The hard sayings of the Lord Jesus

The teachings of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel by Luke are  quite embarrassing for the average Christian. Rather than avoid them, we do well to ponder them often.

    In chapter 11 the Lord denounces hypocrisy.

     In chapter 12.9 “If anyone denies Me here on earth, I will deny that person before God’s angels”. He calls the disciple to unashamed commitment to God and Himself, and this being accompanied with simple dependence upon God for all things. He does not promise present rewards, but anticipates the blessedness of being ready for the return of the Son of man. Indeed the words are ‘wisdom teachings’ and to us Gentile believers, some of the expectations of the Master seem unreasonable e.g “sell your possessions and give to the poor” . Another – “  Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you rather division.”  Statements like this can be given a contextual interpretation, however I think we should let the general thrust of them ‘wash us clean’ from the culture in which we live. Often our culture is one of self centred greed and peace at any price.

       Dr Luke presents in this Gospel, the strong moral teaching (some might call it philosophical teaching) of the Lord Jesus.   Matthew concentrates on the Kingdom teaching. Luke’s presentation reaches deep  into the conscience, the character and behaviour of the disciple.  It is obvious why the Lord Jesus became unpopular with the leading men of His day.

    

       It would have been interesting to  know more about Luke the author, who though a doctor, followed along with Paul in keeping with this teaching. It would appear he did indeed ‘pay the price’ of discipleship.

         The effect on myself is this – ‘how small I am in the light of such teaching!  How little faith I really have! How quickly the demands of this world take over! How uncommitted I am to the path of true discipleship !

          I conclude with another one of those seemingly hard sayings – “So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for Me” (Luke 14.33)

Let me suggest a different perspective – objective rather than subjective -  who is this one making such extreme demands of His followers ????? A mere rabbi?  An important prophet? 

This is the Son of God who in Himself trod this path before He asked anyone else to follow. The one “who was rich, yet for your sakes became poor” (2 Corinthians 8) . Luke presents the man in who God finds perfect delight, and we do well to ponder often the one of whom the Father said  “in Him I am well pleased.”

John McKee

Privilege

        The good news is gladly received by those who feel  their need of Jesus Christ the Lord. For those who believe on His name, the promises of Holy Scripture are vibrant with blessing. E.g. 

“ to as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God”  John 1.12

More than accepted as children, this is to actually become heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ!  Romans 8

        But the burden from Luke 10, that is pressing my spirit with grief, is the problem of people privileged to hear the good news, but refuse to receive  the Lord Jesus. It is so common in our western society for children and adults to hear the gospel, but choose to turn away to other things or other people. In some countries, where affluence is not so great there seems to be a greater thirst for the salvation and blessing of the gospel.

     In Luke chapter ten, the Lord Jesus spells out very clearly that privilege brings added responsibility. The present effect is, by refusing the good news, many others , in particular children are led away from Christ. The eternal effect is final accountability to God – the added terror and punishment for light refused. Let me quote from the loving Saviour: “ the truth is, even wicked Sodom will be better off than such a town on the judgement day”  Luke 10:12. To confirm the individual accountability, the word of God says:  “They are all judged according to their deeds”  Revelation 20:13.

        For the many, many people who think – ‘well I can choose, I can do as I please’   - the answer of the Lord is resoundingly clear.  

                “Anyone who rejects you is rejecting Me, and anyone who rejects Me, is rejecting God who sent Me!”  Luke 10.16

To reject God as creator has consequences bad enough, but to reject God as the redeemer is the ultimate insult, saying no to God’s love, mercy and grace. The ultimate loneliness resulting from such a response is intense, leading to the spiritual torment  uttered by Abraham to one lost man in hell  - “son remember.....”   Luke 16

The Lord Jesus came to the privileged city of Jerusalem Luke 13.34, and He who could have brought deliverance and peace to His people, wept tears of grief because He knew their evil hearts of unbelief. Soon they  would say “away with Him, we will not have this man to reign  over us” -  the rest is history – the temple destroyed, the city destroyed, the people scattered, hated and persecuted. All because of the light refused, the light of the world cast out.

Let us search our hearts today –

                           ‘what is my response to the light of the good news?’

The Lord Jesus said  “ I am come a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in Me will no longer remain in the darkness.”  John 12:46

You who know the Lord - let your light shine brightly for the glory  of our Lord.

John McKee

The most important question

       One question asked by Jesus, stands as the question of greatest              significance, then and now.

              “Who do you say I am?”    Luke 9:20

Please pause, and in your mind, and in your heart, and with your mouth, answer this question.

..................If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord from heaven, and believe in your heart that God so approved of Him and His sacrificial death, that He raised Jesus from the dead – then you will be saved.........Romans 10:9 expanded by J. McKee in accord with the context.

       The question “Who is this man?” , has differing implications in different cultures, and varying overtones in other historical settings. At the time that the Lord Jesus asked the question , the significant point was – was He the Messiah of Israel’s hopes, or was He only another prophet like John the baptiser, or like Elijah? 

       Today the same question relates more to the question – was He truely the Son of God, specifically sent by God and if so is He really alive after being crucified?

Peter as a Jew made the ultimate confession – “You are the Christ” or in more eastern terminology, “You are the Messiah”.  The Messiah had been promised by the prophets as being God’s son (Psalm 2), God’s shepherd (Zechariah 13), God’s servant (Isaiah 52,53) , God’s King (Psalm 2) , God’s sovereign (Daniel 7), God’s saviour (Isaiah 42,45) and more...............

The Jews well knew the high honour that belonged to the long awaited messiah, and the leadership with the crowd, sadly chose to reject Jesus – ‘crucify him, we will not have this man to reign over us’ . And so it is to this day, Jews in general reject His claim to be the Christ, the Messiah.

Also the Koran and its adherents understand that to claim to be the Son of God, as announced by the angel Gabriel, is give Him honour beyond a mere man or prophet.

Hinduism is quite willing to include Jesus among the many gods, but  not as the Son of the only true and living God.

Putting aside these spiritual forces in high places, we ourselves must answer this question before God – ‘who do you say I am?’

Many today are dying for their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Many want to avoid the question.  But you must answer, or rather by your action, you are answering this eternally significant question.

Religious observance is quite separate to this question. Intellectual debate must go quiet as you ponder the question of Jesus. Let the Spirit of the living God guide your thinking today and be blessed as you ‘confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead.’

I would be delighted to receive an email from any who do confess Him as Lord today

johnmckee@internode.on.net

'Take heed how you hear'

A warning from the Master

Luke 8.12  “ The devil comes and steals away the seed”

        The ‘pathway’ in this parable seems to represent the mind and heart that is constantly affected by others. For example- the public media is very good at hardening the conscience. Interacting with shameless sinners has a long term hardening of the heart. The business world with its temptations can sear the conscience. University with its intellectual arrogance often stumbles young people, who like Eve, think they are able to make their own decisions without knowing God.

Let us look at a more specific example:

The Bible says “In the beginning, God created”

The atheist will respond with ‘ there is no God so it just happened’

-The uninstructed mind will not be able to argue, so agrees

- The shallow thinker will say ‘ it doesn’t make any difference to me’

- The distracted heart will say ‘ I have other things to think about’

- The genuine heart will say ‘God says it, I believe it ‘

We have the choice to make – how we hear! 

Recently I listened to a man who sat down with a Bible and the Koran. Although a muslim, he found the Bible was like light from heaven by comparison, and promptly became a Christian.

What do the words of the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, mean to you?

John McKe

2015 a year of hope?

A new year

Which way are you facing as you begin 2015?

             Some people go forward looking backwards – the past with it’s good and bad preoccupies them. Others are concerned only for the present. Nothing else seems to matter but the circumstances of the present. Yet others go forward looking into the future – some with real hope, others with despair.

     Well a Christian should do all three

·           *Evaluate the past and learn from it, remember the good and be thankful

·            *Consider the opportunities of the moment and seek grace from the Great Shepherd to live a day at a time.

·             *Lift up one’s eyes to the possibilities of tomorrow and with long sighted vision consider what God has in store for those who love Him.

 The Lord Jesus said “ In My Father’s house are many rooms,........... I go to prepare a place for you.

”

The past can be forgiven.

The present can be committed into the care of the Great Shepherd.

The future is secure in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

May each reader of these articles be blessed this year with the nearness of the Lord, so that in the good times and the difficult times, you will be able to say

“I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me”  Psalm 23

John McKee

Serving the Lord

“Master we have toiled all night and have caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets” Luke 5.5

    It appears to me from our compass, the Bible, and from fifty years of observation, that God chooses different people to serve Him indifferent ways. There is not one formula for serving God. But there is ONE MASTER for serving God. He alone knows what is best for each one of HIS servants!

    Some people are called to toil all night. Others are called to gather one draught of fish at what seems the most unusual time. Some labour all day to receive a penny, others labour for just one hour and receive a penny.

John the Baptist served well for about eighteen months while the Apostle John served for about sixty years. Dorcas was diligent  in serving the Lord with her hands for many years. Mary is recorded briefly as anointing the Lord from heaven. Paul planted and Apollos watered, but it was God who gave the increase. Many of us have yearned to know the ‘plan of God for our lives’. Some like the Apostle Paul, have a revelation right at the beginning – ‘that he must suffer for the Name of the Lord Jesus’.  For Peter, his commissioning service(John21) included his stewardship to feed God’s sheep and also how he would die. Was a similar plan given to John? Not that we know of. In fact Peter sought to draw out from the Lord a proposed plan for John, but was rebuked with most significant words – “what is that to you? You follow me”!

      To some a distinctive mission in life is clear but to the many it is a day by day devotion, following the Shepherd where ever He leads. Previously we noticed Zechariah in Like 1. He for so many years faithfully committed to the cause of God, not knowing that he would become the father of a prophet.

       The letter to the Hebrews in chapter twelve, it is filled with people of significant faith. Then it says “others................................” Obviously God calls some to prominence, but others who by faith endure, and achieve by faith, will be rewarded in the day of Christ’s glory.

           So what am I drawing from all this?

As to the eternal value of what we do  “ we work as a team with the same purpose, yet they will be rewarded individually according to their own hard work.” (1 Corinthians 3.8NLT)

As to now, there is just one Master, one Lord in heaven and there is no partiality with HIM. His calling and enabling by the Holy Spirit is as unique as we are different. His timing is wise. The stewardship given will be called to account by  the heavenly account keeper. The  outcomes may well be different to our human expectations or aspirations.

          It is loyal devotedness to HIM that will yield contentment and fruitfulness in this life, and His divine recognition in the next life.

Perhaps I have seem to have wandered from my text? Sometimes the Lord lets us labour all the night- that is not wrong and the Lord does not rebuke that. The real lesson is learned by Peter – It is not so much the timing or the labour, it is the LORD that makes the difference. Peter considers himself unworthy of the Lord’s service or the Lord’s presence. Yet this is just the same grace of the Lord of the harvest – He  chooses to use the unworthy in HIS way, in HIS time , for HIS glory.

       So then it is important to work hard for the Lord (as said Paul), but it is more important to work as a partner with the Lord (2 Corinthians 6.1 ), in submission to HIS directives and by HIS enabling grace. Whether we be a public success  or not is insignificant. Whether we walk with the Lord, being available as clean vessels for the Master’s use, is significant. It was Mary, the mother of Jesus,  who in her song, so beautifully sang, that God in His wonderful way “exalts the lowly” Luke 1.52.

                 My prayer for all who read these articles, all over the world , is that you may know the Lord Jesus Christ by faith,  that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith, and that as branches in the vine you might bear much fruit to the glory of the living Lord Jesus.

John McKee

Recapturing the eternal perspective

A modern saying tell’s so much – “We want to make this world a better place to live in.”

      Well, nice thought, but so different to the teaching and mindset of the New Testament. No-one has more impacted the world for good than Jesus and Moses and Paul along with the Apostles. Yet they constantly had their focus on something beyond this life, beyond this world! The Lord Jesus prayed that his disciples might be with Him in the Father’s house ( John 17). Paul was longing for the day when he would exchange the present for a better condition – “We want to slip into our new bodies, so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life.”(2 Corinthians 5.4).

     In the western world, Christianity has been hijacked by the emphasis on ‘living the good life now’.      Across the earth most Christians suffer every day, as the Lord foretold “ In the world you will have tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 15). Across the world thousands of Christian refugees suffer persecution and hunger, thousands suffer discrimination for the name of the Lord Jesus, many are in prison and hundreds die for converting to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. One could mention the thousands who suffer illness and the many incapacitated in old age. For most of the suffering ones, the next life with Christ, is the only hope to live a ‘good life.’ Heaven will be a rich compensation for them. Paul paints a beautiful picture – “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later” (Romans 8.18).

     For those who want everything now, listen to the words of Abraham –“Son remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted and you are in anguish.” Luke 16.25. Once again it was the Lord Jesus who said to the Loadicean church – “You say ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realise that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”(Revelation 3.17) 

Such of course is the voice of the prosperity gospel. The poverty of the master , who said follow Me, along with many other scriptures, shows the fallacy of those who claim authority for their dreams, from their dreams . ( Jude 8 )

      The Lord Jesus called upon us to take up our cross (going out to die for Him), deny ourselves and follow Him. This will only happen when out of devotion to Himself we move forward with the next life as our focus. Even Abraham, who was blessed with much in this world, was looking beyond this life, looking for the city whose builder and maker was God (Hebrews 11 ).

    It is very true that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ does impact on the world in which we live (as salt and light), but this is not the purpose or the focus. The Lord came from heaven to rescue people out of this lost and fallen world. That they might be saved, redeemed, regenerated, accepted in the family of God  - not just for a few short  years in this world, but beyond the resurrection forever with the Lord.

  For so many, eternal life is the glorious prospect, begun now in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and then forever to sing the praise of the Lamb upon the throne.

Let us all then, lift up our eyes to the glorious hope, to be with HIM and like HIM forever.

John McKee