The gospel is incompatible with ‘dividing walls’

In the passage we see that the barrier between Jew and Gentile is broken down. The message of grace in Jesus Christ unites and reconciles people from all kinds of different backgrounds. We are to value what God has done to bring about a new humanity. We are told that ‘…. in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’ No longer does a person have to become a Jew in order to be near God.

The ‘building’ of a new humanity is what God Himself is doing and in which He dwells ….. God’s household. Jesus is the cornerstone of this building and everything in the building is set in reference to Him. Dividing walls such as language, cultural backgrounds, nationality, race, age, gender and fear are no longer able to separate people who have embraced the gospel.

    

The victory of an ancient king points forward to the greatest victory of all time

The Israelites were weeping because they feared having to surrender to the Ammonites who had besieged their city. King Saul hears about their situation. He comes to fight against the Ammonites and wins a great victory over them which frees the city.

The key to understanding this story is in the last 2 verses. The prophet Samuel takes the people to the city of Gilgal to ‘renew the kingdom’. We are then told that they offered sacrifices to the Lord and rejoiced. This is a reminder of the victory that Jesus has won for His people over the enemy called ‘sin’ ……  the wrong things that we think, say and do. He won this victory for believers through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross, bearing their sins in His body so they can be clothed, by faith, in the spotless garments of His righteousness.

One of the ways God is worshipped is by resting

The fourth commandment has been widely misunderstood because of confusion over what is symbolic and what is moral. God himself lays down the pattern for it in his resting after the six days of creation. In these passages we find the outworking of this for his people both before and after the birth of Jesus.

It is important to remember that the fourth commandment, to keep the Sabbath holy, is relevant for all people because of the need for us to rest from our work. The most wonderful aspect of the Sabbath, however, is found in the rest that Jesus gives to His people through what he has accomplished in his death on the cross. The forgiveness of sins, which is received by faith alone, leads to holy living and rest from the consequences of our sins which he bore in his body at Calvary.

Something we misunderstand has a surprising reality

There is often a lot of debate about who is wrong and who is right. It can lead to legal battles and sometimes even violence. It even goes to the question of our identity. We like to think of ourselves as always being in the right.

This passage, however, tells a completely different story. It begins by showing that no-one, in and of themselves, is right in God’s sight. The Jews thought that they were in a secure position because of being Abraham’s descendants and also because of their relationship to God’s law. The passage though goes on to say that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’.

When it comes to our standing before God, there is only one way that anyone can be declared to have right-ness and that is not because of who they are or what they have done. It can only ever be because of what Jesus has done on the cross. By this atonement God can declare sinners, who trust in Jesus, righteous and in doing this also remain just himself.

There are different kinds of freedom but one stands out above all the rest

In the early part of this passage Jesus said that He is the light of the world. The wrong things that people think and say and do are like darkness. This is what is called ‘sin’. Jesus came to change that. Later in the chapter He said that He could make people free. This was a surprise to the Jews. They thought that they were already free because they were part of Abraham’s family from long ago. The freedom Jesus was speaking about was different to what they thought. Jesus was speaking about being free from the control of sin and having God as their friend. How can people get this freedom which Jesus gives?

The wrong way to get this freedom is to trust in the things which we already have. It might be thinking we are God’s friends because we are part of a family. It might be because we think we have done a lot of good things like going to church. It might be because we think we are already a ‘good’ person. All these are the wrong way to be free from the control of sin.

The right way to be set free from the control of sin in our lives is by trusting in Jesus and not anything or anyone else. What Jesus did on the cross, when He died a terrible death, was as a payment for people’s sins. When we trust in Jesus and what He has done for us our sin is taken away. God doesn’t hold it against us anymore … ever.  Because of this, sin cannot control us any longer and we become God’s friends. We can then live to please Him by doing, saying and thinking things that are right.

There is a priceless special gift which can only be received without strings attached.

In early New Testament times there was a matter of concern for those with a Jewish background. What about their religious heritage? The Jews placed confidence in the fact that they were Abraham’s descendants. The implication being that they were automatically right with God. The apostle Paul’s teaching in this letter did not sit well with their misunderstood privileges and practices.

In this passage Paul takes time to show them that although Abraham had plenty of good works, this was not the basis of his standing before God. Rather, he “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”. Jesus said that Abraham “rejoiced to see My day.” Like Abraham, many people, before Jesus came, looked ahead by faith to Him as the promised One whose life would be an offering for sin. Paul’s teaching was not new.

  Jesus is the good shepherd who has come to give us life by laying down his own.

The words ‘the good shepherd’ are very well known because schools and churches often use these words as part of their name. This passage, however, tells us clearly, from Jesus himself, the wonderful meaning of these words. Jesus sheep follow him because they ‘hear’ his voice. They know who he is and what he has done for them.

Jesus is also the ‘door’ or ‘gate’. It is in and through him that we enter into the new life as his disciples. Entering through him means that we are saved from the just eternal punishment which our sins deserve. We find ‘pasture’ for our souls in the constant reminder that we have been forgiven. This leads to a newness of life in continual enjoyment of what he has done for us.

We are further told that ‘the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep’. There is a wealth of meaning in these words for believers. These words are a reminder that the ransom price for sin has been paid for us, once for all time, by a substitute who was innocent. How do we become part of his flock? … simply by trusting in what he has accomplished for us, as a completely free gift, on the cross.

The importance of looking up

Fear can put us under pressure to escape from a situation. It can lead to a wrong course of action which is out of character. Fear can be used to obtain control over others but it is faith which must have the upper hand.

King David did not always respond correctly to fear ….. on one occasion he even pretended to be ill in order to obtain deliverance. In this passage, which was written by king David, we also see that He called upon God in his distress. He trusted in God and knew that God was for him and so he says ‘what can man do to me’.

The coming of Jesus Christ will cast out fear for all those who trust in Him. Death will then never be the last word in our life. God’s grace in Christ, through His dying for our sins, secures an everlasting pardon for all who trust in Him. This is what David was pointing forward to. Faith wins over fear

 

Even an apostle can sometimes send the wrong message

The early Galatian church in Antioch was composed of believers from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds but a problem occurred there which denied the very message of grace which united them. A group of Jewish believers from Jerusalem visited Antioch but decided to eat separately because of Jewish law. In this passage we find that a serious problem occurred when the apostle Peter left the fellowship of the Galatian believers to eat with the separated Jewish believers.

The apostle Paul strongly rebuked the apostle Peter for his behavior because it was not in line with the truth of the gospel. By his actions Peter had denied the fundamental truth that faith in Christ places every believer on the same level before God … justified in Jesus Christ. This is irrespective of their religious or cultural background. Peter’s actions had denied this fundamental gospel unity and sadly we find it even in the church today … segregated by denominations. 

There are many important meetings which take place in our lives but there is one which stands above all the others.

To become part of God’s kingdom requires His work to bring about a fundamental change in us. In this passage we see Nicodemus, a prominent leader of the Jewish people, coming to Jesus at night. He knew that Jesus was a great teacher but the words that Jesus spoke to him would have been quite unexpected. Jesus told him that he must be ‘born again’.

Nicodemus was puzzled so Jesus further explained. Firstly, he reminded him about the bronze snake Moses lifted up in the wilderness. Then he showed what this meant by saying that the ‘Son of Man’ (himself) must also be lifted up …. ‘for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’.

These things are of the utmost importance to people today as well. There is a great deal of misunderstanding about how someone comes into a relationship with God. It involves simply trusting in what Jesus has done on the cross to take away our sins. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to do this.