Jesus, the perfect Gift

Luke 2:30,31 for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.

Many Christians do not agree in celebrating Christmas, but it is important for all of us to understand that God decorated that day more than almost all other days. Everybody was happy. It was a grand opening with angels, signs, prophecies and visions of salvation. All these signs give us reasons for us to remember that God has answered our prayers by giving us the best gift that he could ever give.

In many instances, we can see Jesus referring himself as an object or a gift that has been presented as in Isaiah 9:6, a son given as a gift to us. He is the true bread etc. The lesson to us is at John 4:10 where Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman saying “if you know the gift of God, you would have asked for living water”. The reason why we could not celebrate properly is because we do not know the gift of God. Jesus is the collection of all blessings from heaven as per Ephesians 1:3.

Simeon understood that the baby he is holding is salvation from God. Salvation is not the event at the cross but the person who was hanging in the cross. For Jesus cross was not the only humiliation, the crib was too considering how glorified He was in heaven. Jesus would not have been happier during His birth as it leads to a lot of training for years and them a death with humiliation. The biggest identity Jesus got was during His birth. But the reason for our celebration is that we are celebrating salvation.

As per Romans 5:17 receiving grace does not save a person, but receiving the abundance of grace or fullness of grace which is Jesus. In Christmas time, we should try hard with all our strength to receive the fullness of grace or otherwise, we will fail miserably believing ourselves to be Christians. We may not display Christ in full, but we should receive Him in full in order to be saved.

The verse says that God prepared Jesus in the presence of all peoples. God did not prepare Him in heaven to be a Son of God, but He was prepared in front of us to be a Son of Man which is new to Him. He loves to be called as the son of man and not as son of God as it is required for Him that we understand Him as a human and not only as God. Salvation was prepared by a fully human person but since all of us had completely failed in sin, God came as the full human. That’s why Salvation was prepared in front of all of us. He was born in our presence and he died and rose again in our presence so that we know Jesus was 100% human and we are able to become like Him.

Amen.

Lying to God

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?”

Just as soon as the church is established, people started giving all their possessions to the church after understanding God’s kingdom. But this was not compulsory as peter explains in verse 4. But lying was not pardoned easily in the church and during the early days. These people have heard only a few sermons and it has been only a few days or months since Pentecost. In chapter 8, we read an even bigger sin of Simon the sorcerer but that did not end in death. But lying did. In proverbs 6:16-19 we read that lying is something hated by God to the core. But out of practice, we keep the habit of innocent lies as we reap money out of it. We also read this in Proverbs 12:22.

Peter says that to lie to the church happens when Satan has filled a heart. In 4:31, we clearly read that all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. But in a few moments, we can read that Satan can fill a person’s heart. In 5:17, we read how the high priest was filled with jealousy. But in 6:8, we read Stephen being full of grace and wonders. A combination of good and evil cannot be present as Jesus said one cannot serve two masters. Every time we lie, we allow the devil to fill our heart and submit our lives to him. We may not submit to the person in front of us, but we submit to the devil whenever we speak a lie.  

As per proverbs 6:16-19, lies can be both spoken and breathed. This is included because we may think that we did not lie technically but the other person had understood it wrong. God is very clear here that He hates both.

When Jesus promises about the Holy Spirit, He uses the term “Spirit of truth” in John 14:17 which explains why this whole earth is a lie and illusion. Even the arrival of Christ has given us two wonderful gifts as in John 1:17. The verse says that the arrival of Christ has two important purposes, Salvation and Revelation of the truth. The truth is that the world is all an illusion and temporary. But we can live with God eternally if we hang on to Christ. If God could give us His own son for us to know the truth, we come to God and His church with lies and deceit in our hearts.  After speaking about the truth in John 8:32, when the Jews restrained by telling that they are Abraham’s children, Jesus mentions that because they did not believe the truth, Satan is their father as he is the father of lies. So, if we produce more lies, we become an agent of Satan himself as he has filled us. If just believing in lies can be so ridiculous, how pathetic is manufacturing lies.

In Acts 5:11, we read that this incident had brought great fear in people’s minds. Fear in the church is necessary as otherwise, without fear people will consider sin lightly. Since it was a short moment when they had lied and immediately lost their lives it was not digestible to everybody. We take salvation without fear but that is not God’s eternal plan of a Church. A church which does not fear the Lord is a wife who does not honor her husband. Lying is the most hated thing for God but which is still live in many churches.

This incident has happened after God has given them boldness as in Chapter 4. A first fruit of boldness is being able to speak the truth. The apostles could have manipulated the truth a little bit and so avoided being jailed. But they had boldness and so spoke which led the enemies fear them. In the end of chapter 5 we read how God had sent an angel to the prison only to create fear in them. If Gamaliel had spoken in defense the previous day, it would not have been effective. But if we speak lies, we start fearing the reputation which we never had. An honest person has absolutely no fear. A church needs that identity or else it becomes just an another entertainment center.

As in James 3:4-6, the tongue is the entry point for all evil in our body and it is very hard for any person to tame it. A tongue that lies and also praises is like a fountain that brings forth both fresh and salt water. One another area where we lose our authority over sin is to show off our false gifts and talents. Verse 13-14 explains who with meekness of our wisdom we should show our works using good conduct and not the mouth. If we boast we are against the truth which is Christ. If we boast we are against heaven but are earthly and demonic.

According to Luke 11:27,28 God is pleased only when we hear the word and keep it or precisely receive Christ and safely keep Him in our hearts. If we fail to keep Him, we fail His purpose and are not blessed even though we have contributed or ministered or even spent all our lives for the Lord. Unless we honor what His words say, we have no place in His kingdom.

Amen.

Faith, which comes through Him

Acts 3:16 “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

The faith explained in this verse is of Peter and John. They had good faith as a gift from Christ that it could perform miracles. The name of Jesus has the power to heal, the name works when there is faith in the name. This was the first time Peter attempts at a miracle but he had the faith to do that at the most offensive place, the gate of the temple. The method Jesus works is that he has given us liberty to use His name, but we need faith and the good news is that this faith comes from Him. We do not have to worry.

Faith is a gift as per 1 Cor 12:9.  It is required for every Christian to understand how faith comes from Christ and how we could receive that gift. The first verse we have in this context is Romans 10:17 which is faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ. Firstly hearing has to come only from the word of Christ.  The Word is Christ and so, the word of Christ is the book which completely manifests Christ and it is the scripture. True hearing originates only from the Bible. In John 20:31 we read how the Bible completely belongs to Jesus.

Now, reading the Bible should bring hearing to us and this means we hear Christ when we read with that intent. Eph 3:4 explains if we read we perceive insights Paul has about the mystery of Christ. It is possible that we can read without perceiving or even hearing. But if our intentions are truly that our faith would increase or we want to hear Jesus, we will perceive the mysteries God opens to us. All we have to do is have the right intentions. We have to spend lots of time with the Bible so that Jesus would speak with us and when He does, our faith increases to a level where calling His name performs miracles.

The true effect of hearing can be seen in Acts 4:20 where if we hear we cannot stop speaking His word. Seeing is something that only early apostles did. Paul as in Romans 10:17 and other verses and those after him mention as hearing only and that hearing of the word of Christ made them stand up and speak.

In Hebrews 12:2, we read after great examples (in the previous chapter of faith), that our faith is different than that of Abraham and others as this faith has been found by Jesus. The difference is not in direction or definition but it is in quantity. Jesus had authored a faith that saw the joy in future and so took shame and pain. Jesus has perfected this faith in us by asking us to follow Him completely taking up our cross. The following verses mention that God disciplines us by giving us the trouble we are enduring in this life. So, it is Jesus who perfects the faith by guiding us through the path that disciplines.

So, we receive faith by reading and hearing the Bible and the faith is perfected by tribulation. This perfected faith performs well. It receives trials without murmur as the eyes are on the joy set before us. We have to remember that there is a lot of encouragement in the word of Christ during this tribulation. In Colossians 3:16, we can see how this encouragement is shared in the fellowship. All members should ensure that the Bible dwells in everybody’s minds not just by reading but by singing from their hearts. Let us ensure that our songs encourage others so that the word dwells in everybody’s hearts.

1 Timothy 1:4 explains how the faith which is administered by God would contradict with different doctrines which promote how better their faith is. If we uphold doctrines and practices more than faith, we will promote knowledge more than God’s will.

When asked by disciples to increase faith, Jesus (Luke 17:5-10) gives two parables. One is on how powerful faith is even when if it is tiny. The authority we carry with Jesus’ name is so great that when combined with faith, supernatural events occur. But, the second parable explains how humble we should be in executing faith. We cannot ask for honor as soon as we could perform miracles using this faith. Jesus expects the right attitude and surrender like the servant has to. The parable clearly mentions that faith can do both plowing and keeping sheep which is evangelical and pastoral ministry where faith is mandatory. But these men should consider themselves as unworthy servants as they do what is their duty.

Amen.

The Prince of Life

Acts 3:13-15 “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.  But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.”

This is Peter explaining people in the temple on how their deeds were towards Jesus. It is important for us to understand that we took the same stand as the Jews and have to repent. Jesus was actually glorified after his ascension based on John 7:39 but the order Peter mentions is that the Jesus who was glorified was denied at Pilate’s place. This is a confirmation to us that it is intended to us and not Jews alone.

 Peter starts the dialog saying that it is the same God who we have been worshipping and the God who always provides us goodness had a very wise plan in glorifying Jesus. God’s expectation is that we should see the glory of Jesus and follow Him. As per John 1:14, the early apostles saw the glory and then they could claim that Jesus has only revealed God (verse 18). God was revealed only through Jesus and not by any other means. The original translations refer Jesus as “the only begotten God” which clearly point at Christ’s divinity. The glory of Christ as in Revelation 1:12-16 should be understood by us. He is holy and clean in perfect white but fearful in the eyes. He stands firm in His position with the strongest voice. The mouth disciplines everybody without partialities and He is the brightest which no naked eyes can see. This image of Christ should be conceived by us and this is the glorified Jesus.

The verses say that we denied Jesus in Pilate’s presence meaning that we denied the glorified Jesus in front of the world and Satan.  The world and Satan are already defeated at the cross. They tempt us and torment us but in the end they have to allow you to go to Christ. It is our choice clearly that we chose Barabbas instead of Christ. The verse says that we delivered Him up for murder. We knew that He is offended and still as per Hebrews 6:6, for our selfishness we crucify Him.

Now, the important problem is that Jesus is holy and just. We have hardships in living with a holy and just one. Living and accepting a sinner is easy to us because we are heroes there. We do not desire the presence of holiness as we love darkness as in John 3:19. If we love light we would want to be like Jesus. But we have trouble tolerating Jesus and his perfection as it humbles us. Jesus clearly wants us to come to Him and accept Him. It is not His will that we deny Him. In John 7 we read the feast where Jesus was hesitant to go public on the ministry but in a few days, he starts teaching. In the end of the feast, He could not hold His love towards us and so, stood up and cried in a crowd asking people to believe in Him.

Our foolishness is displayed when we choose to live with a murderer and thief. Barabbas, when he is freed, the people know that their lives are at stake. We know that one lie, a vulgar word or a dirty video is fatal and can consume our entire lives, but still we choose to do that just because holiness does not excite us, but sin does. We need to understand the glory of God and His magnificence to make right choices in life.

Jesus being the prince of peace explains that he could give us life. Believing in Him as the messiah or the redeemer makes us perfect and strong. The crippled person was outside the gates being handicapped. But the name of Jesus, through faith of Peter and John changed him with sound health. The call to the men who crucified Jesus is (vs 19,20) that if we repent, Christ, the prince of life will come to us and give us a brand new clean life. This life will flow not just inside our hearts but outside so that others would receive Christ through us.

There are three statements Peter makes in order to establish Jesus with the Jews in Chapters 2,3,4 and these incidents happened at the street, the temple and then with the high priest and other important leaders. In the first Peter says that Jesus was attested by God through miracles and then in the temple Peter mentions Jesus as the prince of life. The next chapter Christ is described as the corner stone. This clear understanding of Christ will help us live. We should see Christ as a successful person to follow, then the source of life and then the foundation of our life.

Amen.