Signs and wonders today?

There is no doubt that most people are greatly interested in and really curious about signs and wonders.  News about miracles always attracts our attention. Most of us have a desire that God will somehow confirm our calling through wonders and the supernatural.

When we read the Word in Acts 2: 43, especially as Christians with a ministry, we wish to have our own divine signs that we are part of God’s growth priority:

Acts 2: 43:  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

During the ministry of Jesus on earth, the religious leaders asked him to show them a sign! But Jesus refused to be manipulated by their misguided requests. He did not do his miracles as a performance or for their entertainment! 

His miracles had a purpose. They were the signs that the Kingdom of God, his dominion through the Messiah, had come into the world. This is still God’s purpose with signs and wonders he grants us through his grace!

Signs and wonders are not related to the power of our faith. It is related to the revelation of the might of the resurrected Jesus and therefore is intrinsically part of and related to the sovereignty of God’s grace and the mercy of his Son!

Paul taught that (2 Corinthians 12:12), "The things that mark an apostle — signs, wonders and miracles — were done among you with great perseverance."  God worked in a special and even unique way through these first apostles. They truly had and will always have a special place in the establishment of the Church of Christ and of his dominion amongst his people after the ascension of Jesus and after Pentecost. There was something unique and exceptional about the grandeur of the signs and wonders done through the first Church and the apostles.

The signs and wonders given by the Lord through the first Church served a most important purpose.  The purpose was to help those in need (a pastoral purpose), to grow the faith of the apostles and the first Church (a ministry purpose) and most of all to transform them into an awe-filled worshipping Church to exalt and glorify the ascended Jesus (a doxological purpose).

But we can miss what God is doing because of our limited understanding of God’s pastoral, ministry and doxological purpose amongst his people!  

As there is no doubt that God does not give signs and wonders to thrill and entertain us, God works and will always work his miracles to fulfil his purposes.

This is basically whom God is! And always was and will be.

God is not limited by our inadequate understanding or faith!

The signs and wonders of God remain part of his sovereign interventions to make his Church an agent of his purpose!

God’s purpose for an inspired church, filled with his Spirit and enabled by the resurrection power of his Son, remains to care for us pastorally, to minister to us efficiently and to glorify and exalt his most holy Majesty! Amongst other ways, also through signs and wonders.

Believe it, and pray for it!

A liturgical Creed for Trinity Sunday.

A liturgical Creed for Trinity Sunday.

I believe in the one and only almighty God:

the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

I believe in God the Father,

Creator and Sustainer of all things;

And in God the Son,

Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord,

who suffered and died for our sins,

rose from the dead,

and is exalted in heaven

for the sake of our eternal victory;

And in God, the Holy Spirit,

who assembles the Church,

makes us one body in Christ,

convicts us of both sin and forgiveness,

and works eternal life in us.    AMEN.

Pentecost Sunday – central to the work of God.

We must ask what difference it makes to us today that the first Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit 2000 years ago on the Jewish festival of Shavuot (Hebrew) or Pentecost (Greek).   The impact is that all who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour receive “the indwelling and power of the Spirit”.

Pentecost, celebrated on 15 May 2016, matters because it clearly shows that the Church plays a central role in God’s work in our world.

We know that the Holy Spirit was poured out on individual disciples of Jesus as they were patiently waiting upon the fulfilment of the promise Jesus made to them about the coming of the Spirit. They were praying for 10 days waiting upon the Lord to fill them and share the power of the resurrected Christ with them by baptizing them with the Spirit of God.

The Pentecost day turned followers of Christ into the first congregation of the Christian Church, as they all received the power of the Holy Spirit. Along with the first disciples, they also shared in becoming a Christian community or family.

They taught about the resurrected Lord, broke bread, prayed and enjoyed such a special fellowship that many more came to join in their faith and in celebrating the resurrected Jesus. They cheerfully gave of their belongings to feed the hungry and maintain the ministry of Word and Sacrament. And “the Lord daily added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Pentecost matters, because it tells us about the birthday and role of the Church in the coming Kingdom of God.

It was no coincidence that the congregation was praying together when the Spirit was poured out. This first “grandmother church” would be the root from which the Church of our Lord would grow. Their experience on the first Pentecost teaches that the Church is central to God’s work and plan through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in the Church and all her members. Paul therefore calls the Church the Temple of God in which the Spirit dwells. (1 Cor 3.)    The truth found throughout Scriptures is that the Church in which the Spirit dwells is central to the Father’s work in the world and is central to our worship, growth and service.

Pentecost insists that we reflect on our own participation in the work, mission and life of the Church of God. We need to continuously renew our covenant with the God of grace, received at baptism and confirmed by our public confession of faith, to live as a contributing member of the body of Christ.

Pentecost calls us to build the Church of our Lord by preaching the Word, sharing in her holy sacraments and spreading the salvation, love, power and justice of Jesus Christ across the world.

Ascension Day proclaims the Lordship of Christ.

On Ascension Day, this year celebrated on Thursday 5 May, we proclaim that Jesus is our Lord. That he died for our sins and has been raised from the dead.

He is alive forever, and ascended into heaven, where he was enthroned at the right hand of God the Father and has all authority in heaven and on earth.

We have an advocate in heaven.

He listens to our prayers.

He will crush all his enemies.

He will come again.

Therefore, we must go and make disciples of all nations

and serve him with love, obedience, reverence and in worship till our life's end.

The Ascension of Christ proclaims his authority over all.  1 Peter 3:22 says that Christ “has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him”  And Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”. Matthew 28:18-20.

Ascension Day proclaims the Lordship of Christ in every area of life. Jesus has all authority. Jesus is Lord over the world of business, sports, entertainment and government. Jesus Christ is Lord over the Church, schools, shops, entertainment, manufacturing, public service, justice and parliament and law enforcement.

Every professional, worker, manager, teacher, policeman, politician, business person, mother, father, and every person in authority or under authority is individually accountable to God and will one day give account of their lives before the almighty Christ, Lord, King and Judge who reigns in heaven and has dominion over everything.

Ascension Day is a glorious celebration of and holy reminder and assurance that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14

The Ascension of Jesus celebrates both the forgiveness through - and the victory of Christ.

Ps 110: 1 reads: “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’”

The Ascension of the Lord Jesus proclaims the ultimate victory of Christ and proclaims that he is the King of kings, the Lord of lords and the Head of the Church.   Whoever refuses to bow before Christ as only Saviour today, while grace and forgiveness are still freely available, will one day have to bow before Christ as the eternal Judge, and without forgiveness will be lost forever!

The Ascension of Jesus Christ comforts all believers amidst their struggles and especially those who suffer persecution. But the Bible says, “Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has gone through the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the Faith we profess.” Hebrews 4:14.

We have an Advocate in Heaven. He hears our prayers. He intercedes for us.

He will come again. He will defeat every authority that repudiates him and questions his pre-eminence.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”   Philippians 2:9-11.

May the Lord bless, keep and sustain us and grant us a blessed Ascension Day and empowering Pentecost!