Thursday 19 April 2018

Broken & Whole ~ Rabqa

I find in Christian art a lot of dishonesty, rock musician Bono voiced in frustration in the powerful
documentary “The psalms, which captures the unlikely friendship between U2’s lead singer & Bible scholar Eugene Peterson. Disusing the impact of the psalms on their lives, the two wondered why psalm-like honesty is so often absent in church. “The only way we can approach God is if we are honest,” Bono emphasised. “That’s what God wants from you. The truth.”


Why is it often so hard to find raw honesty in the church? When Scripture is filled with examples of hearts poured out to God in intense joy, anger or grief, why is it rare to hear such strong emotions voiced in a church building?


Part of the reason might be that believers in Jesus are not typically taught to expect a slow or maybe a difficult journey; that is to say we think of salvation as a one-time transaction, we believe that now we are saved & healed from brokenness.


When this is our mindset, we love to hear stories of miraculous healing or lives dramatically transformed after belief in Jesus. But we are less sure what to think when the miracle doesn’t come. When instead of being cured, a believer relapses into their addiction. When the disease gets worse. Or when the depression we have fought & prayed for intensifies. As pain seeps in, doubt & shame may enter in too. You may think “If I am really saved, why am I in pain? Shouldn’t I be happy? Shouldn’t I be whole?” In a misguided attempt to preserve our faith, we may silence our pain & confusion, denying-perhaps to ourselves-the wounds we carry.

But ironically or tragically in denying our pain, we also in effect turn away from God’s healing touch.

It is hard to find in Scripture the idea that our salvation means protection from pain. In fact, as uncomforting as this might initially seem, we almost see the opposite theme in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6 Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.

7 We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.
Paul is describing the church as a community united by two things suffering & comfort.

Have you ever been disappointed, hurt or mistreated? Have you had changes in your life or are you expecting loss of some kind? Have you failed in some way? Are you just simply tired? What is your trouble today? Verses 3&4 says that God will help you by comforting you when you need it.

The Holy Spirit is actually called “the Comforter” (John 14:26). His various names describe His character. They reveal what He does & what He desires to do for all believers. He is willing to do a great deal for us if we are willing to receive His help.

Many years ago I would become angry when friends would not give me comfort when I needed it. I am sure they were trying but I now realise that God would not allow them to give me the comfort I should have been seeking it from God He was longing to give that comfort through the Holy Spirit, If only I had asked.


Now God will allow people to do only a certain amount for us, & no more. Even those people who are extremely close to us cannot give us everything we need all the time. When we expect others to do for us what only God can do, we have our expectations in the wrong place, & we will always be disappointed.


It is so hard to grasp why so much trouble remains in the world, when Jesus has already defeated death & evil Colossians 1:20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Christ’s blood satisfies holiness, thereby making peace. Mankind was separated from
God because of sin & had no acceptable offering to satisfy the demands of God’s holy nature. God sent Christ to provide an expectable sacrifice for sin, who received Him thereby making peace. It was specifically the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross that satisfied the demands of God’s holiness established a peace bond or covenant with those who received Him, & provided the means for all of creation to be reconciled to God. Lev 17:11 declares that sin cannot be forgiven without the shedding of blood. Because sin takes life. Life is required to repay sin’s debts, Jesus Christ gave divine life in blood to satisfy all of mankind’s sin debts & to restore covenant peace between God & man.


So we see that part of the answerer is God’s love for creation. God has chosen to heel His world, not by violence or coercion, but by bringing human begins, whom He entrusted with creation long ago, into His work of restoration Hebrews 2:6-10 6 For in one place the Scriptures say,
“What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man[a] that you should care for him? 7 Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour.[b8 You gave them authority over all things.”[c]

Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority. 9 What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honour.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. 10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.
Verses 5-9 teach that God has purposed men & not angels to be sovereigns of the created
order. The World to come is the new eternal order inaugurated by the enthronement of Christ which is to be consummated at His return.


In verses 8&9 we learn instead of assuming his intended dominion over creation man had become a slave, held in bondage by death & satan. So the eternal Son of God appeared in history on Earth as Jesus the Man to provide a way of escape from bondage, access to God’s presence & an entrance into man’s intended glory. Jesus the Man, exalted in glory at God’s right hand, occupies the position of dominion intended for men, with everything put, or to be put in subjection under His feet.

When Jesus came to earth, He refused to force belief. Instead He went to the cross, carrying all sin & suffering through death into life to draw all humanity to Himself John12:32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”

Exalt Jesus in your life & service to draw men to Him. He invites the church which is His body, to join His work of drawing the world back to God.

To the New Testament disciple godly living is living through, & for Jesus. Godliness can be summarised in three words: love, obedience & unity. By living godly lives, we learn to see things as God does & adopt His Word as our only standard.


2 Corinthians 1: 21& 22 It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, 22 and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first instalment that guarantees everything he has promised us. 2:14-15 But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. 15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 4:2, 10 V2 We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this. V10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

2 Cor1:20 teaches that if we pray in the Holy Spirit, we can always be assured that all things will work out for good (Romans 8:27 & 28). God is great & mighty; there is no situation that He cannot use for good as we pray & trust Him. We dare not pray the way we want to, but as we are led by the Holy Spirit. I believe Spirit-filled prayers receive a Yes & Amen from God.

In 2:14 we learn God always energises us to do what He leads us to do. It is only when we go beyond His will to follow our own wills (or other people’s desires) that we are likely to get exhausted. We also learn that God always leads us in triumph. His will is not for us to live defeated, weak lives; He wants us to be more than Conquerors (Romans 8:37). His will for us is strength, not weakness; victory not defeat.

We share the gospel, not through force or underhanded methods, but by simply showing its truth with our words & our lives (4, 10)


The primary way we do this is by following Christ down the path of self-giving love & willingly carrying each other’s plan & weakness 2 Corinthians 1:7 We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.


One of the most powerful displays of the church embracing this calling is found in the L’Arche communities, where people with & without intellectual disabilities live together in fellowship & celebration. In L’Arche communities, many with disabilities who have been deeply wounded by the world’s obsession with perfection find healing through unconditional love.


But L’Arche doesn’t just bring healing to persons with disabilities; it can also bring healing to anyone given the gift of friendship there; by the power of the Holy Spirit.


Because all of us are wounded by a world where love is extended only to those who can pretend to be whole. As Jan Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, explains, many of us live in fear, “Afraid of showing weakness, afraid of not succeeding & deep down unsure if we are actually known & loved.” When we meet people with disabilities & reveal to them through our eyes & ears that they are precious, they are changed. But we too are changed. We are led to God.


2 Corinthians 12:9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
Weakness is not very popular. Most people do not advertise their limitations, however in this verse Paul says that He boasts in his weakness. Why? You may ask, that is because he knows that God’s strength is made great in the midst of his infirmity. If there is an area in your life where you feel weak, do not try relying on your strength; instead ask God to be strong in your weakness, when you admit frailty, God pours out His strength. Know that His grace is more than sufficient & thank God for His power that is made perfect in your weakness.

If only the church would begin to take more seriously the truth that God’s power works best in weakness than maybe the will be more people like Bono & Peterson voicing honest lament & praise. & maybe gentle communities like L’Arche will less rare, as the church grows into its calling to be a community of healing which is to say a place where broken hearts are loved, wounds are tenderly cared for & together we will become rooted ever more deeply in Christ’s incomprehensible love. Ephesians 3:16-19 AMP May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]. 17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, 18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, [a]through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses [b]mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] [c]unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and [d]become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

Just imagine having your personality filled with the Holy Spirit of the living God & being a body wholly filled with God Himself. The apostle Paul was a person filled with the Holy Spirit; he was a person who forsook all to follow Jesus. Any areas of our lives that we hold back from God is an area where we cannot be filled with His Spirit. I encourage you to open surrender every room in your heart to God. Your time is His; your money is His, as are your gifts & talents, your family, your career, thoughts, attitudes & desires. He wants to be involved in every area of your life; how you dress, the friends you choose, what you do for entertainment, what you eat & so on.

After conversion Jesus is our Saviour, but is He our Lord? Any area we claim as our own is
one we have not surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.


The blessedness of being filled with the Holy Spirit is clearly visible in the change in the people’s lives after Pentecost. Peter who for example displayed great fear in not being willing to even admit that he knew Jesus became a bold apostle who stood in the streets of Jerusalem & preached the gospel so fervently that three thousand souls were saved (Acts 2:40 &41).


Complete surrender to God brings good change into our lives. Surrendering to Him actually opens the door to the things we desire, & yet we waste our own energy trying to obtain access to them our own way. I encourage you today to surrender every area of your life to God so you may be filled to overflowing with His Spirit in every way.

1 comment:

  1. AMEN AND AMEN. THANKYOU FOR SHARING THIS INSPIRING MESSAGE WITH US TODAY. HOW GRACIOUS IS OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN, THAT HE SHARES HIS GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHOUT PREJUDICE OR PRICE.THROUGH ACCEPTANCE OF HIS SON WE ARE MADE WHOLE.ALL PRAISE HONOR AND GLORY BE HIS. CAROL.G.

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