai God says to his people, “What’s up with this, consider what you do!” God called for his people to make temple building their priority.

I bet that if you had to ask one of Haggai’s audience where God was on their priority list, they would have said that of course in first place. But actions speak louder than words.

The temple, which symbolised God’s presence, in a picture of Jesus, who is God’s presence with us. So now, if we want to worship and meet with God we don’t get on a plane to Jerusalem, but bow down to Jesus. Getting our priorities straight means prioritising our relationship with Jesus and prioritizing Jesus’ work. Too many of us spend too much of our time, talents and treasure on our own entertainment, comfort and home decoration, than on Jesus and his work (i.e. giving generously to gospel ministry, hospitality, serving the local church, encouraging others etc).

God says to us too: “What’s up with this?”

Is your church a cult?

You may be in great danger! 1 Timothy 4:1 in the bible says that some will “abandon the faith and follow the teachings of demons”. Interestingly, it does not say they will abandon faith. And so today we find many churches and organisations teaching all kinds of doctrines that people believe and put their faith in. The verse says that they will abandon “the” faith, that is, accepted, orthodox, biblical Christianity. Ultimately Satan, the master-deceiver and world-seducer, is behind all churches and groupings and denominations that abandon the truth of the bible as old-fashioned, irrelevant and naïve.

So how do you know if you’re in a cult?

1. Key doctrines are downplayed

For example: the authority & inspiration of the bible; the fact that all humanity is depraved through sin; Jesus’ death was penal substitution; through faith in Jesus alone were are members of God’s kingdom; Jesus is a model for all Christians; God has made male and female gender distinctions & sex outside marriage is sin; the reality of an eternal, conscious hell for unbelievers; Satan & demons are real etc.

2. Lots of legalism
Your church will have rules and regulations for your dress code, your activities, your finances, your time, your possessions and your relationships (including who you are permitted to marry. They will dictate to you who to see, what to do, what the right thing to say is and how to say it. Various degrees of control can be experienced, from subtle manipulation to blatant ordering. Obviously this is dangerous because in the process the gospel of God’s free grace in Jesus is distorted: No longer just Jesus, now Jesus plus obedience to our rules. Oh yes, I almost forgot, the rules don’t always apply to the leader!

3. Leaders are full of pride and have an unteachable spirit
Normally in cults the leader becomes untouchable by anyone. He is accountable to God only and everyone must obey what he says like it is God’s words.

4. Extra revelation from God
Cults regularly claim they that god has appeared to their leader and revealed a new message. It might be Joseph Smith of the Mormon “church”; pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy of the kingdom of Jesus Christ; David Koresh of the Branch Davidians; or your local minister who God appeared to last week. Time and again the new revelations refer to the end of the world and how the earthquake in China is a sign.

5. The only true church
If you ever hear something like this, “We are the only ones who are right. If you are not one of us, then you are destined for hell. We alone have the truth, so you must join us to be saved", then RUN!

Don’t fall for it
The way to make sure you don’t join a cult is to scrutinise the statement(s) of faith any particular church you are thinking of joining. Friendliness and good music are nice, but not the main criteria when looking for a church. Check that the church has a statement of faith where their core beliefs and values are spelt out. Ensure that the preaching is from the bible, in line with their faith-statements, to judge whether they have kept THE faith.

How do we love sinners yet hate sin?

Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, not those who think God is impressed with them. Jesus hung out with sinners, even endured being called an alcoholic and glutton, for the sake of the gospel.

How do we also befriend, hang-out with, and engage sinners who sin, without compromising our own godliness? What do we do when we find out the couple we are trying to build a friendship with are swingers? Or the friend from the pilates class, who I invited for a chicken salad, snorts coke? Or the guys from the office circulate who porn?

Jesus’ example in John 8 helps us.

1. Treat sinners with dignity and respect
The woman is caught in adultery. Adultery is grievous to God, even punishable by stoning according to Old Testament law. She deserved to die. Yet Jesus treat her with honour and respect, even calling her “woman”, the same word he called him mother in John 2. Big lesson: Sinners (even bad sinners) are humans, created in the image of God and should be treated as such.

2. Call sin sin
Jesus however did not compromise on the reality of sin. Jesus did not excuse her sin or avoid talking about it. He said to her, “leave your life of sin”, implying that it was a sinful life! We should not be too embarrassed or intimidated to call sin sin. We can be open and honest when asked our opinion or when called to give advise.

3. Remain godly at all times
Jesus was a heterosexual male in his earl 30’s. This woman, presumably half-dressed, caught having sex is put on display in front of him. Yet, Jesus remains godly, full of integrity and self-control. We are called to the same. We need to be discerning as to what were we can participate and when we have to back off and possibly even leave the situation or decline the invite. Compromise our godliness would be selling out, not reaching out.

4. Point sinners to Jesus
The religious leaders actually did quite a good thing for the sinful woman: they bought her to Jesus, the only one who can deal with her sin. Unfortunately, when the leaders’ sin was exposed, they slunk away from the source of forgiveness. Our over-arching aim in being friends with non-Christians is to point and introduce them to Jesus.


5. Call for repentance
Once this woman was introduced to Jesus and forgiven, Jesus commanded her to leave her life of sin. We should expect the same from our friends who came to know Jesus. No longer excuses or justifications for an ongoing lifestyle of habitual sin, but rather a renewed passion for holiness and obedience to the bible.

Outstanding issue
The Old Testament law demanded that the woman be punished by death. How could Jesus simply forgive her and thus break a law of God? Actually, the law was upheld! The woman’s sin was punished by death - Jesus’ death. Jesus died for her sins. Jesus died for your adultery and pride and greed too.

Why re-weddings are good

This weekend a couple in our church who’ve been married forty-one years renewed their marriage vows. The reason was two-fold: forty-one years ago they were married in court and on top of that they were both not Christians. Today she has been converted for many years and has prayed faithfully for her husband. A few months ago he too entered Jesus’ Kingdom.

So they renewed their vows in front of the church and we were all very encouraged. In fact, I think this was the first wedding ceremony that I’ve officiated that I can say that the couple knew exactly what they were doing! The wedding couple have a disabled son and have been through their fair share of hard times. For them to promise to love and care for each other “in prosperity and distress” and “in sickness and in health” was especially meaningful.

We were reminded that the Bible says that marriage is a present, a promise and a picture.

A present: Marriage is a present from God for our joy and good. Marriage is not a human idea created by a theological symposium or brainstorming workshop. Therefore we cannot change or alter it, but must respect and treasure it.

A promise: In our version of the marriage ceremony the couples say “I will”, not “I do” because they are making promises for the future, not simply stating what may be true at the preset.

A picture: Ultimately marriage is a picture of Jesus relationship with his people. Jesus is the best bridegroom who sacrifices all for his bride, the church. The reunion in the future in the new heavens and new earth between Jesus and his people is often referred to as a wedding banquet in the bible.

Eat, drink, and be a missionary

The two typical ways that Christians relate to society is either assimilation or refection.

Assimilation: We blend into our culture so much that no-one can tell that we are Christians! We do not take sin or the bible seriously. Young people having sex, living together and then getting married is the norm and there is no substantial difference between the ruthless, ambitious, workaholic Christian businessman and his non-Christian counterpart. Assimilation is easy, any wimp can do it.

Rejection: We withdraw from non-Christian society and culture with the excuse that we are seeking to be holy. We spend our time fellowship with Christians and Christian braai’s and neglect our non-Christian friends and colleagues. Church becomes a force field against an evil, “what is the world coming to” society. We constantly pray for Jesus to come and rescue us, while smiting the rest of humanity. Rejection too is easy.

God’s way of relating to society is more difficult. God commands us to engage with society (no rejection!), while being the distinctive people of God he has called us to be (no assimilation!). Or like Jesus prayed, we are to be in the world not of the world. Peter wrote, “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

Jeremiah too had this perspective in Jeremiah 29:1-14. He told God’s people in exile in a pagan society to build houses, to get married and take out car insurance. He told them to engage their society, without selling out.

We are all called to this: Engaging our society for Jesus, while being the distinctive people of God. This is why Peter called the Christians he was writing to “exiles/ aliens” (1 Peter 2:11). God has called you to a mission for Jesus. God wants you to connect with your society for Jesus.

Bad shepherds

What makes a good church? An expensive building, a charismatic pastor, a Hillsong sound-a-like band, entertaining sermons with loads of jokes, comfortable chairs, lots of young people, lots of girls, a weird spiritual ambiance or possibly cake after the sermon?

According to Acts 20 one of the most important ingredients of a good church is faithful shepherds or elders. How will we know if the shepherd is faithful or reckless?

In Acts 20:28 Paul tells the Ephesian elders, "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood."

1. The faithful shepherd keeps watch over himself.

We have all heard of prominent Christians and pastors who have disqualified themselves from ministry and have been really bad witnesses to Jesus. Paul commends shepherds to carefully keep examining their own lives. Shepherds should be godly (v18); should be wiling to suffer hardships and not a lover of comfort (v19); should exhibit a zeal for Jesus and not be happy with the present spiritual status quo(v20); should be content and not covetous (v33) and love those under his care, not detached (v36-37). The three big areas of temptation for shepherds has always been Gold, Girls and Glory.

Dr. Billy Graham, a consciously godly pastor, made a decision for himself and his associates that none of them should be alone with another woman, other than their own wife or immediate family.
And the a very faithful pastor in past years, Robert Murray M’Cheyne observed, “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God."

Ask yourself: Is there a concern for godliness in my church? Am I praying for the holiness of my church leaders?

2. The faithful shepherd keeps watch over the flock

The chief duty of the shepherd is to tend, nurture, feed and care for the flock. He does this because of the high value of the sheep (v28) and to please Jesus (v19, 24). How does he tend the flock? Paul uses the words: preach (v20), teach (v20), testify (v24), preaching the kingdom (v25) and proclaim (v27).

In other words, the chief means the shepherd is to care for the flock is by a word based ministry. Teaching and preaching the bible must be the main thing the pastor does. Unfortunately, often the pastor is seen as the organiser, the administrator, the counsellor, the therapist or the handy-man! Sometimes church services contain everything, besides preaching and teaching. There may be music, video clips, drama, dancing and testimonies, but no thorough explanation of a biblical passage.

Ask yourself: Do I make us of all teaching opportunities? Do I talk and pray with friends about the sermon? Do I pray regularly for my church leaders that they commit themselves to study the bible rigorously, carefully and earnestly? Do I pray that God will lead them to understand the bible and apply it to their lives and apply it wisely to church’s life?

3. The faithful shepherd watches for wolves

The biggest threat to sheep in the 1st century was wolves. Wolves could quite easily destroy an entire flock of sheep.

Acts 20:29-31 says, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

Wolves refer to those in the church, used by Satan, to “distort the truth and draw away disciples”. Church becomes like Survivor on SABC 3 with coalitions, power plays and bullying. The faithful shepherd not only teaches sound doctrine, but also warns (v31) of proponents of false doctrine and ungodliness, inside and outside the church.

Ask yourself: Are my views, doctrines and opinions in line with what the bible teaches? Am I creating disunity in my sphere of influence in the church? Do I pray for discernment for my church leaders?

What makes a good church? The church leaders are godly; they teach the bible faithfully; and error is identified and dealt with!

Spirituality kills

There are very few old school atheists around today. Most people believe in god, an unseen spiritual world and the existence of evil. Most people pray especially when facing difficulty or illness. There are numerous books on “higher consciousness”, “channelling”, “conversations with God” and your “personal angel”. Day time talk show hosts advocate prayer, though it’s your preference as to who or what you would like to pray to. Our world is very spiritual, but they have no clue about Jesus.

We could have been in Ephesus in the 1st Century. A very spiritual city - even boasting the temple of Artemis - but ignorant about Jesus. They prayed, recited special chants, wore good luck amulets to ward of evil and also believed in the existence of personal “spiritual assistants” who helped out from time to time. The average Ephesian practised magic as a way to manipulate whatever god was available to help in the desired way, like getting a girl to like you.

Paul entered the city and taught about the real God Jesus. Many Ephesians believed the truth about Jesus and according to Acts 19.19, “A number who had practised sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly.”

The mass book burning bonfire was not protest action against the government for poor service delivery, but a visible demonstration of their repentance. Many realised that not all spirituality is good. In fact, spirituality without Jesus is useless, so you might as well burn your (very expensive) books on Wicca or higher consciousness.

However, you (yes YOU!) may say, I don’t worship any goddess or practise magic! Well, our gods and our magic are much more subtle today.

We worship gods like Economy-God, who even has his own prophets called “economists”, who preach sermons called “business reports”. We listen intently to these sermons and if the Economy-God does well our country will be blessed and all will be well.

We revere Money-God. He loves being worshipped at stadiums and his instrument of praise is the vuvuzela. When Money-God, also known as Fifa, hears his praise-summons he will come and bless our country and all will be well.

We venerate Child-God. We give Child-God all he wants lest his holy wrath descends on us in the form of a temper tantrum.

We honour Me-God. Me-God’s preferred place of worship is the divorce court, where Me-God can maintain his happiness, hobbies and Sony playstation.

Of course we also adore Sex-God, Status-God, Comfort-God and Mother Earth.

The truth about Jesus demands repentance: that we stop worshipping false gods and turn to the real God who has made himself known. How about a mass bonfire today as a visible demonstration of our repentance? We could burn our porno collections, our books on white magic, copies of the John Edwards show and all our little black books with cell numbers of old girl/boyfriends. In other words, we turn from these false gods in our lives and we worship Jesus.

The next blog will be on the acceptable “magic” we practise today, and why that too is useless.

Have you experienced the second blessing?

Pentecostals often refer to and preach from Acts 19:1-6 to promote second blessing theology (SBT). SBT teaches that the normative Christian practice is first to accept Jesus as Lord and then, secondly, to have another separate, distinct experience of the baptism of the Spirit. During this second experience the Christian is said to be filled with the Spirit, normally this “blessing” is accompanied with speaking in “tongues”.

In Ephesus Paul found twelve “disciples” (v1). Normally in Acts “disciples” refers to Christians, but it turns out from Paul’s questioning that these people are not Christians, but repentant Jews. Paul probably thought they were Christians at first.

To gauge their spiritual state, Pauls asks (v2), "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" Paul did not ask did you receive the Spirit when you attended the course or when you prayed a special prayer or when you truly entered a new level of obedience in your Christian life! Paul associates receiving the Holy Spirit with believing (i.e. believing in Jesus).

They answered (v2), "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Naturally Paul is bewildered so asks (v3), "Then what baptism did you receive?" Paul wants to know whose teachings there are following, with whom they associate themselves with. They reply (v3), “John’s baptism”. In other words, these disciples had agreed with John the baptizer that they should repent and await the promised king, who would baptise – not with water – but with the Holy Spirit (v4).

We realise, with Paul, that these “disciples” were repentant Jews awaiting their promised king, not Christians. The Holy Spirit is instrumental to Christian conversion and life (Romans 8:9) and they had no clue about him!
These “disciples” were like many people today. They have heard of the reality of God, a promised king, of sin, of repentance, but have no clue about Jesus and therefore they do not have the Spirit’s empowering presence.

What’s the remedy? The disciples receive instruction about Jesus (v4-5). Here is a good lesson: For a person to receive the Holy Spirit, they need instruction – not about the Spirit – but instruction about Jesus! The disciples learn about Jesus, the promised king, and receive baptism in Jesus’ name and as a result immediately and inevitably receive the Holy Spirit (v6).

Becoming a Christian and receiving the Spirit are aspects of the same experience and go hand in hand. It is impossible to have one without the other, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians years later in Ephesians 1:13 “…Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…”

The visible evidence of the baptism of the Spirit was speaking in tongues and prophesying (v6), as sometimes happened elsewhere in Acts.

Capetonian idols

The bible regularly condemns idolatry, yet many Christians do not think it is an issue in the 21st century. Cape Town contains no shrines to Baal, Molech, Artemis or Caesar. How are we to understand idolatry?

In Acts 17 Paul visits one of the cultural centres of the known world with its unparalleled architecture, art and philosophy. Rather than being over-awed by the Athens’ beauty, Paul is provoked to anger by the fact that the city is submerged in idols.

Anger, by the way, is a very Christian emotion as God and Jesus were provoked to anger by the golden calf and the phony worship in Jerusalem’s temple. Ephesians 4:26 tells us to be angry (at the things God is angry with), but not to sin in that anger.

If Paul had walked around our city, he would have the same reaction. Here are some of our idols that are worshipped as gods:

The money god
We have built magnificent alters to this god for when he finally visits our country in June/ July. We call the alters “stadiums” and believe that when this great god comes to bless our country all will be well. All gods (even false ones) demand sacrifice, and we have sacrificed the basic needs of the poor.

The sex god
The alters are called Teasers and Mavericks. This god is also worshipped in hundreds of brothels, hotel rooms and private studies on the internet. Men sacrifice their families, and their emotional and physical health.

The children god
In DSM4 a new mental disorder is diagnosed: Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Young people are growing up thinking there are god and life revolves around them. Being a celebrity is a major goal of most teenagers. The biggest cause of this disorder is parents over-praising their offspring and always giving them what they want. Parents bring gifts of Playstation and iphones and the child god blesses them with a few hours of peace. Parents sacrifice the long term good of all involved.

The lifestyle god
Work is the alter of this god, and the great hope is lifestyle maintenance. This god demands a big house, two new cars, fashionable clothes and children at snobby schools. We sacrifice family relationship and spiritual growth as there is little time for either.

The comfort god
Comfort and wellbeing of devotees are this god’s great promise. This god may demand that followers move to a “safe” country to be better worshipped. Devotees are happy to sacrifice a good church, extended family, support structures and their Christian witness. Devotees are prone to ignore Acts 17:26 that says the true God has determined the exact places where we should live.

Other miscellaneous gods
Of course, there is the wife god, the husband god, the fame god, the status god, the sport god, the beer god, the TV god, the food god (his name is DEFY), the recreation god and the my possessions god, to name a few.

We, like Paul, should be provoked to anger at these false gods in our city and in our own hearts. Our city is indeed submerged with idols and needs to be confronted with the one true God – Jesus – who is creator, sustainer, ruler, father and judge.


ps. Lets support Bafana without putting our hope and confidence the FIFA world cup to transform and revive our country!

the first mythbusters

In Acts 17.1-15 Paul deals with and destroys 9 popular myths that we are prone to believe:

1. Religiosity can save you
If religiosity could save anyone, it would have been first century Jewish people. Many lived in Gentile cities and held fast to their traditions and distinctives. It is interesting to note that Paul went to these religious types first to tell them about Jesus (v1). Jesus saves, not religion.

2. The Old Testament is irrelevant
Paul explained from the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus was the promised king (v2). The OT people, practises and prophecies prepare us for Jesus and elsewhere in the New Testament Paul explained that the OT was written for Christians (Romans 15.4). The whole bible is God’s word to us.

3. Christianity is an irrational leap of faith
Many of our friends equate believe in Jesus with belief in unicorns. However, v2 tells us that Paul reasoned, explained and proved that Jesus was the promised king. Christianity is a rational, logical, historically-verifiable belief in a supernatural God.

4. Jesus can mean different things to different people
I’m sure you’ve heard your Greenpeace-supporting friends say something like, “My Jesus is far more affirming, enabling and non-judgmental.” According to v3 (“this Jesus…is the Christ”) there is only one Jesus - the historical Jesus of the Bible. Either you are following him or you are following a non-existent figment of your biased imagination.

5. More people will become Christians if we have a Christian government
You might be surprised to note the Paul’s priority (and Jesus’ priority) was not to start a political party, take over the government or even establish a NGO. Paul went around talking about Jesus in order to plant churches. Without negating the need for Christians to be engaged in every sphere of society, including government, we must remember that the only way to transform society is for individuals to be persuaded (v4) to follow Jesus.

6. Christians should not suffer or face hardships
This is a no-brainer. Simply read the New Testament, including our passage. Paul faced more hardship especially because he was a Christian.

7. Your faith is a private matter between you and God
According to the Bible this can never be true. Jesus influences our thoughts, priorities, speech, actions and worldview. V6 tells us that that the early followers of Jesus, in one translation of the Bible, “turned the world upside down”. There is no such thing as closet Christianity.

8. Jesus can be your saviour without being your lord
Part of the charge against the early Christians was that they were “defying Caesar’s decrees, saying there is another king, one called Jesus” (v7). Caesar was venerated as a god by the Emperor Cult. We are not in danger of worshipping Caesar, but we are in danger of venerating modern day “gods” like self, lifestyle and family. These idols are good gifts from God that we are tempted to treat as gods. Gods always demand obedience and sacrifice. We either worship Jesus or another “god”, and if Jesus is not our lord and king, he cannot be our saviour.

9. Preachers are always right
Acts described the Bereans as noble (v11) for two reasons: they were eager to listen to the bible explained and they always checked that what the preacher said was backed up by the bible. In other words, take your bible with you to church!

The definitive sacrifice and scapegoat

This past Friday was especially good. We remembered specifically Jesus' death to secure our ultimate good. For the first time ever I preached from the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. What was I smoking you may ask?!What drew me to Leviticus was the recent popular denial of Jesus' death as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of God. Jesus is seen as an enlightened teacher from the realm of light, or a good moral example for our children to follow or even the ultimate chinese ying-yang who restores balance to the universe.

The bible, on the other hand, pictures Jesus' death in terms of sacrifice and scapegoat. Leviticus 16 describes what should have happened on the day of atonement. The key words are blood and death. Amongst other violent deaths, a bull had to die to cover the sins of the high priest and his family. Why does God demand violence and death? Should we report God to the SPCA as an animal-torturer? God was teaching the guys back then and us today that sin is serious. Sin is our personal offense to a righteous God. The priest should have his throat slit for offending God, but God graciously permits the animal to die in the sinner's place. The next sin offering consisted of two goats. The lucky one got to live. The unlucky one got his throat slit to make atonement for the sins of God's people. The priest then put his hands on Billy the breathing goat's head and confessed the sins and offenses of God's people. A certain man then lead Billy into the wilderness, and that scapegoat was never seen again. Ever.

The Bible says that this two-fold sin-offering pictures the means and results of atonement, including our definitive atonement through the death of Jesus. Sin is atoned for by a subtituionary sacrifice and the results are that our sin, guilt and shame are removed from us forever. Hebrews 9 spells this out.

You deserve to have your puny throat slit for disobeying a holy, infinite God. If you feel insulted right now, you either have too high a view of yourself or too low a view of God.