A lesson from Haji

Haji, a practising Muslim from Zanzibar, came to stay at my place for a month a few years ago.  We had a super time sightseeing, eating, laughing, biting shopping malls (yes , I know its seems unbelievable!)  and enjoying Cape Town. Yet, often times we had to cut our trip short in order for Haji to get back to the house in time to ceremonially wash and recite the prayers.  Haji is a moral, honest, upright man who is seeking to live the best life possible to please Allah.  Haji’s worldview says, “I perform, in order to be accepted”.

 The gospel according to Jesus found in the Bible is totally opposite.  The gospel says, “I’m accepted, therefore I perform”.  We see this truth clearly in Mark 2:14 when Jesus calls a “sinner” to become a disciple.  The account reads:

As he (Jesus) walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

 Levi was a Jew who worked for the revenue service of the Romans.  We as ostracized hated and excluded.  He was not good, nor religious, nor upright.  Yet Jesus calls him to follow.  Levi followed.  He became known as Matthew and had a profound influence on generations of Christians through the book he authored (The Gospel of Matthew). He was accepted by Jesus, therefore he performed and obeyed and changed. 

 Haji’s religion (and all religion) says “You need to perform to be accepted”.  The Bible tells us to admit we can never perform enough to be accepted by God, but rather to confess our wrongs and sins, and to accept what Jesus has done for us.

 Do you constantly feel guilty that you are never performing quite enough?  Not praying enough? Not witnessing enough? Not working enough? Not preaching enough?  Perhaps you need to remind yourself of the gospel of Jesus.

Do not be anxious

We South Africans are anxious about many things.  I think anti-depressants are one of the most commonly prescribed medications in our country.  We are anxious about the future, our jobs, the crime rate, our retirement, our bank balance, our politics, our relationship or lack or relationships, and the list goes on.

Jesus disciples in Luke 12 also had good reason to be anxious.  The religious system hated their master and opposition was growing. Jesus gave the disciples and us three big reasons as to why we should not be anxious:

1.  God is big

In v4-5 Jesus says: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.  But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.” IOW Jesus says that you should fear the right thing, God.  Fearing the right thing will prevent you from fearing the wrong things.  Remember that God is big and people are small.

2.  God cares

In v6-7 Jesus says:  “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God…Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Jews needed to buy animals for sacrifice at the temple. The law made a provision for the poorest of the poor to sacrifice birds.  One penny could buy you two sparrows (Matthew 10:29) or two pennies could buy you five sparrows (v6).  The fifth, extra sparrow was thrown in for free; it was “worthless”; it was of no value.  Jesus says that if God cares for that odd sparrow, how much more will he care his people?

 3. God knows

In v29-30 Jesus says: “And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.  For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.”
Those people who are not saved by God and do not follow Jesus are generally obsessed with meeting their perceived needs.  Of course, this is understandable if you consider this world to be all there is.  Jesus says that our lives should not be obsessed with our material needs because, quite simply, God knows.  God is Sovereign.  God cares for his people.  God knows. 

 The command to “not be anxious” is directed to those who are following Jesus, those you are seeking first God’s Kingdom.  What are you anxious about right now?  Don’t be anxious; God is big, he cares, he knows.

Does God allow divorce?

To sum up the Bible’s teaching’s on marriage and divorce:

1. Marriage is the sacred union between one man and one woman and God’s intention is for marriage to last a lifetime.

2. Divorce is not always sinful.

3. Divorce is permitted, but not required, on the ground of sexual immorality.

4. Divorce is permitted, but not required, on the ground of desertion by an unbelieving spouse.

5. When the divorce was not permissible, any subsequent remarriage results in adultery.

6. In situations where the divorce was permissible, remarriage is also permissible.

7. Improperly divorced and remarried Christians should stay as they are, but repent and be forgiven of their past sins and make whatever amends are necessary.

* This points are from Kevin DeYoung’s brilliant paper: “What did Jesus think of divorce and remarriage” (http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2010/11/03/a-sermon-on-divorce-and-remarriage/)

The most important thing

What is the most important issue in your life right now? Your exams, your job, your upcoming wedding, your children, your girlfriend, your cancer?  Jesus, in Mark 2, speaks to what’s really important.

Friends bring a paralysed man to Jesus, who by this stage is a semi-famous miracle worker.  The paralysed man is lowered to Jesus through a desperately-made opening in the flat-roofed house.  Jesus sees this physically handicapped man and says to him, quite surprisingly, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Why is Jesus so insensitive and tactless?  Surely he realised the desperate man needed healing.  The key is to see that Jesus knew that the paralysed man’s physical handicap wasn’t his biggest, deepest problem.  Jesus knew that the man had a far greater issue.   Jesus knew he was a sinner estranged from his Creator and because the man was estranged from God he would not only suffer in this world, but he would also suffer in the world to come, for all eternity, in hell. Jesus knew what his big issue was, and so said, “Son, our sins are forgiven”.  Jesus extended to the spiritually paralysed man forgiveness and new life for all eternity.  His new life would start that very day and have no end. 

What is the biggest issue you’re facing right now?  What’s causing you the most joy or the most pain?  Remember that as a Christian, Jesus has dealt with your biggest problem and that you now belong to him.  He cares and control.  He empowers and enables.  If you are not a Christian yet, make sure that deal with the biggest issue before you get caught up in the others.

Oh yes, just to prove that he does care about the other issues too, Jesus tells the paralysed man to stand up and walk home.

Earthquakes and the end times

Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 have been badly misunderstood over the years!  Jesus said in Matthew 24: 4-6, “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth-pains.”

The disciples had asked Jesus when the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed and when the end of the world as-they-knew-it would be.  In Jewish thinking the destruction of the temple would me the end of the present age. 

Jesus replies that life will go on as normal.  In the Middle East, then as now, there are always wars and rumours of wars.  There always have been famines and earthquakes.  We simply know about them because of CNN and Sky News.  Since the fall of man in Genesis 3 the earth has been experiencing the groans of birth pains (Romans 8).  Jesus whole point is that we don’t know when the end of the present age will be! Life will carry on as normal and then the end (or really the beginning) will come.  That’s the whole point of verses 37-39: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

The sudden destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD (v4-35) will be a small picture of the sudden, unexpected return of Jesus (v36-44).   

The irony of Jesus

At Jesus baptism, a voice speaks from heaven and says, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." (Mark 1:8)  The voice (aka God the Father) echoes Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1.  What makes this astounding is the two radically different people these two passages refer to. 

Psalm 2 refers to God’s great anointed King who will rule forever over God’s people and shatter all God’s enemies.  It is a psalm about the enthronement of the godly king and the futility of rebelling against him.

 Isaiah 42 is quite different.  Isaiah 42 introduces us to the suffering servant of God who is crushed and bruised and beaten.  He dies for the sins of others and wounded for others’ transgressions. He is smitten, afflicted and led to the slaughter (see Isaiah 53).

 At Jesus’ baptism, God the Father makes it clear that both the king and the servant are combined in Jesus.  Jesus is God’s king who will rule forever and who will smash his enemies.  Jesus is also the servant who establishes his rule by dying and rising again.  Jesus dies for the sins of others so that others may join him in his kingdom. 

 Many first century people failed to see the irony of Jesus. They failed to see that glory and suffering must go together. Have you understood the irony?

Is the gospel good news?

The word “gospel” was not a particularly Christian word at the time of the writing of the New Testament in the first Century Roman Empire.

Gospel was simply the word used for momentous news of a historic event that would no doubt bring a new situation or circumstances. For example, the news of a new Emperor being crowned was called gospel, as was the news of victory in battle by the Roman legions, ushering in a era of relative peace.

The gospel of the crowning of a new Emperor was good news if you were a senator in good standing with the new Caesar. The gospel was bad news if there was enmity and distrust between you and the Emperor-elect.  When Mark decided to quill his life-story of Jesus, he introduced his papyrus with the words: The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1).  Or to put it another way: Here begins my account of the momentous, historical news about the real king called Jesus.

This gospel is good news if you are willing to submit to Jesus and be part of his new kingdom. However, this gospel is extremely bad news if you refuse to submit to his rule by stubbornly continuing to life live your own way.

The words describing Jesus as “Son of God” where also particularly meaningful to Mark’s original readers. The common and official title of Augustus Caesar (Emperor at time of Jesus’ birth; nephew of Julius Caesar) was “Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of god.” Another inscription refers to Augustus as “The Emperor Caesar, son of god, Augustus, ruler of all land and sea.” A later Roman coin, said this of Emperor Tiberius, Augustus’s stepson: “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” Emperors in the Roman Empire were worshipped as Gods and sons of God. We now call this religious phenomenon the “Emperor Cult”. Mark wrote into this cultural context and described Jesus as: the Christ, the Son of God.

Mark, who knew the apostle Peter well, wanted to “publish” the gospel concerning Jesus for a wider audience and for future generations. Mark, like Peter, was convinced that Jesus of Nazareth, not Caesar, was the ruler of all land and sea and the true Son of God. The rest of Mark’s book goes on to show us why Mark was convinced of these things.