Eating with your enemies.

U nodigt mij aan tafel voor het oog van de vijand, u zalft mijn hoofd met olie, mijn beker vloeit over.

The author, David says, "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings." (Psalm 23:5 NLT)

For years I read that to mean my enemies watched me get blessed by God. They stood at a distance or watched from hell, while I had a feast. 

I think I was very wrong all these years.

I think David means the enemy is at the table with me. 

Think about it. Jesus ate with his enemies all the time. Both the obvious enemies like the Pharisees and may the less obvious like Judas or even Peter (Peter at least spoke the words of Christ's enemy Satan when he tries to discourage the talk of dying and Jesus says get behind me Satan. Or less obviously, when Peter denies Jesus).

I think this shows us that we will become like Jesus. We will be able to graciously eat with those who seek our demise. We, with God's help, will welcome our enemies to the table. Maybe even it is the idea that God makes our enemies to share their table with us. 

Either way, I do not believe any longer that it is a description of a spoilt children sticking his tongue out at the enemy while tucking into a great feast laid on by God for his favourite child. 

Rather I must see this passage as describing Jesus. And if I am going to be included in this promise I must walk the way that Jesus walks.

So look forward to how God will bring your enemies to the table with you. 

I can think of no greater way for this to happen than for my enemies to become my brothers and to sit at the table with me. Could it be that they come to the table as an enemy and leave a brother?

So can we rejoice and look forward to God both feeding us and bringing peace to us.

Certainties!

Do you understand the plan of God? Have you read the Bible so you know why the law was given? Do you know the promise of God?

I'm convinced that there is a good God who keeps his promises.

Fatalism Revised

1JN 2:1 NLT

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

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Jesus advocacy warms our hearts!

The person who knows Jesus can make real choices. Before we are received into God's family by grace through faith we are slaves to sin, Paul says. We have no choice. Everyone who isn't a believer in Jesus can't help but sin. Sin is their master and they are not free agents. If sin says jump, they must jump. And the deception of sin is powerful. We know nothing else. What is sin? Sin is disobedience to God. Sin is disbelief in his promises. Sin is an inextricable headlong run toward death. Sin is self destruction. Sin is selfishness. Sin is loveless. Sin takes and destroys. Sin murders when it cannot have what it wants. Sin leads to death.

So sin requires judgement. God is just. He will not allow sin to ruin everything. God will save some from sin. He has set some free. He has released some from the slavery of sin and the fear of death.

But we who are free to choose life, the ones able to obey, may still fall prey to sin. Although we are free from the hideous, cruel master that wants our  destruction and uses us to lash out in rebellion against God, we sometimes still sin. We should hate sin. We should find sin repulsive. We should see past the moment of selfish pleasure and we should loathe the harmful, hateful former master of our torture and destruction. We should feel the sting of being a pawn in the full on assault against life. We should feel the shame of being a treacherous traitor who has deceived the vulnerable and harmed the neediest of this world.

We don't have to sin, but we do. We sin against God. Even more, we sin against Jesus who died for our sin. We add to his suffering.

And what does he do?

He defends us. The Father and the Son must execute justice against our sin. This sin we cling to in many ways is a greater offence, for it is the sin we chose. We were washed, we were saved. We had a choice. We knew better.

And the one we keep hurting the most is the one who defends us.

Jesus stands up for us. He says, I died for them. Jesus is the only one who is right. We are wrong. And yet he makes us right even when we are a traitor.

Choose not to sin! You can. You are not a slave. You are free.

But if you do sin, Jesus defends you, Jesus protects you, Jesus is your advocate. Jesus loves you. He has chosen you to be his. Jesus knows you are a sinner. Jesus knows your heart, your motives, your fears and he knows your selfish heart. Jesus knows your disbelief and your stubborn selfish pride.
And still he defends you, still he protects you from his coming wrath. Jesus sees you sin and try to hide it and, even so, he will treat you as righteous because of his own righteousness.

So stop sinning. You don't have to; you are free.
But if you do sin, repent without fear. Return with no reservation. You are safe. 

Oh sinner, you are safe.

God on your side?

You  don't want God against you.

Wanna fight?

Do you really want to pick a fight with God? Do you want God opposing you?

The idea of adultery here is very old, throughout the Old Testament God compares the actions of God's people to an adulterer. He says in many of places in the Bible that by worshipping false gods and ignoring him and his commands (laws that were given for their own good) they were acting like adulterers. Their actions, thoughts, expenditures, and philosophies made it obvious they were unfaithful in their relationship with God. Their hearts were sleeping around and in fact rarely if ever coming home. They counted on the pay-check of God and raved about the sex they were having with an inflatable doll. That's the heart situation Paul is referring to. I know in effect even I have taken God for granted, dabbled with an affair of self worship and the porn of materialism. All the while God is a faithful lover of my soul. That's what the friendship - enemy thing is about.

Seeing properly.

Do you attempt to see the world through God's glasses?

Only Fooling Yourself

GAL 6:3 NLT

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

Pillars are people (like you and I), but what about the poor?

GAL 2:6-10 NLT

And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.) Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do.

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There's no doubt that some people have an important position and are due respect and consideration. Paul went to Jerusalem because he respected the leaders of the church.

The Gospel is true. It is not true because an important person said so. The message of Jesus' identity is true in and of itself. Jesus needs no endorsement. Paul was confident but not cocky.

One of the things that amazes me is the emphasis on the poor.

Here are the leaders of the of the people proclaiming the greatest news mankind well ever hear. These people are responsible for telling the whole world the only information that can save any of humanity. Als to be sure this message is front and centre. The is no mistaking the centrality of the gospel message. And also amazingly they as leaders of different gospel projects agree! The ones doing Jewish mission agree with Paul doing Gentile mission. And after this unity on gospel message centrality the very next thing on the list is THE POOR!

Where are the poor in your list? Can you come to agreement on the cross? Can you join with others in the first priority of the Gospel and then encourage each other to help the poor?

What are you doing for the sake of the Gospel? Who are you partnering with to get the message out?

What are you doing for the poor? How are tot helping the poor?

You'll find the more you search the Bible that Jesus is the central message and he had always had a concern for the poor. You can not say you follow Jesus and ignore the poor! You are not following Jesus if you have not plan to help the poor. No plan for the poor is a denial of Jesus' good news. King Jesus reigns and as a subject of his kingdom you submit to your king by declaring his right of rule in your life and by acting like he would among the poor. Feed them, heal them, defend them.

Carried by the king of Heaven

Heaven is surrounding you, it is both far away and right around you in the air you breath. It is in your heart, but heaven is the place where God lives yet Jesus rules there in his new resurrection body. Heaven is so close the angels wings brush against your face each night as you sleep. Heaven is out of our grasp and yet it is so close we could step into it in an instant. The inhabitants of heaven watch us with focused attention. Heaven guards us.

Heaven carries us in its arms.

Seem familiar?

Do you recognise this description?

Talk can be like cancer!

Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior. This kind of talk spreads like cancer..

2 Timothy 2:16-17a

The gift of Satan

2CO 12:7-10 NLT

even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

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We've all heard it before but why didn't we recognize it for what it says.

God gave Paul an extraordinary vision of heaven. It was so miraculous he's not even allowed to talk about it.

2CO 12:4 NLT

that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.

Seems that Paul has had an off the chart, earth shattering spiritual experience. This is so special that apparently it doesn't put you into a humble contemplative nigh onto vegetative state of near nirvana but rather being given a glimpse into heaven could make you a bit sinful. In fact the whole experience might lead to pride the ole chestnut that kicked it all off I the garden with Eve and her hubby Adam. So here Paul is again a bit like Adam in Paradise and the upshot is that he might get a big head (again).
So what do you do to deal with that?
Send in Satan. Well maybe not actually Satan, but a messenger for him. And what is the role of this gift of Satan's messenger? Torment. And the purpose of the torment is to keep Paul humble to sort of counteract the trip to heaven.

Now this torment thing is no cake walk. It must hurt, for it has been a topic of conversation on a few occasions between God and Paul. And what's the answer? God says,

2CO 12:9 NLT

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

So let me sum up so far.

God gives Paul the opportunity to see paradise and some things that are unspeakable.
This experience makes Paul more prone to pride (sin).
God gives Paul a tormenting messenger from Satan to keep him humble.
Paul finds this rather difficult and repeatedly requests that the torment stop.
God says, his grace is all Paul needs and God's power works best in weakness.

Now we all want God's power to work real good now. So weaknesses should be the order of the day.
God's power doesn't work in your strength.
When was the last time you prayed for torment, torment from Satan no less?
When was the last time you prayed for weakness?

Do you want God's power? Do you want God's power to work real good?

Well.

How about a bit of weakness anyone?

You not only should want the grace of God, but in fact you desperately need the grace of God.

To get more grace, to get  God's power you need weakness.

Hope this made you rethink, visions, grace, suffering, power and strength.

It did me.

Now then, I thought I was done but this little revelation about Paul's torment made me ask a few fundamental questions.

Snakes in the garden kind of questions. And for that matter Satan in the wilderness tempting Jesus because God led him there questions. And lest we forget, Jesus praying three times for the cup of torment on the cross to be removed too might fit into this group of questions.

See God, from Adam to Jesus and even through to Paul (possibly aka us), put people in a position to really really need him. Knock out all the props so that there is no where else to turn seems to be the plan. This isn't an oddity, an aberration, or a one off.

And we are talking God here, so it's not like it's negotiable, or even up for discussion. I mean, like Jesus and Paul, you can raise your concern, but in the end it is going to be there staring you in the face day after day. You can protest, fight, ignore or give in. But in the end you only have one option to submit now, or submit later.

So what's it going to be?