An Inescapable Question

Do you ever read through the Bible and picture yourself there? As you are reading some scenes, can you see the scene in your head? For me, this is one of those scenes I can just picture being at.

Jesus is walking to Ceasarea Philippi with His disciples. If the narrative from the previous scene follows immediately, they are in the process of walking the 25 Miles from where Jesus healed the blind man (Bethsaida), to the towns around Ceasarea Philippi. On a related topic, they are walking to a town that is essentially dedicated to the chief human leader of their time - Caesar. That alone makes an interesting parallel to the question posed!

Walking 25 miles. Tired possibly, though less so than us as they were used to walking more than we are! Footsore a little. Emotionally maybe they are still processing the healing of the blind man – that was a pretty serious miracle! They had just witnessed something completely out of this world, unheard of. Someone who was blind, being able to see. They could even see the process as first the healing wasn’t complete – then after a second touch the blind man was healed.

One quick thing to remember – we have heard the Gospel. We have heard about Jesus, we know about His death and resurrection. We may know many of the recorded acts of Jesus, and even some more in depth things from the later letters in the Bible. We may even have faith in Jesus! The disciples knew none of this – they were living right in this passage, right in this time, and anything after was still unknown and in the future.

Let’s take a quick look at the passage in question.

Mark 8:27–30 (ESV)

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.  

So they are walking along, possibly a little tired, certainly in their minds trying to work through what just happened with the blind man and who Jesus was – and Jesus decides to throw them a few questions.

“Who do people say that I am?”.

Good question really. This isn’t a personal question (don’t worry, its coming). Simply a question about ‘everyone’, a question about what ‘the world’ thinks. Who do people say that I am? What do people say about me? And the answer is varies, but can be summarized – no one is sure – but they do not yet think He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the World.

But then Jesus goes all personal on them. Forget generalities, forget personal space. Here goes.

“But who do YOU say that I am?”. 

Uncomfortable. The question is put out there to the disciples, who remember, are still living in this passage – they know nothing yet of the future. But they have seen some amazing things. There is no room for escape, only space for an honest answer. Peter, obviously a leader, speaks up “You are the Christ”. There it is – out in the open. Jesus isn’t just some prophet, just a ‘good guy’ – but the prophesied savior.

Jesus didn’t ask for opinions about what others thought. Jesus didn’t ask what the latest scholarly opinion of him was. Just simply, who do you say I am?

And so Jesus asks today. The world still doesn’t know what it thinks of Jesus. Some think he is a prophet (Muslims for example). Some think he was a ‘good man who died for loving people’ (I’ve heard that one a lot). Some think he was ‘just this guy’ who lived an exemplary life, showing love to all around him, but was nothing more. Others think Jesus is a fraud.

But even today, there is no room for others opinions – Jesus is still asking each one of us , personally, “Who do you say that I am?“. What will you answer?

A New Years Thought

Today, January 1, begins a new year in our measure of counting days and months and years. Our human measure of counting time.

Some of us will make resolutions we may just keep, or may just make them again like last year, and the year before.

Many of us will sit down and reflect on the last year. Our failures, our successes, our triumphs, our losses. From that we might well learn something about ourselves, and resolve to change for the better.

For everyone then, whether last year was a success or a failure, whether last year was full of triumph or mired in sorrow, I have a message for you. God does not change. What He is doing in this world has not changed with the dropping of the ball in Times Square, with the ticking of a clock from one day to another.

 Hebrews 13:8 (ESV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

It is useful to sit down and reflect on the year past, and to maybe see where in our lives we can make changes. But our changes need to be guided by God, so that we will do His will! Who is Lord of your life? You? Or Jesus Christ? When you choose to become a Christian, you choose to submit your life to Jesus – not just a bit of your life, not just most of your life, but simply your life.

If you have submitted your life to Him, then let Him guide you on what you should do this year. Don’t sit down and make plans for tomorrow, about what you will eat and what you will do. But sit down and pray to God that He will guide you in what He wants you to do. Maybe you are already doing the right things, maybe you just need a little course adjustment to your life. Maybe He is calling you to turn around completely – and live for Him.

So what will you do this year?

James 1:16–18 (ESV)
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.  

Why isn’t God using me right now?

Have you ever sat down and had a think to yourself – I wonder what I will do with my life?

Have you ever wondered what on earth you are doing with your life right now, and is it actually any use to anyone?

You have been given gifts and talents by God, and He wants you to use them – no question. But God doesn’t always just want to use the gifts you have, sometimes He acts supernaturally to change you into something else entirely. Don’t believe me? I could provide many, many examples, but one of the greatest of these is Peter, the apostle. Peter, the Rock.

I sat down to do a biography of Peter and his life, but it became long very quickly (a quick search shows 846 references to Peter in the New Testament)! So let’s just cover some of the high (and low) points.

Peter was a fisherman, in business with his brother Andrew. Possibly, as was often the way, from a family of fishermen. He was a Jew, and was interested religiously in what was going on around him, as most definitely was his brother. If you read John 1, Andrew meets Jesus the day after He was baptised, and possibly witnessed his baptism – he was a disciple of John the Baptist. Upon meeting Jesus, Andrew called Peter to meet him as well, describing him as’ the Messiah’. This would have caught the ear of any Jew at that time!

Later (we don’t know how much later after this), Jesus calls Andrew and Peter to leave their nets and be his disciples. Peter is then chosen as one of the 12, and based on all of the evidence, was most likely the leader of all of the disciples, certainly after Jesus ascension into heaven.

But Peter was also always the guy to speak up, to jump out. Think of all the stories you know about Peter. He was the one to declare Jesus as ‘the Christ’. He was the one to rebuke Jesus for predicting His death (quite possibly moments after confessing Him as the Christ). He was the one to tell Jesus to command him to walk on water. When Jesus was being arrested, he was the one to pull out a sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. If it was there to be done or said, Peter was often there in the thick of it.

And Peter was the one to deny Jesus (though the others also all scattered), despite his protestations that he would rather die than deny Him.

After Jesus had been resurrected, Peter didn’t know where to go next by the looks of it. But he had a skill – he had a gift – he went back to his boat and started fishing again.Jesus was gone, and despite all the good work, the three years of discipleship, at the moment of crisis, Peter had failed and he knew it.

But Jesus

But Jesus wasn’t done with him just yet. All of the work up until this point had been preparation for the rest of his life. Not a mountain top experience to remember all of his days while he cast the nets, but the foundation for what would come next.

If you read John 21, Jesus went out of His way to restore Peter, and put his feet on a new path.

That is when we get ‘changed’ Peter (read the first 12 chapters of Acts!). He takes immediate obvious leadership in the church in Jerusalem. He preaches and over 2000 people are converted in a day. In the name of Jesus he performs miracles, the healing of a cripple, and raising a lady in Joppa from the dead (in some ways mimicking Jesus ministry, to show that through the apostles it was continuing). He is then called to witness to the Gentiles, does so, and holds authority back in Jerusalem when he is questioned.

You see, God had a plan for Peter, and whilst it meant some of his life casting nets, there was much more in store for him when he was fully prepared and trained. Peter underwent the ultimate change – from a fisherman, to a fisher of men.

Just like Peter, God many not be done with you or me yet.

Just because you are skilled in one area, doesn’t mean that is where you will spend your life in service. Just because you know how to do a specific set of things now, doesn’t mean you will spend your life doing those things. Because God has a plan for your life – and what you are doing now may just be to prepare and place you, so that when the right time comes you will be ready for whatever He has in store for you.

So remember – God is either using you, or preparing you. You are not useless or wasted where you are, but you are a chosen child of God, doing what He has called you to do. And maybe, just maybe, He has more in store for you than you would ever believe.

Decision Points

One of the things that comes up regularly in most of our lives is decisions. In our ‘modern’ society, people no longer grow up, live with their parents until they inherit the house, and work in the same job all of their lives. In two surveys I looked at (from 2010), the average time a person spends in a job is between 4 and 5 years. No longer do we even stick with the same career paths all our lives, like many of our parents did, but instead change directions completely once or even twice in our lives, doing many completely unrelated things in the span of our working lives.

Decisions then have become more frequent even since the last generation. We make a lot of decisions – minor and major – in our lives, but  I know I am always conscious of trying to make the right decision. Trying to ensure that what I choose is the right thing before God – in other words, spending time to try and discern God’s will for my life.

Not surprisingly, the Bible has something to say in this area. And today, I came across a few verses in Proverbs that speak right to it, and they have a crystal clear encouraging message for us all…

Proverbs 16:3 (ESV)
Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.

Step 1 – commit your plans to God – all of them. This means being open and honest with yourself about what your real desires are, and about what your real motivations are. Then coming before God in prayer and committing those to Him. This doesn’t mean that you will ‘get what you want’! But step one is to hand them over to God.

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 16:33 (ESV)
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.

Step 2 – God will deal with it!

But what does it mean for me?

Don’t worry! It means that if you have given it over to God, He will ensure the right decision gets made in the end. Not that you shouldn’t look carefully at the choices before you, but that He will guide you. Maybe he will use friends to encourage you in a certain direction, or circumstances, or even a direct word of prophecy. But no matter what is the means of His action – know that He will act, know that He is sovereign. Even if we were to ‘cast lots’ (a last resort in many cases), He will ensure that the right choice is made in the end.

So? Don’t worry about it. Take the time to think through the options yourself, then take the more important time to commit those options to God – and let Him work. Know that because you have done that, when you finally make the choice, it will be the right one.

Philippians 4:4–7 (ESV)
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Chosen for Service

Have you ever thought about why God would choose to use us in His service? I mean, seriously, we are imperfect vessels at best, capable of ruining the simplest plan – without assistance. Or of derailing the simplest plan with our own ‘advice and ideas’. It amazes me that He would choose to use us in any way at all! But there are reasons I am sure.

Many of you will know this scene from the book of Acts.

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
(Acts 10:1-8 ESV)

Here we have an amazing scene. A Gentile is praying – and an angel appears before him. Do you think that if the angel had told Cornelius about Jesus, then he would have been saved then and there? No doubt! I am sure the angel could have given a perfect and powerful presentation of the gospel – so powerful they never would have forgotten it. And yet, what is the message? Go and get Simon who is called Peter.

Now why would God choose to do it that way?

In this case the answer is simple. Peter, though one if the closest disciples of Jesus, still had lessons to learn. He was currently receiving a vision himself from God – teaching him that gentiles were no longer different before God than Jews.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
(Acts 10:34-35 ESV)

God chooses to use us, because when we are doing His will we are also learning, and drawing closer to Him. The benefit in this scene in Acts 10 (read the whole chapter if you are not familiar with it!), was not only that a house of ‘God fearing’ Gentiles was saved, but that the Jews who were to preach the World also learned something about themselves, and about God.

So in service, we ourselves are drawn closer to God! And in that process God’s will is revealed in our world. That’s just plain amazing.

Next time you feel yourself called to do something, to share, to speak, or whatever it is – don’t worry if you don’t feel like you have the strength, the knowledge or the ability. Just know that God is with you, and has called you to do something not just for the benefit of others, but also to teach you, guide you, and draw you closer to Him.