Asked of God and called by God!

In 1 Sam 1 we read of the pain and agony of Hannah, an infertile woman desperate for a child. We are told about the mocking she received from her husband's other wife. We are told how she went into the tabernacle, and proceeded to pour out her bitterness and anger to the Lord and prayed passionately, even desperately, for a son.

The Lord wasted no time in answering Hannah's prayer. Within a year a boy was born. Hannah named him "Samuel," saying, "Because I asked the Lord for him." The name "Samuel" means "asked of God". This Samuel who was asked of God, was also called by God. In presenting the boy to Eli, the high priest, Hannah could say,
(1Sam 1:27) I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

Why did the Lord answer Hannah's prayer and granted Hannah's request for a son? At first it appears that her prayer was selfish and self-centred. She wanted a son to take away her disgrace, to quiet her rival, and to ensure her place in the covenant community. But remember, she also was willing to give this son back to God’s service, let him stay in the tabernacle and allow him to learn to know the voice of the Lord.

Never forget the setting of a Bible story. The time of this story is the days of the Judges. It was a wicked and infamous time in Israel's history. The book of Judges ends with these daunting words:
(Judges 21:25) In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
What was needed in the days of the Judges is the same thing needed today: God-fearing leaders through whom only God rules and leads his people.

God gave Hannah a son, because Samuel was going to be the Lord's anointed leader, filling the need for godly leadership amongst his people. It is through Samuel that the Lord would carry on his work amongst his chosen people. It is through Samuel that the Kingdom of God would be served and the rule of God would be established.

Samuel, the future leader of Israel, was asked of God and called by God. That same pattern should be found in the church of Christ today.

"What we need are good leaders," we often say and pray.
We need people who are all the time praying for good leaders, like Hannah prayed for a son. We need people praying with Hannah’s passion. We need people praying to God for leaders like Samuel – asked of God and called by God. We need to pray that the Lord will call leaders through whom only God rules and leads the church in his ways and paths.

A God-led church is a glorious treasure and comfort.
A God-led church is served by leaders begged of God and called according to his purpose.

Listen when God warns you!

If I tell you that a Knysna Lourie visits a big tree in front of our chalet more than once a day and that double collared sunbirds (suikerbekkies) enjoy the nectar of the flowers of the same tree all day long, you know that we are not in Jeffreys Bay anymore. We since Saturday stay in Knysna, the gateway to the big forest on the garden route, one of the most beautiful natural gardens in our country.

On Friday, the day before we left Jeffreys, our car gave us warnings of two problems that we should attend to. They could be easily and at very low cost be fixed, but if we ignored the warnings, we would have had a most inconvenient and costly problem to resolve. Listening well to what the car showed us, helped us to avoid catastrophe. I thank the Lord for these warnings he helped us to recognise, and for his provision in everything we do and wherever we go.

God warns us way ahead of time of the dangers in our spiritual life as well as of the challenges for his church. It always was the case. In the days of Amos the prophet, God said through his servant:
Amos 3: 6 and 7: When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

But we must listen when we hear and see that God reveals his plan, we must take the action God’s wisdom shows us and be prepared. Nothing is impossible to God, who will provide in our every need, even when dangers prowl.
We always must give our best and our all to God. When the day of the Lord comes, we will be prepared to heed his warning and triumph in his Name and by his grace and mercy. Our God gives wisdom as much as he gives warning.

May you be blessed when you serve God wholeheartedly, responding to his revelations and conquer through his omnipotent power! Be prepared to receive the Lord’s solution on the day of danger and attack, by giving him your best and giving him your all.

How great is your God?

We see God's glory in the wonders of creation.

When you visit the coast you see the most glorious sunsets. As the sun dips into the ocean, action on the beach seems to stop. Most people fall silent. Conversations become hushed. Children stop running. Balls are not thrown. All eyes turn to the sun until it dips below the horizon. Silence reigns. The silent splendour of God's sunset over the ocean works its magic in our hearts. The very colour of the sea seems to change minute by minute. After the sun slides behind the sea and everyone returns to his or her activity, you go on your way, with this verse on your lips: "O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Ps 8: 1 and 9)

God's glory shines above the heavens and below the heavens. Yesterday we were speechless when visiting the world heritage site, Baviaanskloof. The fine arrangement and beauty of mountain, river and unique ecology shown in the abundance of vegetation only found here, show the skill of the heavenly Artist. The immense grandeur of one of the gardens designed by the eternal Gardener himself, demonstrates the incomprehensible greatness of God. It enthuses gratitude. It inspires thanksgiving.

God's name is not simply crowned in our hearts; it is majestic in all the earth. Many small and seemingly unimportant things reveal the greatness of God. Each little flower that opens and each little bird that sings proclaims the glorious majesty of God. Every special relationship - a mother and her baby, a couple in love, a hand reaching out to a friend, reminds of the glory of the Lord.

David starts and ends Psalm 8 the same way, with words of praise to God:
(Ps 8:1 and 9) O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

God's name stands for God's person, God's being, and God's attributes; they are all majestic. "Majestic." In the Hebrew language, this word tells us that God is the incomparable, omnipotent God.

We believe in, and adore, one living and true God, who is Spirit, personal, infinite, and eternal, present in every place, the almighty Author and sovereign Lord of all; most blessed, most holy, and most free; perfect in wisdom, justice, truth and love; to us most merciful and gracious; unto whom only we must cleave, whom only we must worship and obey. To Him be glory for ever. (Art 1 of the 24 Articles of Faith).

We hear this message in all the pages of Scripture all the time:
(Ex 15:11) "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you--majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

(1 Sam 2:2) "There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no rock like our God."

(Jer 10:6) No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.

God is majestic. He is majestic in power, in splendour, in glory, in works, and in holiness. He is incomparable. There is no other god like the Lord God almighty.

For King David, the majesty of God is especially evident in his vast and wondrous creation. David looks at the sun, moon, and stars, David looks at the birds, fish, and animals and David looks at man. He sees all that God has made and he says,
O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Tell everyone!

Jeffrey’s Bay is known for many things. It is known for good weather, for great waves to surf – and for its abundance of see shells on the beach. The latter became a job creating resource. Some harvest the shells very early every morning. They sell it to people who clean them and then make beautiful ornaments to be sold to tourists. And then there are many, many, selling the final product. You meet them every day. They approach everyone. They do not skip a soul. They see a prospective customer in every car, and on every bench. They have tenacity and they are not shy. And I believe they have to be successful, for they never stop.
How great it would be if we Christians had the same persistence when offering Christ to the world. If we stopped thinking that we know who the people are who will respond to the good news, and who will not.

They make me think of the well known parable that Jesus told, and explained, about the sewer and the seed, in Matthew 13. This story is about the fact that we are all different kinds of soil in the receiving of the Word of God. It also teaches us something very important about the one who sows.

According to this parable Jesus knew that there are some people who are like the soil on a hard path. The Word hardly gets there, and it is gone. They don’t seem to have the ability to respond to the Word of God.

Some of the seed falls on shallow soil. The parable is talking here about shallow people. You know you’re shallow when you only have two items on the agenda: pleasant and unpleasant, what I like to do and what I don’t like to do. I avoid what I don’t like to do, and I do what I like to do. That is shallow. Shallow is someone who never reads anything spiritual, never contemplates anything or responds in any way to God’s Word. There is not going to be any fruit for God’s cause in their lives.

Sometimes the Word of God falls among the weeds. These are people who are too busy to fruitfully absorb the Word. There are too many plants in their lives. They have said yes to too many things. They had a sense of priorities once, but they lost the list, and now it is a matter of only doing something where the most pressure is felt. They never really take time to nourish their spirit, to pray, to read Scripture, to think about life and relationships, to pause and thank God for his blessings and to worship God with his people. There is some fruit in their lives, but it is deprived and undeveloped. It cannot nourish anyone.

Then there is the good soil. These are the genuine, truly humble, serving Christians. They live in the same world as others, have the same friends, work at the same places, yet there is something different about them. They love, they care, they go, they do, and they give. And if you were to list all the good things they do, they would be embarrassed.
What made them so different? It is in taking time to attend to their spiritual life and to God. They nourish their relationship with God. They feed it, talk to their souls about it, praying about being good soil. Attending to God’s Word nourishes, grows your relationship with Jesus and determines who you are. It makes the seed grow 30, 60 and 100 fold.

But this parable is about more than who we are. It is also about Jesus, the sewer who tells us in this parable that in his ministry he scattered the seed on every kind of soil. He did not only sow on good soil. He tells us that he gave each and everyone the chance to receive the seed and the chance to let it grow.

It would be a terrible mistake to give up on people, because we decided that they were too hard, too shallow or too busy to receive the Word! The fact is that we do not know whether there will be any growth. So let us not be selective. Indiscriminately scatter the Word of God and do not try to predict what the result will be, because we do not know.
It is Christ sowing the seed through you and me. And we do not know where the seed will grow. All we know is that we believe that people can change by the power of God’s Spirit.

You do not have to trust your own gift of sowing. Trust the seed, which is nothing less than Christ given to people by the Holy Spirit. He is given to you, your family, your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your friend and your neighbour.

If you believe that, you will be blessed as you remain busy with God’s farming. Persistently sow Jesus everywhere. Approach everyone. Do not skip a soul. See a prospective Christian in every car, and on every bench. Have tenacity and don’t be shy. And God will carry on using his church to save the world.

Wait upon the Lord

When we arrived at Jeffreys Bay on Saturday, the town was exceptionally busy. In spite of the fact that the sea was as smooth as the Vaaldam on a windless day, there were surfers wherever you went. The guest house opposite the home where we stay, was as busy as a beehive. It’s a place where surfers hang out. Many were socialising, killing time in various ways. They did not look nervous or frustrated. They were waiting for the waves to return.
It was only on the news on Sunday night that I heard that an important international surfing event was taking place here, but that there was no progress, because there were no breakers! The who ’s who of South African surfing as well as the champion surfers of the world are in town. Waiting patiently.
On Monday morning the wind and the breakers returned. The event could continue. All of a sudden the guest house, the ice cream parlour, clubhouse and the shops were empty. The games began.
But on Monday afternoon it started raining. The bakkies with the surfer slogans and posters returned to the guest house. More unplanned parties were enjoyed. The waiting game started all over again.
Tuesday turned out to be a perfect day for the surfers.
We also, for the first time ever, went to watch an international surfing event, and I now have a better understanding of why they are able to wait so patiently. It is part of the game plan to make sure that you get the breaker that will give you the opportunity to win, to be a champion. If you just “jumped” onto the first wave that comes along – you could spoil your chances completely.
What they came to do was important enough for them to continue waiting for. Their focus, enthusiasm and ambition (and desire to win the enormous amount of prize money!!) enabled them to wait for the right time, weather and circumstance. In the water that same patience is rewarded with a better chance to be a winner.
These are people who will not allow their concentration to be disturbed by less than perfect conditions.
These are people who are determined to create their own opportunity by being patient.

Christians are infamous for their intolerance with God’s timing. They want to have perfect answers to instant prayers, immediately. They often blame God for having to wait. They time and again loose interest and focus when there is no wind driving their faith ships or when stormy weather interferes with their plans and desires.
We Christians can learn a lot from the surfing fraternity.

Jesus, on the other hand, spent a lot of time waiting on his Father. He often went into retreat to find answers, strength, and patience. In order to be able to do this, Jesus made certain that he had time to pray. There are four important words about this in Matthew 14:22: "Jesus dismissed the crowd."

This was not just any crowd. This was about 10,000 people who had heard Jesus teach, had seen him heal the sick and had watched him produce enough food miraculously to feed them all. This was a crowd ready to make him a king. But Jesus dismissed them! Why? We read in verse 23: "After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray."

Jesus said no to a buzzing, excited crowd, an excellent opportunity, in order to say yes to an even better one. It was a deliberate choice to honour his priorities. Jesus' first responsibility and main concern was not to satisfy his scores of excited fans, but to wait faithfully on his heavenly Father until “his hour has come”, as he often said.

On another occasion Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek." This word "meek." used in the Bible is the same word used to describe a wild stallion that has been trained for the saddle. It means power under control, strength with direction, ready to get going, yet being disciplined, focussed – and waiting. This saying really says “Blessed are the focused, those who know their priorities and honour them and wait upon God for the wind to turn and the breakers to come back.”

Jesus most of the time served the crowd diligently. But he did dismiss them when he had to do something of greater importance – like having fellowship time with his heavenly Father, waiting on his perfect timing.

When the perfect breakers come, we must be able and ready to surf them like champions.
Will we, in spite of waiting long, when God’s time comes still be focussed, calm and determined enough to accomplish his will?
Are we patiently disciplined when it comes to waiting upon the Lord?

Father, Thy will be done… Amen.

The battle belongs to the Lord

Israel and the Philistines were at war - again! They arranged their forces on opposite sides of a valley. This made it risky for either army to begin an attack. By descending one slope, crossing the valley floor and its stream, and climbing up the other side, the attackers would make themselves vulnerable. The result was a stalemate; neither army dared to leave its position.

It was Goliath who provided a solution. He boastfully challenged anyone in Israel to a one-on-one confrontation. This encounter would decide the battle and the war.

The most important detail that the Bible gives us about Goliath is not his size, his armour or his challenge to Gods people. The most important detail is given in the word "defy." This word means "to treat with contempt or ridicule." Goliath defied "the armies of the living God" (1 Sam 17:26). He treated God with contempt. He mocked the Almighty.

But God had chosen David to be his servant. Bound up in David is the power of God, the honour of God, and the glory of God. Advancing towards the giant is David, God's chosen instrument to overcome an enemy who defied him.

David answered Goliath's challenge, because the LORD was with him. Victory and defeat was in the hands of the LORD. Not in the hands of David or his ridiculous “weapon” – a sling and a stone. It was God who defeated Goliath - not David or his sling.

David’s victory made a statement to the Philistines, the Israelites and to us: that the name of the LORD is sufficient to strike the strongest enemy to the ground. The battle belongs to the Lord (1 Sam 17: 47), and the Lord will give his enemy into our hands, however insufficient our defence may be.

To save us from every enemy, God once more has a chosen instrument – it is Jesus Christ, his eternal Son. God still defeats the enemy without sword or spear. He still uses what seems completely inadequate to save us. Of all things, God uses a cross and a grave, a crucifixion and a resurrection.

He uses what seems to be weak, to put the strong to shame.
He uses his Son, dying on the cross and arising from the grave, to defeat the powers of darkness. As always, the battle belongs to the Lord.
As always it is not our weapons that make the difference – it is God.
Because the battle belongs to the LORD, and so does the victory.

Be blessed when the Lord, through his almighty Christ, conquers his enemies through you, today!

The Church - the holy Temple of God (2)

1 Corinthians 3: 16 and 17: Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

When Paul calls the church God's temple he reminds us of the exciting truth that his Church is where God lives amongst his people, that the church is indwelt by the Spirit of God and that God’s church is the body of Christ. This means that the congregation is holy, set apart, reserved for God and his use - sacred in God’s service. It isn't a building or a place that is holy. It is a people, a congregation of believers, that is holy. "You yourselves are God's temple and ... God's temple is sacred."

A warning follows from this truth.
Paul says, "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him." Destroying or wounding the body of Christ is a serious offence in both the Old and New Testaments. God does not tolerate the destruction or wounding of his holy temple. In the Old Testament the penalty for defiling the sanctuary was either death (Lev 15:31) or excommunication (Numbers 19:20). God is no less jealous of his spiritual temple, than he was of the sanctuary built with wood and stone in the Old Testament.
Paul says, "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him." This is a twofold promise: a promise to eventually punish those who damage the church and a glorious promise to safeguard his church.

The temple of God can be wounded and destroyed from without and within.
From without we think of persecution, of attacks against the people of God. Think of Pharaoh. It was his intention to wound or even destroy the people of God. He turned them into slaves. He killed their baby boys.
Think of the Pharisees and how bitterly they attacked the Christ and his church. After the Ascension the apostles and followers of Jesus were persecuted and killed and during the first 350 years of the existence of the church more members were martyred than those who were not.

We bear the torch that flaming
Fell from the hands of those,
Who gave their lives proclaiming
That Jesus died and rose.
Ours is the same commission,
The same glad message ours,
Fired by the same ambition,
To God we yield our power.

O Father who sustained them,
O Spirit who inspired,
Saviour, whose love constrained them,
To toil with zeal untired.
From cowardice defend us,
From apathy awake!
Forth on Your errands send us
To labour for Your sake.

But, the church is not only attacked from without, but also from within. This is where Paul wants us to focus our attention. There are so many ways that those within the church can wound and destroy the Body. All that we have to do is look at the church in Corinth. She was being destroyed and wounded from within by divisions, by fights, quarrels, spiritual pride, unfaithfulness, impurity, neglect of duty, being followers of men, rather than followers of Jesus, teaching what people want to hear, rather than the inspired Word, and many other evil ways.

Imagine that we had a wedding, with a bleeding, wounded bride. What a mess. The families were seated. The groom and his attendants were in their places. I was waiting at the front, Bible in hand. The bridesmaids and flower girl had come down the aisle. René began to play the wedding march on the organ, and everyone stood. We could not believe our eyes. The bride came limping down the aisle. Her gown was ripped and covered with mud. One eye was purple and swollen. Her hair was a mess. She had been fighting with her sisters and brothers again.
We all thought to ourselves, "Doesn't the groom deserve better than this?"

This didn't really happen, of course. It is but a parable of what happens when Christ's bride, the church, has quarrels and divisions. A church divided brings shame upon the Lord. A church divided, wounds and destroys the Body.

God always protects and preserves his church from those who attack her, whether from within or without. God does not tolerate her destruction.
Instead, by God's grace and power, we are to build her up. We can live at peace, instead of having fights and quarrels with fellow Christians. We can walk by the Spirit instead of falling from sin into heresy. We can study the Word. By God's grace and power, we may add to the glory of God’s church through missions, evangelism, and witnessing. By sticking together, believing and serving.

The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation by water and the Word;
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride,
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life - He died.

Love one another...

If we do not have a personal relationship Jesus, we can do nothing good!

As we look around our congregation, we see people whose lives reveal Jesus' glory! Their witness strengthens our faith. We are strengthened by them and they by us, and together we reveal Jesus' glory and as we reveal his grandeur, we help others to believe in him.

In the "true vine" context, Jesus says, "Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch (of the vine) cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).

The fruit that Jesus speaks about is revealing his love through our love for each other as his children, thus sharing his joy with a sad, lost world.
In John 15: 10 – 11 Jesus says: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Our personal relationship with Jesus results in the fruit of love for each other and complete joy in his service. In this way we reveal his glory to others and then they will believe that he is the answer, the Saviour, the true source of life and hope, of meaning and fruit.

If we really want to honour Jesus, this is how we do it: by loving one another. When we do, people will look at us and see Jesus and understand his message - and believe, take heart and give him glory! Only then our discipleship is complete.

The holy Temple of God on earth

1 Cor 3:16: Don't you (plural) know that you yourselves (plural) are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you (plural)?

Paul's message is: the church, the congregation of believers, can also be called the temple of God.

"You yourselves are God's temple." There are two words that Paul could have used for "temple." One which includes the entire temple area and structure on Mount Zion in Jerusalem and the other, the word that Paul uses here, that speaks of the sanctuary itself, consisting of the Holy place and the Holy of Holies. The sanctuary is where God lives: his Name, glory and his power are present here.

The church is God's temple. But what does this mean? This tells us three things about the church and therefore about us, his people.

Firstly, this tells us that the church is where God lives. She is his sanctuary. In her is present his Name, his glory and his power. From here comes God's disclosures of who he is - to us and to the world. The church is where God has his home on earth and where men and women enjoy his presence.

Secondly, this tells us that the church is indwelt by the Spirit of God. The Bible teaches us that where God's Spirit is, there is the temple. That's why Paul can say, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you" (1 Cor 3:16). A church indwelt by the Spirit is a church filled with gifts and fruit, that grows, increases and matures.

Thirdly, this tells us that she, God’s church, is the body of Christ. More than once Jesus identifies the temple with his body. That is why Paul can say elsewhere that with Christ she suffered, with him she died, and with him she was raised. And, someday, with him she, his church, will be glorified.

The church is God's temple. And God's temple, says Paul, "is sacred." God's temple is holy. God's temple is special, set apart, consecrated, not used for ordinary things. The congregation, the followers of Jesus, the Body of believers, is holy, set apart, reserved for God and his use.

But many don't believe this. They want to believe that if anything is holy, it is a place, or a structure or at the most, an organisation.

But it is a people, a congregation of believers, that is holy. "You yourselves are God's temple and ... God's temple is sacred." The church, the people living in the Body of Christ, belong to God. She is his dwelling place and she is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

And God does not tolerate her destruction. Instead, by God's grace and power, we are to build her up.

How do we do that? We can encourage and contribute, instead of criticize and take away from her beauty with the words we use, the thoughts we have and the attitudes we display. We can walk and live by the Spirit instead of falling from one sin into another. We can keep faith with each other, instead of breaking our promises. We can listen to the Word instead of following error and heresy.

So tell me, are the way that you live in the Body of Christ break her down, or build her up? Do you destroy or do you build up the holy church of Jesus?

Prayer: Dear Lord – thank you for the privilege to live in the Body of Christ - here on earth and for all eternity. Make me, by your Spirit, a builder and a beautifier of your church - in Jesus Name. Amen.