Serving Zion

The streets were packed last night right after the New Year’s celebrations. Everyone wanted to be in the city to welcome with hope a new, more positive year than the last – so the cars were jammed in every direction like never before and busses were refusing passengers for lack of standing room.

It so happened that on the ride home, two ladies were talking about one of their friends who was suffering from nightmares in which she was being attacked by demons. While I sat quietly, listening as a bystander, I decided to offer an insight just before disembarking.

To my surprise it also was the same stop on which they were disembarking, and as we stepped off the bus, the lady who had been most enthusiastic in their conversation (the one who was talking to the one whose friend was being tormented), she was trying to get established with me, asking “what are you, are you a Christian or…”, “Christian!? what kind? are you ‘born again’?” and of course it was obvious to make a point then that only those who are born again can actually see the kingdom of God.

Well, right at that moment I saw a beautiful green moth on the footpath, having nearly been trampled by the mob of passengers and being only spared by half an inch, so I stooped down to save him. He crawled on to my finger and tried to flutter away but fell straight to the ground again – seemingly blind or disoriented or just lost at night time but otherwise healthy.

So I picked him up again and, carefully cupped in my hands, began carrying him to a safer place.

The two ladies had already walked on, not concerned or even interested in the beautiful moth, and not even slightly aware of how nearly they had crushed him. So it got me thinking and reflecting on it all.

Among the ideas such as John 3:36 (those who do not see life), Proverbs 12:10, John 5:44 – the most interesting was the parable of the Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37. There, Jesus was asked by a man who was a lawyer (a man that had made the interpretation of God’s law his profession) he tried to exalt himself over Jesus, saying: “teacher, what must I do in order to inherit eternal life?”.

Jesus responded by asking him to answer for himself: “What has been written in the law of God? What is your reading of it?”.

In typical fashion, as a sinner who had been taken captive by sin, the man did not go toward the opportunity for conviction. Instead, he chose an answer that he believed would justify him according to the life he was living:

“you shall love God with all your heart, soul and strength; and you shall love your neighbour as yourself”

The Lawyer, Luke 10:27

No doubt he believed himself to be a keeper of the law and that nobody could possibly accuse him otherwise, and so we see Jesus’ wisdom: although knowing that the man was evading conviction, did not accuse him of dishonesty but just as St. Paul has described , He emptied Himself and gave the man a response according to love:

“your answer is right. Do this and you shall live”.

Jesus Christ, Luke 10:28

The lawyer was trapped! He had begun the conversation with a challenge toward Jesus: “teacher, tell me why I can’t have eternal life!”. He did this to prove that he was capable of confounding Jesus, but it turns out that although he had not equipped Jesus with any evidence of his own sin, he was in the difficult position of having claimed to have kept the law and being therefore entitled to everlasting life while yet having sought the expressed assurance from Jesus that he will inherit it . Although Jesus did not condemn the lawyer, the lawyer did not hear the words of Jesus as an assurance but as a conviction.

The lawyer was convicted not by any charge of Jesus’ accusation but by his own conscience – and to his commendation, he did not pretend to be satisfied with Jesus’ answer . Instead we see that he wanted to justify himself (v29). It was then that he yielded and subjected himself to Jesus’ judgement, saying “and who is my neighbour?”.

Jesus understood the man’s tendency to discriminate against Samaritans according to his culture. (In those days, the Jews were regarded as the ones having the authentic religion of God. The Samaritans were regarded as Gentiles by the Jewish people: unclean, simple/beastly, brutish, uncivilised, immoral etc, and the Samaritans knew their identity in that way). So to answer him, Jesus told the story of a Jewish man who was beaten by robbers and left for dead:

Two Jewish people walked by the man and did not have any compassion. They had no interest in helping but in fact passed by on the other side of the road. They obviously would not think twice if the man had died on the side of the road. Instead, it was a Samaritan – someone who had always been despised (thought of as little/insignificant/worthless) by the Jews – that is the one who went out of his way to help the man.

In fact, not only did the Samaritan stop and help, but Jesus describes in more detail exactly what love would do: the Samaritan treated the man’s wounds and brought him to a hotel on his own donkey. The next day he paid the hotelier to look after the man, pledging to pay whatever extra it had cost to keep the man until he had recovered.

The Samaritan was not looking for any favour or reward, and nor did he have any malice for the Jewish man despite having always been looked down upon by people like him.

Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’

Jesus Christ, Luke 10:36

.. the lawyer answered according to his conviction: “the one who showed him mercy”.

If the lawyer had only been concerned with the most correct definition of the word, he would have to give an answer that is consistent with the dictionary:

Neighbour:
1. one living or located near another

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Since proximity is an important factor, Jews and Levites were typically closer to Jerusalem and Jericho than Samaritans, so the “certain Jewish Priest” would be a close neighbour, the “Levite” a nearby neighbour while a “Samaritan” would be seen more as a stranger in the area:

We can see that Jesus’s question wasn’t designed to ask the lawyer what the legal definition of a neighbour is, instead the question was designed to correct the lawyer’s reading of the law by shifting the emphasis from the definition of the word “neighbour” (wherein the lawyer was tending to exclude a certain class) and placing the emphasis onto the word “love” – showing the lawyer how far away his culture had led him from producing the fruit for eternal life .

Jesus’ question isn’t really asking the man to define which of the three passers-by were more like a neighbour, but which one of them was fulfilling the intent of the law:

‘Go and do likewise.’

Jesus Christ, Luke 10:37

If it wasn’t for the moral of the story being owed to the lawyer’s convictions, we would naturally expect the Jewish Priest to be the first to help: he is one whose role is to be among the Jewish community to minister and to serve; next there was a Levite: one who was appointed to intercede for the people before God in the temple, pleading for mercy and salvation – and instead Jesus shows us that an outcast – the very type of person that the Jews had learned to be unclean and unfamiliar with the laws of God – that happens to be the only person who had produced the required fruits in the time of need:

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.

St. Paul, Galatians 5:22-23

Knowing that the lawyer had received the value of the insight that he had asked for (although had not originally sought), Jesus reiterated His judgement: Go and do likewise.

.. so as I am reflecting upon the parable and the story of my own experience last night – not having spent money on a hotel for the moth and having not forfeited any valuable time (rather, being delighted to spend a few precious seconds holding and admiring the beauty of God’s work ) – it occurs to me that people can get so consumed by their religion, wanting to know it all and trying to be esteemed by others because of it; and tragically not only does life pass by unnoticed by them all around, but indeed it groans – eagerly longing for the day that the children of God are revealed “so that it may be set free from its bondage to decay”.

As the New Year brings about a customary reflection upon the year just past and the forming of resolutions going forward, may your considerations be influenced in part by this story. Maybe you will see that over the past year, all the teachings of the elementary matters of Christ have been effectively fruitless: teachings about rituals and baptisms, laying-on of hands, of repentance from dead works, the dead being resurrected and of eternal judgement – all of which do not produce in their own rite the fruits of salvation – and although we will do this if God permits, by far the true purpose of Christianity is to produce fruits worthy of the kingdom: to give to God what belongs to God and to treat others with love you would expect if you were them.

He has declared to you, man, what is good. And so what does the Lord require of you? except for to do justly, to love mercy, and to be humble as you walk with God?

Micah 6:8

Compare these two verses:

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. ³ Therefore do and observe everything that they tell you, but do not do their deeds, for they tell and do not do

Jesus Christ, Matthew 23:2-3

“woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you shut the kingdom of heaven before people! For you do not enter, nor permit those wanting to go in to enter.

Jesus Christ, Matthew 23:13

The two verses are from the same passage in the chapter of Matthew 23. Jesus is saying that the scribes and Pharisees are the official experts in the law of God, but that although their judgements are sound, the way they are living does not produce the outcome of salvation. We can learn a lot from this passage, especially as it relates to the likes of Matthew 7:1-2:

“Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. ² For by what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and by what measure you measure out, it will be measured out to you. 

Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:1-2

Does it mean that a Christian should not be making judgments? .. does it mean that a Christian should allow everything to happen around them without any objection? If that were the intention, how on earth could we fulfil John 20:23, or Matthew 18:18, or Galatians 6:1 or 1 Timothy 5:20?

Of course there is a rightful place for judgment in a Christian’s life, but there also is an aspect of judgment that doesn’t belong to us. It is the aspect of enforcement (penalty/punishment) that doesn’t belong to a Christian.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has punishment …

St. John, 1 John 4:18

The type of judgment that belongs to a Christian is that pertaining to wisdom. People were coming from all over to hear Jesus teach because His words were so full of truth and grace, they were learning to understand life in a way they had never known before.

Now someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!” ¹⁴ But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 

Jesus Christ, Luke 12:13-14

Wisdom in teaching requires intellectual honesty – integrity to the truth in spite of the costs. This is what had distinguished Jesus from the other teachers (Mark 12:14-17, Mark 1:22, Matthew 21:15-16). Jesus had an authority in His faith that came from a sincere conviction of His knowledge of the truth – that is quite a different origin of authority than that which is derived by qualification:

I do not receive glory from men; ⁴² but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. ⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

Jesus Christ, John 5:41-44

Jesus is not the only one who has had this type of faith. We see that John the Baptist had a certain authority in his faith (Mark 1:7, Matthew 11:11), owed to his knowledge of the truth (Luke 1:65-66, John 1:23, Matthew 11:14).

Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; ⁶ and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; ⁹ and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰ The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

John the Baptist, Matthew 3:4-10

Who else? Look at what Paul has said:

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

St. Paul. Galatians 2:11

That man, Cephas, is in fact Simon Peter – one of the twelve disciples and one who might have been the most enthusiastic (John 18:10, Matthew 26:33-35, Matthew 16:15-18).

St. Paul was, on the other hand, an apostle who wore the honour of being the least of all (1 Corinthians 15:9).

Have you ever been in a position where you witnessed an elder of your church, or even the pastor, discriminating against and ostracising a certain type of person in the church?

Naturally, we are inclined to think it takes a special kind of courage to correct someone who has a greater reputation, but I am inclined to ask why.

Why does it take courage to approach someone who is greater when they are clearly in the wrong? It is because we are afraid of a wrathful response when their sin is exposed.

Who is a person that ever wants to be seen naked and exposed in their sinfulness? (Revelation 16:15). No, it isn’t “nobody”, even if that’s the last thing you’d expect.

In fact, Jesus tells us about a type of person who thrives on conviction:

But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Jesus Christ, John 3:21

That’s right. There is a type of person who is not only not afraid of coming forward to the light, but they are in fact attracted to the light so that their deeds can be proven as being wrought with a good conscience (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5). Those are the ones who are practicing the truth. They are the ones who keep making decisions in line with their conscience. They are the ones who do not stand condemned (Romans 8:1).

But here we see in Galatians 2:11 that Simon Peter, the one whom Jesus had called blessed, is standing condemned!

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, ²⁰ let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

James 5:19-20

There must have been something uniquely Christ-like in both Paul’s approach and Peter’s response. There really must have been godly love. Nobody who is caught in sin will confess their fault unless they also trust the one who is bringing their deeds to light, and how can a person trust the one who is judging them if they have never seen judgment with mercy?

Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

St. Paul, Colossians 4:6

Therefore if we are doing the work of reproving and restoring the lost with grace, through teaching the ways of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17), then we are dealing in mercy rather than judgment. We are inspiring them to trust in repentance, which produces lawfulness from the natural volition of love (James 2:13, James 3:13, Galatians 5:22-23).

On the other hand, if we are judging a person so as to make them feel inadequate for their sinfulness, we are tempting their pride and reinforcing the condemnation that comes against a person who is found to be in opposition to the truth.

but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

St. James, James 4:11-12

Can you answer St. James’ rhetorical question?

Who are you when you are the one who judges your neighbour? See this:

behold, the Judge is standing before the door.

St. James, James 5:9

for the Law brings about wrath,

St. Paul, Romans 4:15

through the Law comes the knowledge of sin

St. Paul,Romans 3:20

For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.

St. Paul, Romans 13:3

The power of a judge, (and in fact the whole purpose of a judge’s role), is to examine whether a person is guilty of breaking a law and then to pronounce their reasoning for having refused to pardon the accused (Matthew 7:1, James 2:13). Judgement comes only from a heart that desires to condemn.

The energy that propels a person to judge is of the essence of hate and wrath (Ephesians 2:3, Hebrews 12:9-10). When the condemnation is for sin, the penalty is everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12).

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

St. John, 1 John 3:15

On the other hand, love produces natural concern and a desire to teach a sinner how to avoid condemnation (Luke 6:34-37, John 15:13).

Therefore be patient, brethren, strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain against one another so that you also may be not judged (James 2:13). Behold: the place where the judge stands is before the door!

St. James, James 5:9

In John 4 we read about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. She was astounded that a Jew was asking her to serve Him – because she was of the Samaritan race – a race that Jewish people were always avoiding.

Jesus didn’t look at her sinfulness, and He didn’t look down on her religious shortcomings, instead He used the opportunity to take hold of her faith and turn it into an opportunity to share the gospel.

He had chosen to stay alone by the well while His disciples went to buy food in the nearby town, and when they returned, they were astounded that He was speaking to a Samaritan woman. The woman herself was astounded by it, and what’s more, Jesus had shown a sign by telling her she has had five husbands.

She regarded Him as a prophet, and many have been prophets that have brought the title into disrepute, so she attempted to despise Him by saying that she was waiting for the Messiah who would reveal all things. Jesus took hold of that opportunity to say “I am the one you are speaking about!” .. and at that very moment, His disciples arrived. That was the clincher for her. Her doubts had been suddenly shattered and replaced with devoted belief.

The woman had not gone looking for the Messiah that day. Nobody ever expects that they will meet the Messiah of God, because anybody who doesn’t already know Him cannot recognise Him. Even though God is spirit and He speaks to us often, they only see the carnal man.

The Samaritan woman was seeing Jesus with her natural eyes, as a natural man (Ephesians 2:7), and despite that He was saying to her as clearly as possible “God is spirit” and “I, the one who is speaking to you, I am He!” – she was still unable to perceive that the spirit of Christ in Jesus was the one who was speaking to her. She ran to the village and told everyone “come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did!” and “He can’t be the Messiah, can He?”.

The Samaritans were unable to perceive the spiritual things because they had never known them (John 4:22). In the same way, the people of the world today do not understand what spirit is because they have not come to know it (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).

His disciples were urging Him to eat, because they knew He was tired and that’s why they had gone to get food (John 4:6). Although Jesus knew that the food was good for His body, He declined to eat, telling them “I have food that you know nothing about!” – what was that food? The disciples were astonished, saying “did somebody already bring food for Him?”

Jesus was doing wisdom in that situation. He knew that the woman was going to bring people from the town to meet Him, having left everything to spread the message that the Christ had come. Now, the townsfolk had not been convinced as she had, but rather were just as skeptical as she had first been. If they had arrived and seen Him feeding His flesh, they might have been inclined to scoff, because they would not have seen anything special about Him. Instead, He was waiting for them expectantly, ready to make every advancement against their doubt, maintaining His form and being prepared for the very first moment of eye contact.

Jesus knew that they did not understand what He meant, and He told them “my food”, (the thing that sustains us), “is the doing of God’s will, and to finish His work”. Jesus understood faith, that it grows or fades depending upon how successfully we do the things that glorify God. He was choosing to fast for the purposes of God (Isaiah 58:6).

He went on to explain what He meant, saying that the world (in particular, the situation at hand with the coming townsfolk) was ready for harvesting. The harvesting He was talking about, is the gathering of souls into real faith – that is, to bring their religion into fruition: receiving a first-hand relationship with God while they had previously been hoping in the prophets and growing in expectation of that day.

He described the world as being like a field where the people are the plants and their faith is the stage of growth. We all begin at a stage of zero knowledge. We keep learning about who God is, by hearing what others have to say and by discussing the things we already know. The Samaritan woman had been of that stage when she met Jesus (John 4:20,25), but after she had spoken with him for only a minute, her faith had flourished and produced a crop (Mark 4:20, John 15:5). Jesus was, in that moment, harvesting the faith of that Samaritan town just as a farmer harvests a field!

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. The one who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, in order that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together.

Jesus Christ, John 4:35-36 (LEB)

Jesus was saying “I’m not here to feed myself, but I get my true fulfillment by doing the works that inspire faith where there is hope”.

Notice in John 4:29, the Samaritan woman is so overjoyed that she in fact tells a lie through her enthusiasm. She says “come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!”.

We know that the only thing He told her about what she ever did, is that she has had five husbands and is not married now. But Jesus didn’t stop her from saying the untruth. He might well have been entitled to (1 Corinthians 10:23), but He wasn’t interested in correcting her (John 6:40). He was pleased that she was trusting Him and had become an enthusiastic worker – bringing everybody into an awareness that God is in their midst (Matthew 18:20).

I think we all need to be mindful of that, because it’s the real difference between sowing to the flesh (our own needs) versus sowing to the spirit (God’s needs). What does God need from us? He needs an ear that listens to Him and respects what He says. What would Jesus have achieved if He had corrected the Samaritan woman? He would have provoked their pride and they would have stopped listening to Him! They would have only seen it as disgraceful (ie: without grace) that He is criticizing the woman who was praising Him for having spoken God’s words to her. In that spirit of judgment, the words of love would have not prevailed (1 Corinthians 8:1).

Another interesting thing in this parable, is where He tells the disciples “one is reaping what another has sown”, and “the one who reaps gathers fruit for eternal life so that the one who sows and the one who reaps are rejoicing together”.

If a field is continually sown but the crop is never harvested, the sowers grow weary because they never benefit from the fruit of their work.

When you are out there sowing, do you not grow weary? How can we expect to find any interest in the Word of God? Only because of the value of the testimonies that are the basis of our enthusiasm: that is the fruit of the labour of others who have sown before us. That is what we stand upon when we declare the good news of salvation. In that way, we see how important it is that the reaper reaps so the sower may sow.

For in this instance the saying is true, ‘It is one who sows and another who reaps.’

Jesus Christ, John 4:37 (LEB)

There is also another function in farming: pulling out weeds. In Matthew 13:24, we read about a field that was sown with good seed, and then when the seed began to grow, weeds were discovered among them. It turns out that the weeds were sown by an enemy “while the men were sleeping”.

The Greek words used in the original text, τῷ καθεύδειν, are literally talking about the time appointed to sleep. So it means that the field is the world and the workers who sowed the good seed are the ones having been employed by God. We know that whenever we speak with someone about God, the conversation ends and then we go on to speak with other people, and it is in those times when there is nobody with the courage and knowledge to defend God’s word, the enemy slips in and sows the words that will ultimately compete with, and try to choke the good seed that was sown.

We need to be aware of the weeds when we are sowing and reaping, being careful that we aren’t in fact sowing the wrong seeds. Most of the non-Christians coming into the world these days have only heard about Jesus through themes on television and in movies. In the same way, preachers and evangelists are incorporating ideas from television and movies into their teachings, and those ideas are growing throughout society, choking out the good fruit that can come only by the pure, wholesome teachings of God (John 15:3).

We all know the typical complaint of an unbeliever: “how can you expect me to believe something that I can’t see?”

It is a valid question.

It really doesn’t console them when we, as Christians, respond with Romans 1:20: “you are without excuse because His invisible qualities can be seen by understanding the things His power and divinity have made”.

In fact, it is a very cruel thing to say to someone who is on the outside, endlessly thirsting for the elusive “living water” (John 4:14).

Love simply doesn’t do that!

So, we need to understand that an unbeliever is an unbeliever for that precise reason: they haven’t seen the reality of God. (or, more precisely, it is because they are looking at the evidence of God with an unbeliever’s understanding).

Recent discussions on www.christianforums.net have raised the topic of Christians who have “blind faith”: They are a type of religious person who uses the bible to justify their belief system. They pray genuinely in His name, they do the good that they think He is pleased by .. and yet there are among them the sorts producing ungodly fruits: backbiting, wars, sexual immorality, conspiracies to do injustice… it shows that there is a vital piece of the Christian vision missing among them. They are a church body that does not recognise and follow the head, that is Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:18).

In that sense, churches today are a bit similar to the religion of Judaism in Jesus’ time:

[The Jews in the temple] said to Him: “Our father is Abraham!”. Jesus says to them “If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham, but now you want to kill me – a man who has spoken the truth to you that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.”

John 8:39-40 (LEB)

.. and Jesus Himself had warned His disciples of that coming reality while He was preparing to face His accusers:

Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

John 12:35 (LEB)

Soon after Jesus’ resurrection, when the disciples were actively spreading the gospel message, we read through the accounts in the book of Acts that The Holy Spirit was among them, was giving them instruction, and was doing works through them. But through other parts of the New Testament, letters written personally to churches, the disciples warn about rivalries, factions, warring and slander that were happening among the members of the churches. We know such things, and worse, have been happening in the churches ever since.

That’s not to say that Christians have a new problem though, because it is a consistent theme within communities of faith, and it always will be whenever a person is seeking the adoration of another for being a “spokesperson of God” (eg: Jeremiah 26:7-8).

Clearly, the problem is owed to the fact that there are certain religious people who simply do not see and hear God, let alone do they accept the words that are said by those who do. Yet, each person has a portion of power in any system of power, and anyone who has power believes it is their right and duty to exercise that power according to their best reasoning.

When a person is unable to perceive God in their midst but they want to do His will, they are only able to imagine Him as the authority of the idea that prevails in their mind when they pray. History has plenty of examples of people who have done bad things in the name of religion, and it is quite typical that a mystic would lay claim to a divine instruction in that manner.

So, how did they get the wrong answers from prayer?

The spirit of God is holy – that means that He is set apart from all others, and anyone coming against Him would be consumed by His righteousness. So it is necessary for a person to be humble and submitted to receiving His judgment if they are to be approaching Him (Exodus 33:20). If a person is not able to receive the judgment of God, then he probably is also unable to admit it (1 Peter 5:5). If that person, then bound by their pride, goes forth to claim an instruction in prayer, he must be appealing to a spirit that is deceiving him by flattery. As soon as he announces that God has instructed him, while the truth is that he didn’t empty his self interests, he has spoken his own will on God’s authority and has made himself an enemy of God (Exodus 20:7, Jeremiah 23:30-40).

So we see that it can be perilous to participate in Christianity if we do not truly submit ourselves to God in all matters. In this way, we can also come to understand how there are so many Christians in churches who are not producing the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22). Although the same Christians no doubt have begun their Christian faith with the best of intentions, they have ended up producing bad fruit and distorting the message of God (Galatians 5:19-21).

So let’s look at what God has intended for His church, because Jesus didn’t give up His life to become a historical religious icon that everyone is fighting about two thousand years later. No, in fact there is a common theme throughout all the New Testament scriptures and most presentations of The Message of Salvation through Christ: that Jesus laid down His life, knowing it was unlawful for them to take it, so that He would secure an everlasting office as our High Priest (Hebrews 7:23-25).

Keep in mind that everybody is introduced to Christianity at a starting point having zero knowledge of it, and as they learn more day by day, making wise decisions to keep growing in the right knowledge of The Lord, they can become someone who is very experienced and full of knowledge – having learned to cultivate the character of Christ and being useful to Him for personal ministry to those who need ministering to by The Holy Spirit.

The early church recognised that the Spirit of God was real and living in them, speaking through them, just as the scriptures have told us. So, that explains how the church has traditionally addressed its priests as “father” – because a priest in his proper conduct of office would indeed be a vessel for the spirit of our Heavenly Father to speak to us (Matthew 23:9). While it isn’t impossible that a priest may, these days, be found sufficiently refined to portray the nature of God to us, do keep in mind that the modern use of the title is more of a formalism – a tradition of the church.

Indeed, a word of caution is appropriate too, when considering whether one should peer into the spirit of his priest and subject himself to it (Proverbs 25:26). We know our wrestle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the host of the wickedness in the spiritual places (Ephesians 6:12, 1 John 4:1, Matthew 24:5).

So the role of a priest (eg: Pastor), is to provide ministry to the people who seek it, in order that they also would grow into maturity:

And he himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all reach the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to a measure of the maturity of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed about by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of people, by craftiness with reference to the scheming of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow into him with reference to all things, who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined together and held together by every supporting ligament, according to the working by measure of each single part, the growth of the body makes for the building up of itself in love.

St. Paul, Ephesians 4:11-16 (LEB)

So St. Paul has said two very important things here, that are the real key for making the most of Christianity in your church: that the spiritual gifts (apostolic, prophetic, evangelic and pastoral) will continue until the church has achieved the unity of faith and knowledge of the son of God (ie: for 2,000 years and counting!), and that we are to grow into Him with reference to all things.

Let’s unpack that second thing, because the language is very rich.

When St. Paul says we are to grow into Christ with reference to all things, what is he referring to? It is quite literally all things that we do, and all things that we are. In everything that we do and everything that we believe, we ought to ask “Is that what Jesus would do?”. Whether it be the way we drive, the way we dress, the way we eat, the work we do.. and of course, the spiritual food that we eat: Do you enjoy lewd television and violent games?

For instance, when you watch your television, do you laugh when they mock a certain type of person? Do you realise that your mind is no longer pure of thought toward people who fit that stereotype in real life? How about when a character is portrayed as a bad husband and the TV show makes you agree that the wife’s girlfriend should break them apart? Do you know that you are being taught to view and believe that men have that character? .. and men, when you see women portrayed as items of lust and men gambling over who might seduce her first – do you realise that your eyes are being exercised to see the world in a way that you were not made to see? The mind is the throne of the spirit, and the heart is the source of its life. When people look to see Christ in us, they need to see a pure mind and a wholesome heart. So watch television with wisdom.

Now, let’s address this question of what Jesus might possibly have meant when He said “blessed are those who have believed and yet have not seen”.

The obvious question that anyone might ask, is: “why does He suggest that a believer having not seen Him is more blessed than a believer who has?”

There’s probably a few different ideas that can count toward the perfect answer, but the first and most important principle is found in Matthew 12:39: we know who Jesus is, because we know what love is. Thomas had said he would never believe that it was Jesus unless he had seen the nail holes. In comparison, John 21:7 shows us that the disciple knew it was Jesus standing on the shore, even though He was 100 metres away.

Also, there is a special value in having a simple faith, and simplicity of life comes through simply trusting God as a child trusts his parents.

The beginning of this article mentioned that there is a particularly destructive quality about holiness – that even the angels of fire would shield their face from Him (Isaiah 6:2-3) .. Why, and what does that mean?

In the light of righteousness, our sin is laid bare. That is the pure and plain reason why persecution comes upon the saints – a sinful world is literally unable to feel justified in the presence of righteousness. God’s wrath comes against them in light of our innocence, and it is His spirit in us that they cannot bear.

Being human, they use various methods to suppress the indignation of righteousness, and being so determined in their sin, often they do not realise that they are doing exactly that. But God is one who cannot be suppressed. A human who is unable to bear His righteousness can only hide from Him and deny His truth. We read of that famously in the story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8-10).

And I said, “Woe to me! For I am destroyed! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I am living among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, Adonai of hosts!”

Isaiah 6:5 (LEB)

So there is one aspect of blind faith that is valuable to a person, particularly when we are substantially young in Christianity or slowly developing: He is shielding us from the realisation of our smallness.

Our smallness is an inevitable conviction for a mortal who reveals his naked soul in the light of God. If a person who was underdeveloped for that reality were exposed to His face, they would be ruined as the prophet Isaiah cried out. So He shields us from the shame of being found naked and unprepared in His presence (2 Corinthians 3:7-8).

In that state of faith, there is simple trust in God’s goodness and total confidence in the knowledge that He is pleased with our devotion to His way (Romans 8:1-2). He is able to bless our life by virtue of our faith simply being faith (Romans 8:32, Galatians 3:24-26).

I also should mention that having blind faith is much more simple than having one’s eyes opened to the spirit world, because when you realise you are not only dealing with the people you speak to, but you are dealing with the spirits in them, you realise that those spirits are a community that is not constrained by any one body. The spirit inhabits a body, and the only relief one can get from the presence of a spirit, is to be with people who do not yield their self as vessels for that spirit.

One such way people do that, when they are trying to hide from the conviction of the Holy Spirit, is to cast a spell over the mind of the person who is bringing the words of conviction. When I say this, I speak of spell casting in a Christian way and not a pagan way, because the casting of a spell is simply, by definition of the word, the formation of words that take a mind captive to think in a particular way.

One of the most blatant examples of spell-casting, that every parent is probably guilty of, is the threat of punishment. That spell is particularly destructive to The Holy Spirit’s work in a child, because it invokes a spirit of fear in the child and shuts down the natural work of growth that He is doing in them as they are expanding their understanding of how things work and why the rules are made. But that particular spell is also a curse upon the one casting it, because in order to cast that spell, one must forego the spirit of love itself (1 John 4:18). For example, “love does no harm to a neighbour” and “love is patient, it is kind, it bears all things and hopes all things” (1 Corinthians 13).

It is also an unescapable truth that the whole world has been spellcast by the spirit, that is written of through Ephesians 2: “we all were once like them, being children of wrath”, and it goes on to say that we have been saved because of the mercy that came through the greatness of His love for us. There is no grace in the spirit of wrath that uses threats of penalties to dominate and rule weaker ones (Ephesians 6:9), and people who do that to children are not behaving in a Christian spirit (Luke 9:48).

And they were bringing young children to him so that he could touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant, and said to them, “Let the young children come to me. Do not forbid them, for to such belongs (Literally “for of such is”) the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a young child will never enter into it.”

Mark 10:13-15 (LEB)

Look at that: the disciples, being the ones who had beheld the fullness of His glory in the flesh and had been around His teaching for a while, were themselves laid bare in His presence. And what happened? He gave His approval and praise to the little children, and indignation to them!

This story is a clear expression of the vital need for us to break free of the world’s way of thinking, that makes us dominate them and crush their spirit as relief from the indignation of their relative righteousness. The only way one can truly overcome the world and live in the freedom of new spiritual life, is to be born of the spirit again. We must repent of the world’s ways and glorify God with the pure heart and humble nature of a child, so that He can bless us in His presence.

So when an unbeliever says they have never seen God, we know that children are dearly loved by Him, and that wherever a person is abiding in love, God is abiding in him (1 John 4:16).

God is with us a lot more than we know, and even though Phillip had been with Jesus every day of His mission, still he had not recognised The Father until he had asked (John 14:8-9).

So all it comes down to is the one fact that an unbeliever chooses to follow a mindset that prevents them from recognising God instead of following the mindset that equips them to understand His presence, and those decisions can begin in childhood before a person has matured enough to deliberate.

Saying that a person doesn’t understand or recognise God is a bit different from saying that they don’t see Him. Matthew 18:10 shows us that the little children are constantly approved by God, and yet they would not know how to understand that the love in the people around them is the spirit of love that comes from God to them. Only the appropriate teaching can open their eyes to see it and name it that way.

Though, that is not to say that a Christian with blind faith is as a child before God. Jesus says so explicitly when He says we must turn and become again as a little child or we will never enter into the kingdom of God. Little children don’t watch horror movies and they don’t laugh at lewdness. They don’t enjoy hurting animals and they don’t conspire or gossip.

“Who may ascend the mountain of Adonai? And who may stand in his holy place?”

The one who has my commandments and keeps them—that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.

Jesus Christ, John 14:21

Peter came up to him and said, “Lord, how many times will my brother sin against me and I will forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven!

Matthew 18:21-22 (LEB)

Understanding forgiveness is the real key to successful Christianity – because it is by entrusting judgment to God that we free ourselves from all anxieties associated with injustice where justice is outside our own power.

In this verse, Peter comes up to Jesus with a question that we might feel too embarrassed to ask, but nonetheless, it shows how much times have changed that Peter had heard of Jesus’ message of forgiveness and had thought that it would be generous to limit his forgiveness.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer, but whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also.

Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:38-39 (LEB)

Even today, after the doctrines of Christianity have been discussed, ratified, challenged and reformed, this is a difficult concept to grasp, almost as if it were unnatural – and even though it is part of the most famous of Jesus’ teachings! It is one of those questions that even an experienced Evangelist might find themselves asking.

We see there is an everlasting need to remain childlike, in humility acknowledging that despite our own status, whatever we have achieved, we have a High Priest who is holy and who always lives to intercede for the transgressors. In fact, I don’t know of a more beautiful reality than this one thing alone that Christianity offers: The Holy Spirit is always able to speak in our presence, whether it be to our comfort in our affliction or to humble us by conviction.

Consequently, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ is the one who died, and more than that, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 

St. Paul, Romans 8:1,33-34 (LEB)

Somebody mentioned to me a few days ago that he doesn’t believe any form of government can produce a righteous society – except if it is a theocracy with Jesus as the king. Such a statement is robust because the only way we can all trust in each other is if we are doing right to each other – and the Christian literature is meant to teach us those precepts (2 Timothy 3:16-17). But we also need sound judgment whenever disagreements are found, in order to prove where the one has deviated from the precepts of God’s ways (Matthew 22:16).

Jesus says in Matthew 12:25 that the strength of a house, turned against itself, will exert its power in a self-destructive way – and that is exactly what we see in the world’s way of politics (Mark 10:42).

Christians need to be different than that, because if Christianity does not operate within God’s expectations, He is unable to rule in their favour. That is precisely why Jesus laid down His life: in order to take up His position as High Priest and shepherd for as long as it takes to complete His Messianic duty (Hebrews 7:23-24).

Who is the one who condemns?

St. Paul, Romans 8:1,34 (LEB)

If you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive people, neither will your Father forgive your sins.

Jesus Christ, Matthew 6:14-15 (LEB)

.. so it is Our Heavenly Father who condemns, and if Jesus Christ is the one who intercedes for us at the right hand of God, then who exactly is the one bringing charges against the elect?

The thief comes only so that he can steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Jesus Christ, John 10:10 (LEB)

Jesus says it is a thief, and although He has come that we may have life in abundance, there is a thief who has come to steal, to kill and to destroy.

St. John wrote of that thief coming in the Christian era, naming the spirit as the antichrist. He said “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist” (1 John 4:3).

Now, the most heartbreaking thing about Christianity is the unwillingness of Christians to admit that their brother is right. That is the whole underlying reason why this theocracy that God has intended, just isn’t happening. They say they believe in Jesus, but when He speaks to them, they do not see Him. Who are they looking at?

Everyone who acknowledges me before people, I also will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before people, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:32-33

We have to wonder how a person can even consider themselves Christian at all in light of such powerful words of conviction. Jesus has said plainly “wherever there are two or three gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them” – and we see Christians arguing with each other all the time! .. how can this be?

If we or an angel from heaven should proclaim a gospel to you contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed! 

St. Paul, Galatians 1:8 (LEB)

That’s a very strong statement for a Christian to make, isn’t it? .. a man who no doubt understood what Jesus had said in Matthew 5:43-44. But look, he immediately repeats it in verse 9:

As we said before, and now I say again, if anyone is proclaiming a gospel to you contrary to what you have received, let him be accursed!

St. Paul, Galatians 1:9 (LEB)

.. and what else? He says he has said it before. So this is a very grim warning for anybody who thinks they have a right to call themselves Christian, and yet they are not preaching the same gospel as St. Paul preached. It should not be surprising to see that if they are preaching a contrary gospel, they are preaching the message of the thief, the antichrist.

Why are they accursed, we have to ask. What would make a person, of all people in the world, a person who calls themself a Christian, liable to be cursed in the name of Jesus by a man of such stature as Paul?

I am astonished that you are turning away so quickly from the one who called you by the grace of Christ

St. Paul, Galatians 1:6 (LEB)

They were turning away from the one who called them by the grace of Christ. That’s a significant reason for the curse upon the one who is luring them with a false gospel: Paul says that the gospel they had received in the first place was the one and only gospel leading to salvation! .. who is the one that he says they were turning away from? His letter is riddled with hints:

you know that because of an illness of the flesh I proclaimed the gospel to you the first time previously. And you did not despise or disdain what was a trial for you in my flesh, but you welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus. So where is your blessing? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me! 

St. Paul, Galatians 4:13-15 (LEB, adapted)

Here, he is clearly emphasising that the gospel he brought to them the first time he visited them, was the gospel they had received (although it seems they had first heard it from other missionaries).

So there is a common spirit in the authentic Christian gospel, and he identifies that specifically in saying that they had received him as though they were receiving Christ Jesus Himself.

Therefore does the one who gives you the Spirit and who works miracles among you do so by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

St. Paul, Galatians 3:5 (LEB)

Pay close attention to the words in this expression here. St. Paul is not speaking about any human being, but God Himself. Look at this:

Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing from himself except what he sees the Father doing. For whatever that one does, these things also the Son does likewise.

John 5:19 (LEB)

Here is the truth found in the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ: “Christ lives in me, and that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20 (LEB)).

This is why the false teachers are so severely accursed. Not only do they deny the Word of God who speaks in our midst, but they bewitch our brethren to follow in the path to misrepresent the gospel of salvation.

If that seems only to be consequential and unfortunate in your reckoning, you have fine sense of justice, because it truly wouldn’t come upon them if it weren’t for the temptation of the deceiver. But because it has happened, we are forced to respect the judgment of the heavenly father in subjecting them to the deceiver (1 Timothy 1:20). Afterall, they did chose to follow him didn’t they?

[sic: The coming of the lawless one] is in accordance with the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with every unrighteous deception against those who are perishing, in place of which they did not accept the love of the truth, so that they would be saved. And because of this, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but delighted in unrighteousness.

St. Paul, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

Right there is the key to understanding the reason that they did not receive a pardon: they did not believe the truth, but delighted in unrighteousness.

Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of the law. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

St. James, James 4:11-12

A rhetorical question with a fairly simple answer: the one who judges his brother is one who is not content with the Lord’s judgment. He is one who puts his own wrath in place of purity, that his voice is heard in place of the voice of our Lord.

Let us read on from Matthew 18:24, where Jesus tells a parable to St. Peter about a man who was pardoned by the king for a debt he owed to the king and that he was unable to pay. When he was free, he began to choke a man who was indebted to him, and despite the man begging for mercy, he did not relent. This is given to explain to St. Peter the reason why He had said we must forgive our brethren seven times seventy times. There is a significance in that number, much more important than defining a limit. Jesus has directed Peter to consider a reference to a scripture in Genesis:

Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice;
    O wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
    Even a young man for injuring me.
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
    Then Lamech will be avenged seventy and seven times.

Genesis 4:23-24

This man, Lamech, was expecting greater vengeance from God for having killed a man for a reason he perceived as far more just than Cain’s.

A close look at the text shows us that Lamech had been set upon by a young man who had meant to do harm to him. In fact he was injured and the young man had intended to harm him. We are talking about premeditated assault.

Lamech had reasoned that because God had pledged protection for Cain after he had murdered his righteous brother Abel, that for his having killed a young man who had attacked him with malice, he should deserve more than multiples of the same protection.

Jesus tells Peter a parable to make him think about where his question is coming from. He essentially tells Peter that he has no protection from God for thinking that he has a right to condemn his brother, because the debt that his brother owed to him was ultimately owed to God.

This story is meant to help us appreciate the real quality of salvation through forgiveness, that only Christianity can give. When we realise that our debt has been canceled and our life is free by that fact alone, then we realise that we are no worse to have debtors who refuse to pay their dues, because ultimately, any debt that is owed to us, we owe to the king who pardoned us.

If you consider the situation if the king had not pardoned him, then he would have had valid cause to demand his debtor pay the 100 denarii, because he was being threatened by the king with jail on account of it. This is what infuriated the king, because the king had been so generous to him and he had been so greedy as a result.

There’s an extra dimension in Christianity too, whereby Matthew 25:31-46 shows us that the king himself is bringing charges against those who do sin against us. In that way we have the responsibility to let go of the grievance and let God do the talking. It is difficult for Jesus to be seen in us when we are letting the flesh control our person. If we truly let go of the resentment of our hurting, then we are able to give others the pure love and service they need, and He can do His work in that spirit, to bring them back to salvation (James 5:19-20).

If we truly do love our brethren who have sinned against us, we will realise that it is far more serious that we deny such service to them, because it is already evident that their soul is ensnared by the thief. Love does no harm to a neighbour, therefore our duty to them is to forgive that Jesus may preach His divine message through the opportunity He has, as king, and as being in a position to demand the debt they owe to Him.

Somewhere in the scriptures, St. Paul has said “do not be like Cain, who murdered his brother because his deeds were righteous”, and here we see that Jesus is saying “do not be like Lamech who thought God should have pardoned him seventy times more”.