Why do you keep on singing?

Singing with others can be quite a vulnerable thing to do - especially when you’re not completely comfortable with each other yet! When the music’s loud enough everyone sings their lungs out, but when you can hear every squeak and every mis-pitched note… 

How about that prayer meeting when your voice is stuck in your throat, because you’re terrified what people will think when you break the silence with the song burning in your heart? 

Or singing in front of a boyfriend for the first (or third, or fourth!) time, and your heart is pounding so loud it might as well be a personal drum-kit?

Or that awkward small group where you’ve handed out the lyrics to your favorite anthem, and no one joins in?

… Is that just me? 

Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. (Eph. 5:18-19)

I actually really enjoy singing. I love getting lost in worshipping Jesus, forgetting myself, letting the things of earth grow “strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace”. I also know that my spontaneous, spiritual songs change atmospheres and give courage to others.

I wonder what it was like to sing with Jesus before He went to the cross. Did He cry? Was He filled with joy in the Holy Spirit as He focussed His attention on His Father? What was He like as a worship leader? (read Hebrews 2 and Psalm 22!) Did He encourage His disciples with beautiful mysteries about God and the glory before Him? The terror and the pain of His betrayal and crucifixion, which drove Him to sweat blood later that same evening, did not prevent our Savior from singing with His friends. 

King David was someone who knew how to sing his way out of disappointment, loneliness or depression. He was nakedly honest before God but he also welcomed the right view of His powerful Redeemer. In the wilderness, fleeing from his murderous son, Absalom, David wrote Psalm 63. He chose not to give up in fear and self-pity, but to keep seeking and worshipping His Lord:

You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
    I will praise you with songs of joy.

… Because You are my helper,
    I sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.

I cling to You;
     Your strong right hand holds me securely. (vv. 5-8)

Don’t think that it’s fake to keep singing when your heart’s not yet in it.

Don’t think it’s stupid to sing when you’re scared.

In 2 Chronicles 20, surrounded by enemy armies, King Jehoshaphat was so terrified. He called everyone in Judah to fast to ask God for help. God spoke and told them not to be afraid, but to stand back and just watch “the Lord’s victory”! So the next morning the army of Judah got ready, but the king sent priestly singers out ahead, to face their bloodthirsty enemies first. The singers praised the Lord for His holy splendor: “Give thanks to the LORD; His faithful love endures forever!” At that very moment, the invading armies began attacking and killing each other instead! By the time Judah’s army arrived at the scene, dead bodies already covered the ground as far as the eye could see!

I think this is what Paul means when he says our heavenly weapons are way more powerful than the ways of this world (2 Cor. 10). Our little songs will do great damage to our spiritual enemy’s camp. So let’s lift our voices and arm ourselves with great songs of love, fixing our eyes on Jesus’ worth, and our Father’s goodness.

Can you love Jesus and hate the church?

It’s easy to hate the church. Just as it’s easy to hate any people that aren’t perfect. But should we? This is quite sad, and it leads to depression and loneliness rather than the “relief” that our self-righteousness deceives us into coveting. That sounds quite harsh! But we really just need to own up to the fact that we’re all broken and we’ve all let others down, whether we’re in the church or not.

Is it easy to love Jesus? Some people claim that they don’t mind Him, it’s just His followers they want to avoid. But, as God of the Universe and Judge of our souls, He demands worship and obedience. Not because He’s narcissistic or mean, but because He is actually altogether lovely and worthy of our devotion. Take a look at Jesus’ life on earth, and the impact that He’s made in people’s lives (i.e. the “church”).

Personally, I know that getting to know Jesus over time has led me to fall in love with Him, but I am also confronted with that uncomfortable truth that I am far from like Him. And yet He is merciful, gracious, compassionate with my weakness, and He is already transforming me. He’s also doing the same in my brothers and sisters - can I grow to love them in the way He’s loved me?

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? (2 Cor. 2:15-16)

Jesus warned us that the world is likely to hate us. Since we are meant to look and smell like Him, it’s quite obvious that people will look for flaws if they’re wanting to discredit Jesus.

Here’s some good news: Jesus wants to be the head of this currently, sometimes, dysfunctional body, and He’s not ashamed of us! He delights in us and wants us to be His own!

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. (Col. 3:12-15)

Jesus commands us to love one another! All through the New Testament, while the apostles keep telling us that we’re all one family and one body in Christ, they didn’t take it for granted that we’d so easily function like this. Even with all the missional needs in the world, we’re first asked to look after each other (Acts 4:32-35, 1 John 3:16-17, James 2:15-16).

We actually have to live out Jesus’ commandment to forgive each other, too! Jesus explained that judging each other won’t get us very far (Matt. 7), and Paul tells us to bear each other’s weaknesses (Rom. 12:1-2). That means a kind of love that puts up with differences, annoyances, and chooses to see the best in each other (1 Cor. 13). This really is possible! We can confess our weaknesses to each other, support each other, pray and prophesy good over each other.

We already have an enemy prowling around to devour us, so let’s use our energy to strengthen and protect each other! I know that in the darkest times in my life, having my brothers and sisters in Christ encourage me and pray for me has dispelled the hopelessness and loneliness, and has enabled me not to give up. We need each other’s love.

Is it important to you that 

Jesus was raised to life?

YES. And not just because it provides a happy ending to the Easter Story!

Jesus' horrific death on the cross had hundreds of witnesses. A Roman soldier checked He was dead before they buried his body. But on the third day He was not simply given breath again. He had a NEW body, unlike any other. He chose to keep the scars of His crucifixion as signs of His love, proving His identity to hundreds of eye-witnesses, but He could now walk through walls, and even shine with a blinding light (Acts 9:3-9, 1 Cor. 15:6-8). Jesus had conquered death.

Just a few weeks earlier, Jesus famously called Lazarus’ existing, dead body to life (John 11:1-44). We have probably also heard testimonies of Heidi Baker or others healing the sick and supernaturally raising the dead (YouTube). Here we see God's amazing, miraculous power at work through His body (Eph. 1:19-23) but these stories do not yet tell of the same kind of glorious, new body as Jesus’. Well, Jesus is God, I hear you say. Yes, but He is also still a man, and Paul tells us that His experience will be ours, too:

For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. (1 Cor. 15:16-24)

It is because Jesus was raised, and because we believers are in Him, that we can hope for a physical resurrection when He returns and establishes His kingdom on earth. 

I was recently struck by how personal and real this hope can be, rather than just an ethereal “one-day” fancy. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul teaches on the resurrection of the dead in relation to our loved ones who are no longer alive with us. He tells us that because of Jesus’ promises we don’t need to be like those who don’t have any hope: Jesus will bring back our believing family and friends with Him!

I’ve been reading the biography of Geraldine Taylor, the daughter-in-law of the China Inland Mission’s founder. Whilst serving in rough conditions for years in rural China, she saw too many missionaries’ children die, including two of her unborn babies. Her only hope was her Lord Jesus’ trustworthiness. I was really touched by the tender, faith-filled comfort she offered another couple decades later:

My tears flow with yours. Oh, if only I could be with you today to try and tell you of our love and sympathy. […] ‘The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.’ He called you to be a father, a mother; He gave you a precious little daughter. This can never be gone back upon. You are parents; the little one is yours for ever. He is keeping her for you, far more perfectly and safely than you could have kept her. And He will give her back to you when Jesus comes. (Mrs. Howard Taylor, p. 124)

The resurrection of the dead, following the Author of our Faith, our Saviour, and our King, is also about family in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus tells us that we belong to each other, too. Jesus has taught us to love and serve each other as He has loved us (John 13, 15). Paul writes: “there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future” (Eph. 4:4).

In the resurrection, we’re not alone forever with Jesus, but together we will form a kingdom of priests reigning on the earth with Him (Rev. 4:9-10). The corporate Bride He’s longing for is actually a city shining with myriads of different personalities and cultures (Rev. 21:9-10)! We’ll even recognize each other in our resurrected bodies, together enjoying eternal freedom from sorrow, sin, sickness, and satan, and we’ll LOVE each other, in the light of the glory of our Resurrected King.

Was Jesus Christ really fully God? 

How can He also be fully Man??

The incarnation: God eternal inside a normal, human body. God’s perfect spirit chose to be clothed in the flesh and blood he created. What a mind-blowing mystery! He spent time living as one of us only two thousand years ago, in Roman-occupied Palestine, in a little Jewish family. Jesus Christ wasn’t just the ultimate human, mixed in with some sinful weakness and selfish tendencies. He was God himself! In his human nature he had the capability to give in to the same temptations we face, but he chose to love, obey and honor God with every thought and action, and he chose to use his time amongst us humans to reveal who our heavenly Father really is.

I’ve heard teenagers debate whether Christians just invented this nice historical character to create an ideal of what we all aspire to be, or whether Christians ascribed strange divine qualities to an ordinary bloke. If you’re interested, have a look into the historical evidence, which far outnumbers even the sources documenting Cesar's life! I’ve heard Jews claim nowadays that Jesus was a good rabbi who taught the Law accurately, but who was a magician imbued with demonic powers! How can someone be good and evil at the same time? Please read through his teachings, and assess for yourself whether his character and conduct match up with his claims.

He claimed to be the Son of God, and even Yahweh Himself. He claimed to be the Jews’ Messiah, whom the Jewish prophets had declared would be born to a virgin, from a family descending from King David, who would bring peace and prosperity to Israel. He prophesied that he would be beaten, killed, and that he would then come back to life after three days. He also said that his followers would be hated and killed. How awkward! There’s no way that you would convincingly invite people into such circumstances, unless you really believed it, or you had evil mass-suicide desires!

Jesus was the kindest man who ever walked this planet. Just look at his compassion for mothers who lose their sons and how he gave value to despised prostitutes; look at his passion to always lift up the poor and downtrodden, and his generosity to keep healing the sick and delivering the demon-oppressed, even when he was so tired himself! You can see how human he was in how he, too, got hungry, thirsty, peopled-out, sad, frustrated.

In all this humanity, he lived in a totally supernatural way, and empowered others to do the same! I’m not talking about floating on clouds and issuing lightning bolts from his hands, but he prayed, stayed close to God, and worked miracles with the power of God’s Spirit in him! He did the most amazing physics-defying wonders, like walking on water, and multiplying food for thousands of people, and he invited his followers to join in! He was no ordinary man, and yet he showed us what life could be like with God.

Personally, the event in his life that so strikes me about his complete divinity and his complete humanity was his death on a Roman cross. The most humiliating and agonizing form of torture known to man - this is not something you’d agree to lightly! This man who lived such a stunning, perfect life surrendered to those who wanted to kill him for their own gain. Even when he was hanging there, bleeding and in excruciating pain, he still reached out to others in forgiveness - even the guilty thief who was crucified next to him.

The choice that Jesus made to die to take the blame and punishment for selfish people like you and me leaves me speechless. I get so easily offended when someone insults me or accuses me, and yet Jesus took all of this ridicule and injustice on himself. He absorbed into himself our heavenly Father’s anger against our sin, and he offered himself as a target for attack from demons instead of us. On this day, satan - the father of lies, and the one who has an evil hold on this world - thought he’d won.

When I look at this willing sacrifice, I can say that only God himself could love like that. And yet, if it was simply God making a sovereign, generous statement to wipe our debts to him, I would find it hard to relate to Jesus. If Jesus did not know by experience the deepest sorrows, temptations, and humiliations that we go through, I don’t know whether I would trust him as much to pour out my heart and reveal the darkest parts of my nature to him.

What happened after the cross gives me the utmost hope! Jesus' dead body was buried in a sealed tomb, with guards stationed outside. However, after three days of apparent silence, he got up and left that tomb! He had a completely new body, and went around visiting hundreds of people, so that they would believe that he is God, and that everything he told them was true! If he was just a man who had slept three nights, how could he walk through walls, and appear and disappear? You can’t do that with a normal human body, especially a bloody, crucified one! He wasn’t just a ghost: he ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with his friends on numerous occasions!

As I see he’s also quite obviously God, I can also trust him to answer really impossible prayers that need divine intervention. Eyewitnesses saw him ascend into heaven before their very eyes - it sounds crazy, but this event drew hundreds and thousands of local people to lead transformed lives, believing in His divinity even unto their own martyred deaths. And millions have been doing the same every year since then.

He promised that he’s coming back to be our King, and that we’ll recognize him! He’s kept his resurrected human body, because he so loves humans and he wants to be with us forever! I’ve heard so many real-life stories of people seeing him in the flesh, even in the last few years - two of my good friends have! This man is amazing! This God is mind-blowingly loving, and all I can do now is offer my little life to be his. 

How will you respond?

Show me Your glory, God!
(and how is this communicable for us?)

Yes, how?? When I think of the Glory of the Lord, His Kavod, I think of fire descending on His mountain, or smoke filling His temple, and the cloud of His presence - we read awesome stories of when God revealed His glory to His people, His priests, and His prophets in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, 1 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Isaiah, Ezekiel. I also remember reading about the Azuza Street revival (see picture), where God would manifest His glory as a cloud so thick the children played hide and seek in it, and with fire coming down from heaven and going back up from the roof of the building - the local Fire Service didn’t know what to do with themselves! This kind of glory is clearly not communicable - how could we imitate this?!

And yet, I read that Jesus says He gives us His own glory:

The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one.(John 17:22)

I think Jesus might not be talking about fire and smoke…

When John first mentions Jesus’ glory at the beginning of His gospel, he immediately identifies Jesus’ glory as the Father’s glory:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:14,17)

We see that John compares what Moses saw of God’s glory, with Jesus’ possession of God’s glory. Here’s what God showed Moses:

The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and filled with gracious love and truth. (Exodus 34:6)

This sounds almost identical. John definitely wants us to know that Jesus is Yahweh, and so when we read Jesus telling the Father that He’s giving us the glory the Father gave Him, this is no small matter! This is not simply honor or recognition (which would be other translations of glory, and more obviously ‘communicable’). 

Jesus’ glory is full of grace and truth, and He gives us His glory so that we would be one as He and the Father are one. What has unity got to do with glory?

We hear often that we were made for God’s glory, and that we were made in His image and likeness: male and female. To paraphrase Genesis 2:22-24, God created woman out of man, and for this reason - because they began as one - they were made to be one. I would argue that this  reveals more than simply the sanctity of marriage. If we read our creation story alongside Jesus’ longings for us all to be one, we can see that God originally designed us for perfect unity with each other and with Him.  Therefore, Jesus gives us His own glory to bring us back into the Godhead’s own image: perfect unity and love. Our unity will display God’s glory. Our unity shows that we were made in the image of God.

This gives a different meaning to 2 Corinthians 3:18:

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

I do believe, as Paul highlights in this chapter, that the Holy Spirit’s ministry in us gives us a greater glory than the Old Covenant did, and we see amazing manifestations of His glory through our prayers! (you could say this is a communicable means of God’s glory) I also believe that beholding and reflecting Jesus’ glory will transform us into His image, as Jesus prayed for. Holy Spirit gives us the grace and truth needed for this unity that Jesus died for.

Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)

However, I think that we will only see the bright fullness of this glory when we’re finally in full union with Christ forever. We see this prophesied towards the end of the book of Revelation - it does not get much more glorious than this!

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.

“Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. (Revelation 21:2-3, 9-11)

We see that this is the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer: His Bride united with Him forever, enjoying His glory. This shows God’s glory was always meant to be communicable.

Is obeying the commands of Jesus important to you? If so, why?

For the past week I have been reading Psalm 119: taking a few verses every day and meditating on the statements the psalmist makes. I began reading this psalm after I started a book called Speaking Truth in Love by David Powlinson (2005): https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Truth-Love-David-Powlison/dp/0977080714. In chapter one, 'Suffering and Psalm 119', Powlinson introduces this psalm as a much more emotional and wisdom-filled chapter than most people give it credit for:

       "...I learn how true honesty talks with God: fresh, personal, and direct; never formulaic, abstract 

       or vague. I hear firsthand how Truth and honesty meet and talk it over. This truth is never 

       denatured, rigid, or inhuman. This honesty never whines, boasts, rages, or gets defensive. I leave

       the conversation nourished by the sweetest hope imaginable. I hear how to give full expression to

       what it means to be human, in honest relationship with the Person who made humanness in His  

       image."

I love this introduction! Powlinson was right that most of us view this psalm as long and boring, but I have in the last week discovered the riches of meditating on God's Word and His commands, even in the first two dozen verses. I was recently been plunged into the depths of grief, and have had days where the last thing I want to do is study, or be motivated to find ways to live a most holy life. Instead of being met with judgment, this psalm has provided me with comfort and deeper answers to questions I didn't realize I was asking.

In my NLT, this psalm opens with "Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the LORD. Joyful are those who obey His laws and search for Him with all their hearts" (v1-2). JOYFUL. I began feeling so far from joyful, and I wondered how my obedience to come to Kansas City, away from my family and friends, and away from the comfort of being with others who know this grief, would result in joy. Then I read John 15:9-13:

         9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you 

      obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s 

      commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will 

      be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each 

      other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down 

      one’s life for one’s friends."

Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, was about to go to the cross and leave His friends in despair and confusion, and yet He promised that they would have overflowing joy as they obeyed His commandments and "remained in His love". What was His command from His Father to them? To love each other in the same way He loved them, which involved death on a cross! Our obedience to God will cost us something: everything! This love and joy does not come cheaply, and the miracle of His work in us comes out of the process of refinement in us.

I decided to thank my God for bringing me to a place where my obedience to His Word to me was a clear choice I had to make, and to a place where I had to depend on Him for joy.  Somehow, His love can surround us and awaken our hearts in a real way when we choose to humble ourselves like Jesus does. If I am receiving my comfort only from convenience and others around me, how can I know that I'm obeying His Word? I knew that only He can enable me to hear His voice, and only He can give me the capacity to obey His ways (Psalm 40:6-8). I can choose to submit to His wiser way.

9 

        How can a young person stay pure?

            By obeying your word.

10 

11 

        I have hidden your word in my heart,

            that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:9-10)

I meditated on "the pure in heart", and studied the Bible for different examples and expansions of what this means. Everywhere I looked, it was clearly related to obedience, and a purity that responds to God's own purity, having "treasured His words more than daily food" (Job 23:12). Again, there was the promise of joy in obedience in Psalm 32 and 33, even with a command to sing for joy because of the purity of our hearts! As we respond to the Lord's commands in obedience and purity, also He reveals more of who He is as the Pure and Holy One (Psalm 18:26).

Finally, I came to a challenging verse: "I am always overwhelmed by a desire for your regulations" (v. 20). I thought, is this really true of my heart? Do I find obeying Jesus' commands so important than I am overwhelmed by the desire for them? Nowadays, we don't like words like "regulations" or "commands". Some are so scared by the danger of falling into the horrors of legalism, that they will run a mile if you encourage them to follow Jesus' persuasive suggestions and loving demands upon our private and social lives! The previous two verses show that when I'm lost, I just need to ask the Holy Spirit to teach my heart revelation of how wonderful the truth of Jesus' instructions are:

18      Open my eyes to see
        the wonderful truths in your instructions.
19      I am only a foreigner in the land.
        Don’t hide your commands from me! (Psalm 119:18-19)

I find that I need the Holy Spirit's help to desire what Jesus desires, to understand why my Father values going low, and to agree to follow His righteous paths, even if they lead through the valley of the shadow of death. However, over time I have seen that His ways my life are good (Psalm 119:65), His commands are trustworthy (Psalm 119:86), and that His Word does revive me (Psalm 119:25).