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Table of Contents Title Page.
Preface.
About This eBook.
Between Ourselves.
Family.
Add - How to donate to Faith For Daily Living
Foundation.
Daily Readings for May:
One Thing I Know.
iii
May 2021
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
01
02 03 04 05 06 07 08
09 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31
Table of Contents
Daily Readings for June:
Family cont. from Pg 09 + One Thing I Know
cont. from Pg 43In Ways That I Know And Know Not.
Add - My School Card - Virtual Card.
Your May Bible Readings.
Your June Bible Readings.
Important Information (cont. from pg ii).
The Faith for Daily Living eBook.
Abbreviations.
Back Page.
iv
June 2021
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30
About this eBook.
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viii
Dear Friends,
During the course of this book we celebrate the Christian festival of Pentecost in which we honour the amazing event in Jerusalem when God gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples of Jesus and they became empowered to go out from Jerusalem and spread the message of Jesus throughout the then known world.
The Holy Spirit is still available to move the church into mission to the world, a focus which it should always have. Someone once said, “The church exists by mission as a fire exists by burning”. We are always delighted when we hear of someone coming to know God through reading “Faith for Daily Living”, and we rejoice that God still uses this booklet to bring people to him.
The previous year was somewhat chaotic due to the lockdown restrictions and we apologise that we were not always able to get all the usual orders of books to the people wanting them. We hope that by now the Post Office will be more or less back to normal and will be delivering the envelopes and parcels to all who need them. If this is not so, please get in touch with us and keep us informed and we will do what we can to rectify the position.
Thank you for the donations and bequests that help us to write and print “Faith” and distribute it. During the troubles of last year many people switched to using the e-book system or the website and we welcome this development as it is now more reliable than the printed book through the post.
With all good wishes and God’s richest blessings to you.
Yours in Christ.
(John Borman)
Family
Peter Schoonraad
It was a sombre moment during the meal, as he told of the health problems of his family in recent times. One could sense the deep bond of caring and togetherness that characterized their relationship. One could only admire, and even envy the sustaining power of their love which enabled them to face one crisis after another.
Family is a wonderful institution. Well, at best, it is. It was, after all, created by God, and for the fulfilment of his loving purpose. All that promotes and sustains familial bonds is in keeping with his will. Conversely, all that threatens and breaks those bonds is at variance with his purpose. It’s wonderful and beautiful when when families function the way he intended. There is harmony and there is peace. There is a spirit of mutual respect and helpfulness. There is a loyalty that is quite awesome in its ability to close ranks in the face of any threat. It is at such times that the strength of family ties is most evident.
Within the family circle, emotions will rise and fall. Both light and darkness will penetrate. Agreement and disagreement will be the order of the day. But at the end of the day, no-one will doubt the existence of the bond that binds them together, or the supremacy of its worth. This is what functionality is about. It can take the strain and stress of imperfection; it can agree to disagree; it can absorb the pain of disappointment; it can forgive and even forget; it can love and never stop. Functionality in families mirror’s the Father’s heart. It expresses his love in various degrees. It is not dependent on personal achievement or success. It is a simple matter of belonging, of being of the same blood and of the same spirit. It is a conscious recognition rooted in personal history, and endowed with a quality which transcends reason.
Familial bonds are permanent. The son remains a son; the daughter remains a daughter; the mother will always be mother; the father the father, and the brother a brother. Functionality in families embraces this with a sense of joy and gratitude. It is something which neither life nor death can destroy. The relationships remain. Even if they should be broken, they will continue as broken relationships. Relationship cannot be drained out of existence. It holds hands in the present with both the past and the future. Even when the family is no more, and its existence in time has ceased, it will continue to permeate the halls of memory with its fragrance. Yes, such is the loveliness of familial functionality. And it does exist! Despite all the brokenness in the world, it is still the inner fabric that keeps much of the human race on its feet.
But make no mistake, functionality is under threat. The breakdown of relationships, even the most sacred of familial ties, is the order of the day. It is terrible when the institution created for security and stability, becomes the very source of pain and disintegration, when it turns in upon itself, bent on its own destruction, when bitter suspicion and jealousy devour its members and destroy all peace, when kindness and generosity are rewarded with callous disregard. It is terrible indeed when dysfunctionality is manifested in all its ugliness. It makes losers of all its victims. Not simply the loss of each other, which in itself is bad enough, but the awful loss of identity in terms of God’s image for our lives. For better or for worse, we are in a context from which we only exit at our peril. The prodigal son made that discovery. Then he clawed his way back to the place of belonging. And belonging it was, for it expressed the functionality of love.
(Continued on page 74).
Saturday 1st May
THE GREAT NEED OF HUMANITY
“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them”.
2 Cor 5:19 NIV
T his is what “it’s all about”. Reduced to its essence the gospel of the New Testament begins from the awareness that human
beings need to be reconciled to God. This implies that they are, in their natural state, at odds with God - that they are not in touch with him and need to be. They are somewhat like the lost sheep in the parable Jesus told - they have wandered from the fold.
This estrangement can have various elements. “The most common form is indifference. God is not in all their thoughts. He is … ‘the Void’. The indifferent are not aware of any estrangement, for they are not aware of God. This does not mean, of course, that they have no consciousness of trouble, though they may not recognize its real nature. God and they have never met in personal encounter. This moral indifference is the fundamental reason why people drift into evil without being aware of the fact. They are carried over the brink of moral disaster without any conscious decision on their part, like a boat which is carried over a cataract because its occupants are not aware of any danger” (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol X, p340).
You need to be aware of God in some measure in order to know how distant you are from him. It is more than doing the occasional bad deed. It is living your life blissfully unaware of who God is, what he demands of you and of what he can do for you. He can, of course, break in on your indifference. Are you ready to let him?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, come in and give me peace with God.
Sunday 2nd
May
ESTRANGEMENT FOM GOD
“Be reconciled to God”. 2 Cor 5:20 NIV
W hilst many people in this modern age are permanently indifferent to God, plenty as well are downright antagonistic
to him. “‘God the Void’ becomes ‘God the Enemy’. This may take the shape of resentment against life and its conditions, without attributing the blame for these to God. But the elementary religious idea that God is responsible for whatever happens in the world leads people to set down their sorrows, misfortunes, lack of success, or injustice, to God. This resentment springs from blindness to the love of God. It may be due to defective religious education, to wrong ideas of God implanted in childhood, e.g. the threat of divine punishment used as a deterrent. Or it may come, in spite of the best religious teaching, from identifying a dominating parent with God. The antagonism aroused by the parent is transferred by the child to the God in whom the parent believes. In some instances, people perceive adverse circumstances as the divine will but not the loving purpose of a God who is able to make all things work together for good. This sees the divine will as a kind of fate to be endured. In what appears to be pious resignation the element of resentment or rebellion may still be unconsciously present. It cannot be resolved except by realizing that God’s will is not something to be endured, but something to be done in the particular situation which confronts us; and that in doing his will and so co-operating with him in the situation can be turned from loss to gain” (“J. Reid, The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol X, p340).
Examine your own heart and mind to see if there is any vestige of resentment there and get right with God now.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to become reconciled to you.
Monday 3rd
May
SELFISHNESS
“Be reconciled to God”. 2 Cor 5:20 NIV
T he root of the human heart, soul, and mind is the self, the inner core of self-assertiveness and self-will. It is the deep inner
gut-feeling we all have in all circumstances. It is what makes humans human beings. It is also a third form of estrangement from God.
It is another form of enmity towards God. It is “the selfishness that leads us to seek our own way in defiance of what we know to be right. Selfishness has many forms, e.g., self-will, self-indulgence, self-pity, self-complacency, self-righteousness. All such attitudes are centered in the love of self, which is enmity toward God. It is then the desire to follow God’s will that is lacking. The reply of the master of Ballantrae to the question why he was such a rascal when he was so well-versed in the scripture and the catechism describes the condition of many people - ‘the malady of not wanting’ (R.L. Stevenson, The Master of Ballantrae, p.257).
But whatever the reason, God’s will and ours are in conflict, and at various levels: resulting sometimes in the definite rejection of God’s will, which may be rationalized by finding excuses for doing what we secretly know to be wrong, sometimes in the sheer impotence of a will to do right which is yet not powerful enough to overcome the sinful self, as when St Augustine prayed, ‘Lord, give me chastity and self-control, but not just yet’” (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol X p340).
So selfishness is a powerful force. But it is not as powerful as the love of God in Jesus Christ. That love can come into you and change you from being self-centered to being God-centered.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, sweep away my self-centeredness with your Love.
Tuesday 4th May
A SENSE OF GUILT
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”.
2 Cor 5:18 NIV
“T he last form of estrangement from God may be that producedby the sense of guilt which is involved in all conscious sin,
and which may remain even when the sin has been forsaken. The sense of guilt is much more common than many suppose. Psychology has revealed how prevalent it is and often how disastrous, though it may not be recognized as a sense of sin. Donald M Baillie says, ‘I should like to suggest that (the modern man) has a kind of moralistic substitute for the sense of sin, and that this much less wholesome substitute is the chief cause of that malaise which surely underlies the superficial complacency of the modern mind’ (God Was in Christ, p162). This sense of moral failure or unworthiness may lie dormant in the mind, producing a feeling of inferiority or of moral impotence and of the futility of all ideals. Worst of all, it may come like a shadow between the soul and God, making the thought of him a source of fear, and the idea of his love unreal; for the sense of guilt becomes clearest and strongest when we come face to face with God in Christ and we see ourselves as we are. Then we realize that sin is disloyalty to God, the obstruction of his purpose, rebellion against his will of holy love.
In reconciling us to himself through Christ, God overcomes these various forms of estrangement. Here in Corinthians Paul makes special mention of the fact that in so doing God deals with the guilt of sin, ‘not counting their trespasses unto them’” (J.Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol X p341).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, purge all sense of guilt from me.
Wednesday 5th May
GOD’S GREAT REMEDY
“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
2 Cor 5:17 NIV
P aul’s gospel was simple: whether in Antioch, Galatia, Corinth or Ephesus his message was “In your own nature you are
estranged from God. Submit to his Son Jesus Christ. Let him forgive you and wipe away your sins and you become a new person. That is the core of the gospel today as it was all those two thousand years ago.”
“The guilt does not remain a barrier to God’s love; yet the sense of it may remain in ourselves. Through our reconciliation to God, however, it is changed. Its disabling effect on the mind and will is broken. The pain and shame of past sin become both a discipline and a deterrent. We are kept humble and alert, while the sense of God’s forgiveness kindles a never-failing gratitude to God which is the characteristic note of Christian orthodoxy. The past also remains; but through our fellowship with God he comes into the situation that sin has created, to transform and redeem it. We can take the past and make a future of it as we yield ourselves to God’s redeeming Spirit.
Jesus’ way of dealing with the sense of guilt was not to excuse the sin but to forgive the sinner. By his own attitude to sinners he made it clear that what they had done was no barrier to his love. Reconciliation is a hard thing to achieve. It involves the unveiling of our need of God, the breaking of our pride, the creation in us of the penitence that seeks forgiveness and of the willingness to surrender to God’s will” (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol X p342).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to accept your forgiveness in Christ.
Thursday 6th May
CHRIST’S AMBASSADORS
“He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on
Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God”. 2 Cor 5:19, 20 NIV
A s the apostle Paul visited the various cities of the eastern Mediterranean world, he was conscious that he did not go
of his own initiative. Christ was by this time ascended and his apostles were now responsible for taking the good news of Christ to whatever places they could reach. But they weren’t ‘nobodies’. They knew that God had commissioned them to go and that they were ambassadors for Christ and his kingdom.
An ambassador is a representative of his, or her, own country. He brings a bit of his own country with him and his embassy is legally a spot of a foreign country. A Christian believer brings a bit of Christ’s kingdom wherever he goes. But the ambassador speaks for and with the authority of his home country. So must the Christian believer and not only the ordained minister. In addition, “the honour of a country is in its ambassador’s hands. His country is judged by him … It is the great responsibility of the ambassador to commend his country to the people amongst whom he goes to live. Here is the Christian’s proud privilege and almost terrifying responsibility. The honour of Christ and of the church and gospel are in his and her hands. Their every word and action can make people think more - or less - of Christ and of the Master to whom they belong and whom they must ever seek to serve” (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p235).
The message and the cause of Christ are in the hands of Christian believers everywhere.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to be an ambassador for you.
Friday 7th May
RECONCILED TO GOD
“We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God”. 2 Cor 5:20 NIV
W e quite often witness situations where members of a family become estranged from one another. A growing up child
becomes irked by what he or she feels is excessive parental control and gets fed up with being ordered around. He decides he has “taken enough” and packs his bag and pushes off. His parents are hurt, indeed offended. But he refuses to go back. With the passage of the years the rift widens. Eventually they lose all contact with each other.
And many people similarly part company with God. Paul saw all people who had not yet become reconciled with God as estranged. The whole mission of Christ was God reaching out to people to implore them to be reconciled with God. And the apostles were his agents in effecting that reconciliation.
To be reconciled means first to know your sins forgiven, your need of God and your dependence on Christ through his Holy Spirit. Secondly it involves a conscious decision to live close to Jesus, to seek his daily companionship, and to make every effort to discern his will and to obey him. Thirdly it means to rid your life of ideas, practices and habits that are disobedient to the will of God and the mind of Christ. Fourthly being reconciled to God involves finding the way in which God wants you to serve him - it might be helping the poor, serving in some capacity in the church, and generally bringing glory to him. Fifthly it involves commending him to other people and seeking to bring them into a relationship of reconciliation with God. Sixthly it involves determining never to turn back. Are you reconciled to God?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, bring me into ever fuller reconciliation with you.
Saturday 8th May
BEING RECONCILED
“Be reconciled to God”. 2 Cor 5:20 NIV
T he marks of the reconciled life listed yesterday notwithstanding, there is more to the life of depth with God than those
characteristics. At the heart of the spiritual life is the understanding that the apostle Paul expressed when writing to the Christian disciples in Colossae, saying to them, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3 NIV). It means that Christian disciples who are reconciled to God have “died to themselves” and have come alive to God.
There are two aspects to this way of seeing and living life. The one is to know deep down that you become dead to your own desires, your ego, your selfishness, your opinions and whole understanding of life. Secondly, instead of saying “Yes” to yourself all the time, you now say “Yes” to Jesus Christ. This way of thinking and acting is sometimes described as “surrender” and sometimes as “submission”. You acknowledge that Jesus is now your Lord and Saviour. He calls the shots, dictates the way you go, and gives the orders. You acknowledge him as your Master, no longer seeking to “do your own thing” no matter what. Paul had set out for Damascus with the intention of wiping out the Christian community there. God stopped him on the way and said, “No, I want you to do what I tell you - become my apostle and ambassador to the Gentiles”. Paul submitted to God and lived the rest of his days uplifting and glorifying Jesus.
If you have not already taken this step, do so now. Say to Jesus Christ, “I am no longer my own but thine. Put me to what you will. Rank me with whom you will”.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, I give my life to you unreservedly and completely.
Sunday 9th May
SHARING SIN AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
“Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with
him we might share the righteousness of God”. 2 Cor 5:21 GNB
“T his verse tells how this reconciliation with God has beenmade possible. Christ never yielded to temptation and so he
knew no sin that was his own evil doing. This conviction Paul shared with the whole apostolic church of the first century. He said, ‘Him who knew no sin, on our behalf he made to be sin’. Yet though Christ never by his own choice fell into sin,
God made him to be sin. The ancient custom of sending a scapegoat into the wilderness bearing the sins of Israel (a ceremony carried out on the annual Day of Atonement) may provide some background for this idea, but is not deep and vital enough to be a real parallel. Christ by God’s will so identified himself with sinful men and women that in some way Paul senses, he became involved with their sin; he helped them, not by standing aloof and giving them directions as to what they should do, but by entering so completely into their situation that he stood in their place, shared their lot, and grappled with the problem for them. Only in virtue of so vital a connection with people could the reverse working take place, in which on the basis of what Christ did in his death and resurrection, we sinful people were enabled to become the righteousness of God, i.e. to receive this righteousness as a gracious gift from God. He means that this gift of good standing before God includes a real transformation of life by the power of God” (F.V. Filson, “The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol X, p344).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, thank you for the great gift of your wholeness.
Monday 10th May
DON’T SQUANDER GOD’S GRACE
“As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain”.
2 Cor 6:1 NIV
W hen someone hears the gospel of God’s grace in Christ there is no guarantee that they will make the long-term radical
change that God’s gift demands and works for. Judging from the number of problems that Paul’s letters to the church at Corinth deal with, it must have been a difficult community to guide and lead.
Quite possibly some of the community were only ever “half-baked” spiritually speaking. God looks for a deep radical change. Some people only dip their big toe, so to speak, in the waters of deep commitment and probably that is what happened at Corinth. Then some people commit themselves, know their sins forgiven, set out on some work for God and then turn back. When people become reconciled to God, know his grace and then experience manifold difficulties, they pull back instead of going on to grow in grace and to become productive workers. Sometimes temptations come along and prove too much for new disciples to withstand. The real way, and the best, is for disciples to grow in grace, becoming ever more fruitful in their works for God. The harder they work, the more they grow. But some wither away and produce little or nothing by way of fruitfulness.
Another problem which causes some to experience the grace of God in vain is when they explore teachings they cannot understand and get led astray into false teachings. Going off into side-issues can soon negate the working of the gospel in a person’s spiritual journey. Don’t squander the grace of God. Grow it and grow in it - and keep growing in it. Multiply it in your heart and give praise to Jesus.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord let me never squander your grace in my life.
Tuesday 11th May
THE SECRET OF INEXHAUSTIBLE STRENGTH
“In our work together with God, then, we beg you who have received God’s grace not to let it be wasted”.
2 Cor 6:1 GNB
T he mission on which Paul embarked in the first century, once he had been converted and spent some time familiarizing
himself with the teaching and deeds of Jesus, was one of the most amazing human achievements of all time. It changed the history and culture of the Mediterranean world. It put the Christian faith on the path to becoming a world religion. It also proved for all time what a powerful force a God-possessed person can be .
“In the full sense Paul was God’s agent, comprehending his purpose, seeing his will, and with wholehearted obedience doing it. This is the true meaning of being God’s fellow worker, and in it we find the true privilege and joy of life. All work which is creative or redemptive is a partnership with God; but it reaches its highest point and deepest satisfaction when we become conscious of union with God, and our work or service becomes an active partnership with him. Only through this conscious co-operation with God does the fulfilment of his purpose for the world achieve also the full development of our own personality. The question which faces every man and woman is therefore not whether they will be used by God, but whether they will be God’s unconscious tool or God’s conscious partner. To know that God and we are partners is the secret of inexhaustible strength” (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol X, p345).
Many other servants of Christ have known the dynamic of this partnership. Saints, apostles, missionaries, teachers and many others have proved it. In the grace of God, you too can achieve incredible goals for God.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, use me to your honour and glory.
Wednesday 12th May
THE TIME IS NOW!
“Hear what God says: ‘When the time came for me to show you favour I heard you; when the day arrived for me to save you, I helped you. Listen! This is the hour to receive God’s
favour; today is the day to be saved’”. 2 Cor 6:2 GNB
W hen God acted in sending his Son, he acted decisively. The one thread running throughout the New Testament is this
note of urgency and imminence – “It’s all about to happen”. What had been foretold by the prophets was starting to happen. And when Paul and his fellow apostles went out to preach of Christ to the Gentiles, they sounded the same note. In writing to the Christians at Corinth Paul quoted from the Old Testament (Isaiah 49:8) where God had called to the Israelites with the same note of urgency.
He knew the danger of procrastinating. Whilst he was writing to people who had heard the message of the gospel and had responded before, he knew that some were dithering. Perhaps they were going back on their previous decisions to follow Christ. He knew: “There are tides in the emotional life when we see clearly and feel deeply, and these tides need to be caught if we would grow in God’s fellowship or accomplish his will. For lack of the venture of faith in response to these moments of vision the development of the spirit may be arrested, the experience of Christ may lose reality, or faith in him may even fade out. The story of the foolish virgins is a warning. Those who were ready went in and the door was shut. But Paul means more than this. He means that the new age is here; the day of salvation has dawned” (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible” Vol X p346).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to respond to you now.
Thursday 13th May (Ascension Day)
OUT OF SIGHT
“He was taken up to heaven as they watched him, and a cloud hid him from their sight”.
Acts 1:9 GNB
T he problem we have with the ascension of Jesus is that we equate the sky and “heaven”. The sky is a spatial entity.
Heaven is a spiritual reality. Traditionally artists have painted the sky in blue. But the ancient mediaeval artists, when they wanted to depict heaven, painted it in gold. Their intention was to portray it as the presence and glory of God, separate from any spatial “place”. Maybe colouring heaven in gold pointed to the idea of a throne, or the sovereignty of God. Helmut Thielicke, the German theologian, said, “Heaven is a not a space overhead to which we lift up our eyes; it is the background of our existence, the all-encompassing lordship of God within which we stand” (“I Believe”, p193). Christians therefore look on Ascension Day, not to the blue sky, but to the sovereignty of God.
Martin Luther, who lived in the sixteenth century and was the first major reformer, “could see more in the ascension than just a spatial ascent to some cosmic sphere. In his well-known graphic way he could recall people who had such an awfully naïve concep-tion of the Ascension that ‘they don’t know what it means to say that Christ ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God. For it didn’t happen the way you climb up a ladder in your house. It means that he is above all creation and in all creation and outside of all creation’. Here again he did not climb into the blue sky, he entered the icon’s golden background for the world” (H. Thielicke, “I believe”, p194).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, all glory be to the ascended Jesus.
Friday 14th May
GOD’S SERVANTS
“In everything we do we show that we are God’s servants”. 2 Cor 6:4 GNB
T hose people who occupy positions of leadership in the Christian church tend to find themselves elevated in
the estimation of the “normal members”. Not only are they admired for their skill, they are credited with power and prestige and with all manner of high-sounding titles. Some leaders may merit such esteem. Others don’t.
Paul was a highly intellectual person, he knew “what was what”, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was a very formidable person. But he knew that he came to the cities of the Mediterranean world only as a messenger of God, and not as a “big shot” of the church. He and his assistants came as servants of the people to whom they preached and taught, and not as “lords and masters”.
The Lord of the church came to earth as a servant. Sometimes he is equated with the “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53. The people he called to be his disciples and later appointed to be his apostles were all called to be servants. Furthermore, the church as a whole is most truly the church of Jesus Christ when it becomes “the servant church”. The mighty cathedrals of Europe are anything but fitting symbols of the Christ who came with a towel and basin in his hands. They are relics of a bygone age when the church lorded it over the people, their steeples towering over the surrounding cities and countryside.
And every congregation, every denominational headquarters, every bishop, and clergyperson are called by God - to serve the people, the community and especially the poor and weak. How true to her calling to be a servant church is your Christian group?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, keep us faithful to our calling as servants.
Saturday 15th May
THE SERVANT’S STICKABILITY
“We show that we are God’s servants by patiently enduring troubles”.
2 Cor 6:4 GNB
T o be a servant of God is not to engage in a game of “beer andskittles”. In some tasks people get involved in, it is all
“ice cream and lollipops”, plenty of ease, much enjoyment, and mountains of fun. That is not what a servant of God must expect. Eugene Peterson translates this word “endurance” as “we stay at our post alertly, unswervingly” (“The Message”, p446).
The Greek word is ‘Hupomone’. “It is an untranslatable word. It does not describe the frame of mind which can sit down with folded hands and bowed head and let a torrent of troubles sweep over it, in passive resignation. It describes the ability to bear things in such a triumphant way that it transfigures them and transmutes them. Chrysostom, one of the early Christian fathers, has a great explanation of “hupomone”, this triumphant Christian endurance. He calls it ‘the root of all goods, the mother of piety, the fruit that never withers, a fortress that is never taken, a harbour that knows no storms’. He calls it ‘the queen of virtues, the foundation of right actions, peace in war, calm in tempest, security in plots’. It is the courageous and triumphant ability to bear things which enables a person to pass the breaking point and not to break and always to greet the unseen with a cheer. It is the alchemy which transmutes tribulation into strength and glory” (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p237).
This quality has been the hallmark of the great saints, the martyrs, the servants, and apostles of Christ down the centuries, together with many unknown humble souls. The soldiers of Christ have “soldiered on” faithful to the end. Will you?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, let me be constant, strong, and faithful for you.
Sunday 16th May
TROUBLES, HARDSHIPS AND DIFFICULTIES
“In everything we do we show that we are God’s servants by patiently enduring troubles, hardships and difficulties”.
2 Cor 6:4 GNB
When Jesus spoke to his disciples, in preparing them for the uphill battles that they were going to face after he was gone,
he said that they must be ready to take up their crosses and follow him. Happy teenagers may gather at youth camps and sing for hours about how H-A-P-P-Y they are, but that is not the future that Jesus foresaw for his servants. Youth camps had not been thought of! But crosses had.
Paul and his fellow apostles soon found out by experience what the crosses were like. Traipsing through the countryside of Greece was full of hazards and Paul had to make his way - on foot - to the city of Corinth in southern Greece to preach to the people. The word which has become translated as “troubles” is a word “which originally expressed sheer physical pressure on a person. There are things which weigh a person down, sorrows which are a burden on a person’s heart, the disappointments which are likely to crush the life out of a person, the sheer pressure of the demands of life upon one” (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p237). Then there are hardships which could have been called “the inescapable pains of life. There are some burdens which a person may escape, but others which are simply inescapable. There are certain things which a person involved in the human situation must bear. The greatest of these is sorrow, for only the life which has never known love will never know sorrow” (Ibid). Paul’s third problem is difficulties which are really anxieties or tight corners. God’s servants have all these and more.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, give me patience to bear all hardships for you.
Monday 17th May
DANGEROUS OPPOSITION
“We have been beaten, imprisoned and mobbed”. 2 Cor 6:5 GNB
B eing a servant of God, going round to various cities and facing crowds who had never heard of Jesus was no pleasant
or easy way to work out his servant’s role for Paul and his companions. “For Paul the Christian life meant not only spiritual suffering, but also physical suffering. It is the simple fact that if there had not been those who were ready and able to bear the agony and the torture of the fire and the wild beasts, we would not be Christian today. There are still countries where it is a physical agony to be a Christian. It is always true that ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church’. Over and over again we have the picture of the Christian facing, not the sternness of the law, but the violence of the mob. John Wesley tells of what happened to him in Wednesbury when the mob ‘came pouring down like a flood. To attempt speaking was vain; for the noise on every side was like the roaring of the sea. So they dragged me along till we came to the town; when, seeing the door of a large house open, I attempted to go in; but a man, catching me by the hair, pulled me back into the middle of the crowd. They made no more stop till they had carried me through the main street, from one end of the town to the other”. (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p239).
In some places today physical danger and violent opposition awaits the servant of God who dares to speak of Jesus Christ. Pray for all such servants, that they will be courageous and faithful.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, protect and preserve all your servants in danger.
Tuesday 18th May
IT’S A TOUGH LIFE
“We have been overworked and have gone without sleep or food”.
2 Cor 6:5 GNB
O n top of all the troubles and bitter opposition Paul and his fellow apostles had to keep going in the face of the sheer
rigours of the work. Corinth was no easy patch. Some of the people were awkward, and not all were co-operative. A senior minister was interviewing a prospective junior assistant in Johannesburg. “Well, young man”, he said, “It’s blinking hard work, and there’s lots of it”. That’s what Paul had found in Corinth.
For Paul ‘there was the effort of the Christian life. There were toils and labours. The word Paul uses is, in the New Testament, almost a technical term for the Christian life. It includes toil to the point of sheer exhaustion, the kind of toil which takes everything of body, mind, and spirit that a person has to give. The Christian is the workman of God. And there were sleepless nights, some of which might have been spent in prayer. Others might have been spent in anxiety because of the danger from opponents. At all times Paul was ready to be the unsleeping sentinel for Christ. Then sometimes there was no food. The pressure of the work probably meant there were occasions when they just had to ‘skip’ a meal. Sometimes there was probably no money with which to buy food”. (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p240).
All of these privations and difficulties provided stress which the apostle met with endurance, fortitude, and courage. Christian work is never easy - whatever it might look like from the outside. And it can be exasperating, unrewarding and frustrating. Often there is little appreciation and plenty of grumbling. Pray for the servants in your community.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, bless those servants of God who are finding the going hard.
Wednesday 19th May
THE MARKS OF GOD’S SERVANTS
“By our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness we have shown ourselves to be God’s servants”.
2 Cor 6:6 GNB
W hen asked what kind of person their new minister is, many Christian believers will reply, “He’s a nice man - very nice”.
Some however might make a more discerning assessment and say, “Well he’s a good preacher - much better than the last one!”.
Paul knew, from his deep and many-sided experience, what being a servant of God entailed. He knew that servants of God preach a much stronger message by what they are rather then by what they say. “Here are the fruits and manifestations of the Spirit. They are the graces which Paul sought to cultivate, and which he regards as essential in one who would commend his ministry to others. His character was an integral part of his message. However battered his body, the spirit within was resilient. It reacted to the blows of circumstance by producing all the traits of a victorious personality. The first of these was purity which means chastity of body and mind. Physical suffering can loosen self-control and issue in a self-pity which tempts to self-indulgence.
“Knowledge means knowledge of God and of the nature of the Christian message. The experiences of life were for Paul a highway to ever fresh discovery of the love and purpose of God. Paul’s letters are a mine of intellectual treasure, but his knowledge was not reached through what we call learning, still less through speculative philosophy. It was the knowledge of God in living personal experience, not merely knowledge about God” (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible” Vol 10, p347).
No college or university can make a true servant of God. God himself working through his Holy Spirit in a person’s life can.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, make better servants to communicate your gospel.
Thursday 20th May
PATIENCE AND KINDNESS
“By our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness we have shown ourselves to be God’s servants”.
2 Cor 6:6 GNB
I t is relatively easy to be pleasant and affable when the sun is shining, the skies are blue, and everybody is “nice”. Of course,
it seldom happens that “everybody” is nice. As Paul and his companions discovered, “it takes all sorts to make a world”. Unkind people, awkward and disagreeable people, plain nasty people, critical people, point-scoring people, lazy and incompetent people - are never very far away.
And they occur in Christian congregations, however out of place they may seem to be. Paul went out of his way to let the Holy Spirit form in him the kind of character that gets on well with people - especially the difficult ones. “Patience” is sometimes translated as “longsuffering” and Paul found plenty of scope for developing a longsuffering nature working with the people at Corinth. “The word ‘longsuffering’ is Coverdale’s. The central meaning is not to suffer pain … but to keep good-tempered under provocation. It denotes a person who does not ‘let fly’. It is used to describe God’s attitude to Israel – his awareness of their sin and yet his long patience with his people even in their iniquity. It is holding out in your mind against justified anger” (W.E. Sangster, “The Pure in Heart”, p125).
“Kindness is one of the great New Testament words. It is the opposite of severity. One person described it as ‘the sympathetic kindliness or sweetness of temper which puts others at their ease and shrinks from giving pain’” (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p241).
Many demands are made on God’s servants who lead in any Christian community. But the greatest leaders are the ones who show strength of character and love in its many forms.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, fill your servants with love and longsuffering kindness.
Friday 21st May
PURITY AS INTEGRITY
“We recommend ourselves by the innocence of our behaviour ”.
2 Cor 6:6 NEB
A generation ago a leading thinker who tried to understand (and teach) what communication was all about, Marshall McLuhan,
said, “The medium is the message”. This statement gave rise to lots of debate and much deep thinking about the process of communication. It also put into a different way of thinking the point the apostle Paul made in his second letter to the Corinthians when he said to the querulous Corinthians that he and his fellow apostles were the walking embodiment of the message about God and Christ that they preached and taught.
One of the characteristics that he said translated into their lifestyles was “purity”. Purity is almost always thought today to refer to sexual propriety and discipline. It had a much wider reference in Paul’s day. “The word Paul uses for purity is the Greek word hagnotes. The Greeks said it was ‘the careful avoidance of all sins which are against the gods; the service of the honour of God as nature demands’. This ‘purity’ is ‘prudence at its highest tension’. It has been defined as ‘freedom from every stain of flesh and spirit’. It is in fact the quality which enables a person to enter into the very presence of God. The cleansed life alone can beget the great message. The stammering simplicities of one who is known to be a saint will far outweigh the fluent elegance of one who is known to be a worldling”. (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians” p240).
In modern terms it could be taken to mean integrity in its widest sense. If we exhibit integrity that is one dimension of purity.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to be pure in all things.
Saturday 22nd
May
GRASPING THE TRUTH
“We recommend ourselves by … our grasp of truth”. 2 Cor 6:6 NEB
A junior minister felt he should continue with his studies after he had left university. There was, after all, a higher degree
he could go for beyond the prescribed minimum. A colleague (who was richer!) stayed on to do the same course in residence but agreed to keep the other man informed about what changes the lecturers made as the course went along. Soon the other man who was now working in a church was in difficulties, falling behind due to time management problems. He returned to the university at the end of the year to write some exams. The man at university wanted to know how he was managing. “Not at all” the fellow said. “I’ve decided to pack it in. The demands of the congregation are just too much. I just can’t find the time”. “No, you mustn’t do that”, said the university friend. “You must see these extra studies as an important gift to your congregation - now and down all the years of your ministry”.
Teachers in the church have the responsibility to give their communities the gift of their understanding of the Bible and its message, their grasp of good Christian teaching and beliefs. Sound beliefs and solid doctrine are the bedrock of Christian character and service. Grasping the truth is a vital ingredient of the make-up of Christian leaders. Knowing what’s right, what’s good, what’s sound and wholesome is essential for the life of God’s church. It was for Paul as he pioneered the drive of the Christian church into the pagan strongholds of the Roman Empire. It is today as Christian believers battle to hold their faith in an evil and secular society.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, grant that your servants will be strong in truth.
Sunday 23rd
May (Pentecost Sunday)
IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
“As servants of God we commend ourselves … in the Holy Spirit ”.
2 Cor 6:4, 6 NIV
T oday is Pentecost Sunday, the day when the Christian church celebrates the event in Jerusalem some weeks after the
resurrection of Jesus when God gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples and many others who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival. Jesus had promised the disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV). At Pentecost everything did change. The disciples were transformed by the Spirit of God coming to dwell in them, imparting the spiritual impetus to go out from the narrow confines of Jerusalem to the far corners of the earth. By coming to Corinth with the gospel of Jesus Christ Paul and his companions were living out the promise Jesus had made and fulfilling the call of God.
Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit to human beings, continued to happen as the Holy Spirit worked in the disciples and in Paul. It was the Spirit that prompted them to preach, to teach and to live out in their lifestyles the truth they spoke and the acts of God to which they witnessed.
This is the primary work of the Holy Spirit. It is not to cause weird manifestations, nor to make people behave as if they appear to be drunk. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is not to make people roll about or fall on the floor. It is to point to Jesus, to bring people to believe in Jesus and trust themselves to him. And it is to form Jesus in ordinary human beings.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, fill your church with the Holy Spirit .
Monday 24th May
SINCERE LOVE DOES IT
“We commend ourselves in … the Holy Spirit and in sincere love”.
2 Cor 6:4, 6 NIV
T his is the heart of the whole thing. An elderly minister was called to the charge of a large city center church. He was not a
brilliantly gifted preacher, but his church was full almost every Sunday. One family were entertaining a young trainee minister one weekend and invited him to accompany them to the service. After the service the father of the house asked the student minister what he thought of the service. The young man replied, “Well, I suppose he was alright, but he wouldn’t set the Thames on fire, would he?”. The father replied, “I’m not sure that that’s what ministers are supposed to do, but you might have noticed that he preached to a full church. What do you suppose attracted all these hundreds of people?”. “I’ve no idea”, replied the young man. “You see”, said the father, “He loves people. He’s been here a number of years and the congregation has slowly grown as they’ve warmed to his love. You can ask anyone”.
Writing to one of his other church communities, in Galatia, Paul tried to teach them just what the Holy Spirit was all about. He said, “The harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22 NEB). It is no coincidence that Paul lists love first in this list of what the Holy Spirit produces in people’s lives. The fact is that nothing else “works” in the ministry of teaching and ministering - no gimmicks, no deep intellectual emphasis, no apparently brilliant gifts or outstanding eloquence, no unending fund of jokes. Concern for people, compassion for those in illness, support for those in spiritual crisis - this is where God touches people.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, fill all your ministers with love.
Tuesday 25th May
THE MESSAGE OF TRUTH
“We have shown ourselves to be God servants … by our message of truth”.
2 Cor 6:6, 7 GNB
I t is vitally important that Christian believers understand just what the “sermon” is in Christian worship - and what it isn’t. In writing
to the believers at Corinth Paul says that one of the ways in which he and his associates could be identified as servants of God was by the message they brought.
There are a number of speeches that can be confused with the message the preacher brings from God. It is not an essay. One young minister who grew up in a big church in London sat at the feet of a world-famous preacher all his youth and eventually became a minister himself. Understandably he idolized his former minister and tried very hard to emulate him. His sermons were well compiled, full of quotations and quite erudite. But they were essays on a subject not messages from the heart of God. And they were not delivered with any fire or passion. Another young minister knew that people liked a laugh. Every Sunday he walked into his pulpit and began the service with two jokes, clearly culled from a book of jokes. Then before he began the sermon, he went back to the joke book and trotted out two more jokes. He didn’t understand that a preacher of the gospel is not supposed to emulate a music hall comedian. A message from God is not a university Biblical Studies lecture either, studded with copious lists of Bible texts and references.
Paul burnt with love as he told people what God was about and why Jesus died. He announced the acts of God, and challenged people to change their lives, believe in Christ and live wholesome, holy lives.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, give all your minsters messages from God.
Wednesday 26th May
THE POWER OF GOD
“We have shown ourselves to be God’s servants … by the power of God”.
2 Cor 6:6, 7 GNB
W hat is it that takes an ordinary mortal, picks him (or her) up and puts him in front of a community of all sorts and
conditions of men and women and enables him or her to build this community of sinning mortals into people of God? Some who have had superior intellectual capacity have tried it and failed. Some who have made a success of other, secular careers have given them up, started to be servants of God and have found the fire dying into smouldering embers in a couple of years. Some who have been accustomed to lavish lifestyles as children have been attracted to the pulpit and have soon found there was neither glamour nor popularity in being servants of God.
Paul could have answered all these people. You can only be effective as a servant of God if you are prepared to become a servant of the people to who you go, a servant of the church and a servant of God himself. You can only be effective as a servant of God if you are willing to acknowledge that you, yourself are “nothing” and that God is all. You have to put God first as the Lord and Master of your whole life and let all glory go to him. You must submit to God and ask him to fill you with his love, his power and his glory. Seek no praise, no career power, no popularity for yourself. Know from the outset that you must ask for God’s power - again and again and again. That’s how Paul approached his task as an apostle. It is the only way.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, empower all your servants with your glory and your Spirit.
Thursday 27th May
DEFENCE AND ATTACK
“We have righteousness as our weapon, both to attack and to defend ourselves”.
2 Cor 6:7 GNB
T here are different ways of looking at life in general and various episodes in it. Sometimes people regard it as a journey, and
different phases may be likened to “mountain-tops” or “valleys”. Then some people think of it as “winning or losing”. Others talk of it as a “battle” with victories to be won or defeats to be sustained, with “getting one’s own back” as a necessary follow-up when a defeat has been registered.
Some of Paul’s campaigns in different cities took on the nature of contests or fights. In virtually all places there was a Jewish synagogue which had attracted Gentile converts (or ‘proselytes’). The Christian gospel had a strong appeal for these people, and this led to tension between the Christian apostles and the leaders of the synagogue. In some instances, violence ensued. Then there were other religions where people worshipped pagan gods. When devotees of these faiths turned to Christ this also caused friction with varying degrees of animosity.
Paul was often in conflict in these situations and he knew that Satan was at work trying to undermine his mission and ministry. So it was sometimes a battle and he had to be careful not to be dragged down into underhand tactics. He ‘played by the rules’. Which is what he meant by saying that they used righteousness both in defence and attack. Bitter conflicts there might be, but they were still men of God - many of different faiths were watching. For the Roman soldier “the sword or spear was carried in the right hand and the shield on the left arm” (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p242).
Be ready if conflict comes - but play by the rules.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to fight strong and clean.
Friday 28th May
A LIFE OF STARK CONTRASTS
“We are honoured and disgraced; we are insulted and praised”.
2 Cor 6:8 GNB
B eing a servant of God was no “tea and cream scones” existence. “The word Paul uses for ‘dishonour’ is the word that
is normally used (in Greek) for the loss of rights as a citizen, for disenfranchisement. He is saying, ‘I may have lost all the rights and privileges which the world can confer but I am still a citizen of the Kingdom of God´. Also he is in ill repute and good. There are those who criticize his every action and who hate his very name, but his fame with God is sure. There are those who think of him as a deceiver. The word literally means a wandering quack and impostor. That is what others call him, but he knows that his message is God’s truth. He is unknown yet well known. The Jews who slandered him said he was a no-account nobody of whom no one had ever heard, yet to those to whom he had brought Christ he was indeed known and known with gratitude. His whole life looked as if he was forever threatened by death. Danger was his companion and the prospect of death his comrade, and yet by the grace of God he was triumphantly alive with a life that death could never kill. Things happened to him that might have chastened any man’s spirit, but they could not kill the spirit of Paul. Things happened that might have broken any man’s heart, but they could not destroy the joy that no man could take from him. He might seem a homeless and penniless wanderer, but he brought with him that which would enrich the souls of men and women”. (W. Bar-clay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p242).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, grant strength and courage to all your servants.
Saturday 29th May
JOY AND SORROW
“(We are) immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy”. 2 Cor 6:10 EHP
T he life of the servant of God, working tirelessly in leading a Christian community, is a strangely contradictory experience.
You experience sorrow continuously. People you grow to love and care for, pray with and walk alongside, get ill and die. You have comforted them, and they have supported and leaned on you. You feel genuine sorrow and grieve for them, especially those who have thanked and encouraged you. Then some who have travelled with you give up their faith, overcome by doubts, worries and disappointments. You feel you have expended time and effort on them, that they ought to be more faithful. You may feel a failure.
But alongside the sorrow and pain, you know joy as well. When someone who has battled and wrestled with their life experiences “comes through”, expresses a sense of triumph and offers to minister to others, then you see the power of God at work in their lives, the presence of Christ and growing maturity. They become an affirmation of your effort and skill, understanding and love. You quietly thank God and think to yourself, “This makes it all worthwhile”.
All of life is a mixture of triumph and defeat, failure and success, sunshine and cloud. And God has a strange way of mixing it up when you are working for him. That is because if you only know success, then you are likely to quickly think what a great person you are and to forget that all that you have achieved has come by the Holy Spirit and the power of God. So he brings you down a peg or two to keep you humble and to remind you to lean on him.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, thank you for the sorrow that accompanies the joy.
Sunday 30th May
POVERTY AND WEALTH
“(We are) living on handouts yet enriching many”. 2 Cor 6:10 EHP
A ll people are concerned about where their bread and butter will come from. Paul and his companions trudged on foot
throughout modern Turkey and Greece, taking the gospel of Jesus Christ, and preaching to the Gentiles and any converted Jews who might care to respond. There was no organized church with revenue streams to sponsor them, but they went in obedience to the call of God and under the impulse of the Holy Spirit. They were therefore dependent on the communities they formed for any form of sustenance they got. Travelling teachers (teaching practical wisdom and philosophy) were common and they always took a collection before moving on. Presumably, Paul and his companions copied their example, no doubt eagerly counting the collection to see if there was enough to buy a supper! It was a hand-to-mouth existence and often Paul resorted to his professional occupation of tent-making to eke out the money.
They were poor, yet ironically, they brought the most precious thing anybody in the world could ever desire - the truth about God, the news of the love of Jesus and the empowering gifts of the Holy Spirit. And wherever they went, at great personal expense and risk, they brought these spiritual riches not just to the odd soul here and there, but to any (and there were many) who were moved to respond in penitence and humility. One of the conditions imposed on them by the church in Jerusalem was that they should collect money for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, so there was a financial side to their mission. Always, the offer of the love of God involves a response in kind. Never forget it!
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, thank you for the riches of Christ.
Monday 31st May
ALL OR NOTHING
“Penniless, we own the world”. 2 Cor 6:10 NEB
A large part of human existence is taken up with earning a living. Few, of course, are satisfied with just making a living.
Many take jobs that require massive effort and claim far more time than is good for the person or for their family relationships or their health. Many people pore over the stock market share prices, trying to calculate whether their shares will go up or down. And some visit the casino to see if they can get rich quick on the slot machines, usually going home even poorer than when they went in. For some people their whole waking life is occupied thinking about money. It becomes their god and however much they get they always want more. It becomes a self-perpetuating obsession. In doing all this they miss out on some of the good things of life and in fact, in terms of values they slowly become poorer.
His passion in life having become the spreading of the gospel and serving God, and living to bring other people to faith in Jesus, Paul the apostle had the few articles of clothing he went around in, no property, and no money. He was dependent on the few bits of offertory from the collection when he preached, and occasional earnings from his tent-making. Yet he was happy. He knew joy from living close to Christ, satisfaction from spending his life serving others, and what we might call happiness from being filled with love. Seeing the various churches he had founded building up gave him a deep sense of purpose and fulfilment. He would not have exchanged his wandering life for “all the tea in China”. He had all he wanted. What do you have?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to live by a good Christian set of values.
One Thing I Know
Peter Schoonraad
(“One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25))
It is possible in this world to know many things and yet to lack knowledge of the one thing that is essential. As the story in John 9 progresses, we are brought to the place where recognition and acceptance of that which is essential can be our experience.
A blind beggar at the roadside was a common sight in ancient times. For people like that there was little hope of survival, except to beg. For the disciples, at that stage of their pilgrimage, the man presented an interesting topic - it was an opportunity to speculate. What made it particularly interesting was the fact that the man had been born blind. This complicated the question regarding accountability for the disciples and prompted the question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?”. They obviously had it in their heads that sin and suffering were specifically linked together: that suffering (sickness) was the result of sin. It was a view firmly embedded in Hebrew theology and it is in evidence in the Old Testament. The book of Job presents a protest against the idea that suffering is necessarily the fruit of wrongdoing on the part of the sufferer. However, theological convictions are not always easily amended. Of course, there is no doubt that sin, being wilful disobedience to God and rejection of relationship with him, has brought suffering into the world - in general. The error occurs when one goes from the general to the particular, when the fact of suffering is seen as punishment or divine retribution for personal sin. Apparently, it was along these lines that the disciples were thinking - “Who sinned?” Jesus did not engage with them on this issue but was emphatic that the man’s condition was not because
of sin either on his part or that of his parents. For Jesus, the man’s situation was not an opportunity for speculation but for help and healing. It was always like that. His compassion covered every need. “He did not come to judge the world - it was to save he came”.
By means of a somewhat unusual method, Jesus healed the man. The application of saliva was not unknown, and it was deemed to have curative properties. It is noteworthy that Jesus used different methods to effect healing and in this instance the method could have been designed to encourage faith and to prepare the man for what was to come. The man had to do something. He had to go to the pool of Siloam and wash. Can anyone really imagine the man’s reaction as the light of sight came to his eyes and images began to present themselves? What a joy! What a wonder! I see him looking at the water and then at his hands - seeing them for the first time. And the faces of people, and the sky, and the clouds. And he was filled with amazement. Nothing could ever be the same again. He could now walk freely and find his own way. His gait and posture would have been different, and these could well have given rise to the question as to whether he was the same person who used to sit and beg. Sadly, controversy was not slow to follow. The healing happened on the Sabbath day and that, for the Pharisees was an absolute “NO! NO!”. Their interpretation of the fourth commandment and their many additions to it by way of application, constantly put them at variance with what Jesus taught and practised. The really sad thing is that the Pharisees were nearly always concerned about the observance of rules and rites rather than the often-desperate needs of people. The story in John 9 shows that the Pharisees found no joy in the healing of the man. They were dead set on using the occasion to condemn Jesus and their determination in this regard took them on a route of intense interrogation. First it was the man, then his parents, then the man again. It all ended with a showdown. They, the Pharisees. wanted the man to denounce Jesus. He refused.
(Continued on page 74)
Tuesday 1st June
LET’S GET TOGETHER
“Dear friends in Corinth! We have spoken frankly to you; we have opened our hearts wide … I speak now as though you were my children: show us the same feelings that we
have for you. Open your hearts wide!” 2 Cor 6:11, 13 GNB
I t does sometimes happen that church leaders and members fail to see eye to eye. The reasons and causes of this estrangement
are many and varied. Something was amiss in Corinth. With virtually all of the believers being “new Christians” it is possible that they did not understand how ministers and members should relate, and what each party should expect from each other. It does not appear that bishops were appointed at this early stage of the church’s history and development. In later centuries one of the major roles of bishops was (and is) to intervene in disputes and to ensure that local lay leaders and ministers work together. Most bishops are in a position to arrange changes of ministers where this appears necessary.
Here Paul states that all he has been saying about what it means for him to be a servant of God has necessitated him baring his heart and being frank and open. He appeals to the Corinthians to take him into their confidence and asks them to be equally open, frank and honest with him.
They needed to get together and to talk. This is a constructive way forward in most situations of insipient conflict, misunderstanding, or dispute. Sometimes very minor adjustments of understanding or practice can bring about a spirit of helpfulness on all sides. Sometimes a word of apology can sort out problems of relationships and smooth the way for growth and progress all round.
Do all you can to achieve harmony and understanding.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help us to be helpful and loving to one another .
Wednesday 2nd
June
A CALL TO HOLY LIVING
“Let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God”.
2 Cor 7:1 GNB
“L ife in God’s family involves two kinds of self-discipline,negative and positive. The negative kind includes the
rejection of all that defiles flesh and spirit. Paul says that the flesh is defiled by such sins as unchastity and overindulgence in food and drink. These sins of indulgence are committed in defiance of conscience or out of relation with the Christian purpose of life. Covetousness, pride, the unforgiving temper defile the spirit. They stain and dishonour it and make it unfit for fellowship with God. All sin results in a maimed personality. After his moral failure, the psalmist prays for a clean heart and a right spirit (Ps 51:10).
Fitness for God’s fellowship must also be positive. The old man must not only be put off; the new man must be put on. The house must not only be cleaned up; it must be occupied by a new spirit (Lk 11:24-26).
The Christian must strive to make holiness perfect. This does not mean the encouragement of self-conscious piety. The word holiness has acquired a bad reputation through misunderstanding of its original meaning. The word is akin to wholeness and to health. It is the purity which comes from the complete consecration of ourselves to the purpose of God. This consecration is more than a state of mind; it is an active devotion of the will to God and arises out of a sense of awe in the presence of God. If we live in his light we shall be judged, cleansed and renewed”. (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible” Vol X p355).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, let your holy Spirit make me holy.
Thursday 3rd
June
BIG HEARTS, PLEASE
“Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one; we have ruined no one,
nor tried to take advantage of anyone”. 2 Cor 7:2 GNB
It is common for disagreements to happen in all communities of people. Somebody says something that upsets somebody else.
Then they hit back or spread rumours about the person for whom they have now taken a distinct dislike. Or one section of a body disagrees with another section about how to raise money. Bad feelings develop. Things go from bad to worse.
It is apparent that there were ructions in the Christian church in Corinth. A faction developed that was critical of Paul. Possibly his call for people to abandon evil practices and be holy was one issue. People usually disagree about what is good and what is evil. It is possible that Paul had called some to stop business practices that he knew were contrary to good Christian behaviour. Paul had stated how being a servant of God and bringing the message of Jesus was done in the right spirit, out of obedience to God and at great personal cost to himself. Furthermore, they had come in love with no bad motive at all. Now he appeals to the dissidents to love them (the apostles) in return. “Give us a fair hearing” he is saying, “and let us work together for the glory of God and in order to spread the gospel.”
It is important that in all churches people should trust the motives of those with whom they disagree. The things that unite us all are bigger than those that divide us. We need to have big hearts and to love those with whom we differ. Love must prevail in all things.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help us all to work together in love.
Friday 4th June
A CAUSE FOR JOY
“I am so sure of you; I take such pride in you! In all our troubles I am still full of courage: I am running over with joy”.
2 Cor 7:4 GNB
M inisters have a special attitude towards their congregations. It is reflected in this verse of Paul’s second letter to the
Corinthians. They had been at loggerheads, so it seems. The letters of Paul reveal that he had many ups and downs with the new Christians in the churches he had formed. And, of course, he himself was learning as he went along. He saw himself as their teacher, as their pastor and also as their father. His job was to mentor them, to guide them, to teach them the elements of the Christian faith, to admonish them if they strayed, and to encourage them to engage in fellowship in order to build each other up. In particular he had to watch them lest any of them strayed back into paganism.
His attitude to them was motivated by love and a concern for their Christian growth. Also, he was proud of them in a similar way to that in which a mother or father takes pride in their children. It made him happy to see their growth in grace and their increasing strength in the Christian faith. Their development made him feel that God was working through him - and that made him grow as well. It all caused him joy. Not only so, but he was “running over with joy”.
Cherish the relationship you have with your pastor. It is a special link that strengthens your faith and that enables you to engage in many different kinds of Christian service. You learn and grow as you relate with your pastor or minister.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, thank you for the person who is my pastor.
Saturday 5th June
TROUBLES EVERYWHERE
“Even after we arrived in Macedonia, we had no rest. There were troubles everywhere,
quarrels with others, fears in our hearts”. 2 Cor 7:5 GNB
T he Christian church is not the quiet, dignified, orderly fellowship of good people it is sometimes thought to be.
It certainly wasn’t when Paul and his companions were roaming around the eastern Mediterranean back in the first century. The phrase he uses “We had no rest” says it all. In writing to the Corinthians, he was, of course, away from them. But he was getting information about what was going on. It wasn’t a case of an occasional disagreement now and then. It seemed to be going on all the time. Constantly disputes were being referred to him and he had to think on his feet. Grumbling was common, arguments about what was sound teaching were going on all the time. When Paul was away other teachers, probably with a view to “grabbing power”, tried to lord it over their fellow believers. Money was a regular issue for contention. In his letters Paul tried to pour oil on troubled waters, sometimes with success, but not always. The strange mix of people with converted Gentiles and converted Jews, locals and foreigners gave for strife and tension. Books of church order such as regulate the business of churches today hadn’t been thought of. And there were always groups of people breaking away to form new sects and movements.
Do not be surprised if some of these goings on happen today. There are always problems arising and difficulties that need working through. Regard them all as challenges sent by God and as opportunities to learn and grow. In them all try to build up Christ’s body.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help us to bring all our problems to you for solutions.
Sunday 6th June
GOD THE ENCOURAGER
“God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us with the coming of Titus”.
2 Cor 7:6 GNB
A ll of us, at some time, get downhearted. Things don’t go our way. We find ourselves talked about maliciously and even
slandered. Some relation lets us down or fails in some important enterprise. Sometimes we get so miserable about it that we wonder if God himself has abandoned us.
Paul, working with difficulty in Macedonia, had received bad news from Corinth. It was to the effect that some of the Corinthian Christians had turned against him, criticizing him, and setting themselves up as opponents. After all the hard work he had put in to make a strong church out of the Corinthians this was a terrible blow and caused Paul considerable grief. But then something else happened. One of Paul’s close fellow-workers, Titus, arrived from Corinth with good news. The Corinthians apologized for the trouble they had caused and assured Paul of their loyalty and support. Titus himself was full of joy at what had happened, and Paul was overflowing with joy at the news. Paul thanked God for the visit of Titus and immediately knew his spirit uplifted. He recognized that it was the intervention of God in the situation that encouraged him to carry on with the work and to keep pressing onward relieved and uplifted.
When you are down in the dumps, look to God the great encourager for the way to look at things and to give you new determination to go forward. You should also resolve to be “a Titus” whenever you can. Look for opportunities to cheer people up, to boost their spirits and to make them happy. Lots of people around you are battling. Do something helpful about it.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to encourage people wherever I can.
Monday 7th June
REPAIRING THE BRIDGES
“If the letter of mine made you sad, I am not sorry I wrote it. I could have been
sorry when I saw that it made you sad for a while”. 2 Cor 7:8 GNB
S ometimes the leader of an organization has to “take the bull by the horns” and speak plainly, risking the unhappiness that
might ensue when he speaks the truth and addresses the deep problem that is causing harm.
The apostle Paul had done that in writing a letter admonishing the Corinthian Christians (Referred to in II Cor 2:3). This is usually referred to as “the stern letter”. When the letter was read by the Corinthians it did cause them to react negatively and when he heard this Paul was sad that it had this result. However, “time heals all wounds” and eventually the Corinthian Christians got over their hurt. By the time Paul was writing to them again, Titus had arrived with the news Paul was hoping would come. It was good that the Holy Spirit had so moved in them that they saw things in a new light. The Corinthians had “climbed down” and were now seeking reconciliation with Paul. Out of the unhappiness they had experienced they had seen new truth and moved on to a better sense of what was good for the church of Christ.
Where there is trouble in your church try to see beyond the immediate dispute and take time to think it through. Try to imagine what the consequences might be both long - and short-term. Ask “What would be best for the church? How can we handle this in such a way that we all learn and grow and build up the church? What is the right way forward?”
Prayer thought Lord, help us to build up the church in all things.
Tuesday 8th June
A CONSTRUCTIVE RESPONSE TO CRITICISM
“I am happy - not because I made you sad, but because your sadness made you change your ways”.
2 Cor 7:9 GNB
N one of us like to be criticized. Our immediate response is to be angry at the lack of appreciation on the part of those who
criticize us. The anger can, and usually will, turn to what Paul here calls sadness. We may become depressed, for anger usually becomes depression. Often we will fight back, and estrangement will ensue. We like to think that we “don’t have to take that nonsense lying down”. Then occasionally we stop - eventually - and think about what the person said or might have meant. A lot will depend on our perception of the credibility of the person who made the criticism. We might, after much thought, start to see that there was some validity in the criticism. It can happen that we even think deep down that we need to change the way we do something, that we actually think differently and learn a valuable lesson.
That is what had happened in Corinth. Paul had given the Corinthian dissidents a piece of his mind. And he was right! After a predictable delay they said they were sorry and were ready to move forward. It was a happy outcome for everyone, but most especially for the church community at Corinth. It grew in stature, in spirituality, and in grace. And Paul’s stature as a leader went up a few notches.
Try to respond carefully, positively and constructively to any criticism you may face, especially if it is about spiritual things. Use it as fertilizer for growth. Don’t go off in a huff. Submit to the Holy Spirit’s guidance as to how you should respond. And give all glory to God.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to grow despite and through criticism.
Wednesday 9th June
LET GOD USE YOU
“That sadness was used by God”. 2 Cor 7:9 GNB
T here used to be a hymn that was often sung in Protestant churches that started, “God moves in a mysterious way his
wonders to perform; he plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm”. Most people are familiar with the “storm” element in human affairs. An accident happens, a sudden death takes place, employment is withdrawn, a family breaks up, debt dominates all financial matters, family members fall out and fight. These “storms” face the believing Christian with a test of faith. If you say, “Why does God cause all this trouble for me when I have faith and don’t do anybody any wrong?” then dealing with the issue becomes a challenge to your faith. But if you say, “Well, God has blessed me immensely up till now and the whole of life cannot be a bed of roses. I must ask him to use this rough patch to grow and develop me and to turn it to his glory”, then you show considerable maturity - and the “rough patch” becomes a stepping stone to personal growth and deepening faith.
The Corinthian Christians were learning about the Christian faith - and they certainly had a lot to learn! Unbeknown to them Godwas working in their relationship with the apostle Paul in order tohelp them and teach them. As they wrestled with Paul, and he withthem, they were forming an ever-deepening understanding ofChristianity.
Let God use every circumstance of your personal and family life to enrich your experience of life and to enlarge your appreciation of God’s working. Integrate those “rough patches” into your perspective of life and grow through them.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to weather the storms and to keep sailing.
Thursday 10th June
LEARNING FROM ADVERSITY
“The sadness that is used by God brings a change of heart that leads to salvation”.
2 Cor 7:10 GNB
H ow does a Christian believer react when things go wrong? A young woman who was a lay preacher lost her husband to a
heart attack a mere four years after their marriage. It left her with two small children. She started a small business, and it was just getting onto its feet when World War II struck and she had to close it down. She continued to preach and worked out a powerful sermon on the text from Romans 8:28 “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God”. Christian believers do not believe that the whole of life works out easily and profitably for them because God loves them. They know that the world is full of evil, accidents, mishaps, failures and mess-ups. Their faith enables them to “work it out” with God’s help. They say, “Lord, things have gone wrong. Help me to hold together and to find your love in all this. Help me to bear this cross with courage and hope, to hang on in the darkness, and walk with you”.
The Corinthian Christians had to swallow an admonition from Paul. It could have finished them as far as their Christian faith was concerned. It didn’t. It built them up in their faith. And enabled them to witness to the people of Corinth who did not become Christians.
Be ready for the setbacks of life. Loss, financial difficulty, family turmoil, enemies, crime, accidents, conflicts, illnesses, natural disasters, unplanned mistakes and much more - they can happen in the sense that some or all can leave you bitter and broken - or enriched and deepened.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord enable all things to work together for good for me.
Friday 11th June
THINGS CAN TURN SOUR
“Those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets and end up on a deathbed of regrets”.
2 Cor 7:10 EHP
M any people do not turn their grief or sadness into something positive and constructive. The accident, loss or bad fortune
can turn people into angry, bitter, and miserable people. They tend to harp on the misery, magnify the pain and blame God for everything that goes wrong. Misfortune of any sort is a trial and a problem which all have to face sooner or later. People who focus on it, dwell on it, find all the complaints they can muster and let it really get them down become losers in a bigger sense. Those who blame God and shut the door on him gear themselves for unhappiness, become defeatist, and develop a negative attitude to life in general. They become unpleasant people to know and portray a pessimistic approach to everything in general. Their sky is full of clouds laden with rain, they expect a bad outcome in every situation, and look for problems they can magnify. This negative approach becomes self-perpetuating because they can’t find any joy anywhere and often bring misfortune upon themselves by their bad attitude. Spiritually this is death and they cut themselves off from God, thus severing the lifeline to grace and wholeness that would otherwise bring them into the healing power of God.
Christian believers should make a deliberate decision to combat any defeatism and any “born loser” mentality. They must decide to be positive in all situations, to rely on God whatever the circumstances, and to bring joy to as many people as they can. Jesus willingly accepted his cross and made it a cross of redemption. Do the same with yours.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to turn everything into hope and expectation.
Saturday 12th June
LOOK FOR GROWTH
“Isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more con-
cerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle
you’ve come out of this with purity of heart”. 2 Cor 7:11 EHP
A ny situation of conflict or even of normal stress can weld a community, or a family together. It can, of course leave them
embittered, angry and secretly desirous of revenge. Paul and the Corinthian congregation had gone through a tough
phase. Paul felt he had to chastise them and that he had earned the right to speak to them in earnest and in truth. From his side he saw his relationship to them as born out of his love for them. Whilst the situation had been tense and unpredictable for a while, the news Titus had brought told Paul that the Corinthians had thought deeply, taken his words to heart, and come out on top. It had been what today we call “a growth experience”. They had grown as Christians; they had moved forward as people. Their community had matured. They now knew God better. They were wiser, more sensitive, more understanding and more humble. The Holy Spirit had enabled them to grow in grace. It takes great wisdom and strength to turn a conflict like this into a learning experience.
Do the same in your community as these Corinthians did in theirs. Look for ways in which to turn any potential trouble into good, into learning and into opportunities for leadership and statesmanship. Approach it with humility. Be ready to admit your own mistakes. Search for ways into which to move the community forward into service and outreach for the good of everybody.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help us to be positive and to grow in all things.
Sunday 13
th June
AN APPEAL FOR GENEROSITY
“The churches in Macedonia have been severely tested by the troubles they went through; but their
joy was so great that they were extremely generous in their giving, even though they are very poor”.
2 Cor 8:1,2 GNB
F ew things are more touching than the generosity of people who are poor. The story of the “widow’s mite” in the gospels is an
example of this beautiful phenomenon. The truth is that generosity is not limited to people of any financial status. Some rich people are very generous. Some poor people are as well. It is impossible to predict what impact the grace of God will have on people’s willingness to give. The grace of God is powerful and often loosens people’s purse strings in marvelous ways.
Paul took with him on his missionary travels a request from the church in Jerusalem to ask for gifts for the poor in Judea. Here he tries a clever ploy. He tells the people in Corinth how generous towards this collection the poor people in Macedonia have been, Macedonia being in the north of Greece and Corinth in the south. He hopes that this example will challenge the Corinthians to give generously as well. And he tells how difficult life has been for the Macedonians. In effect he was saying, “They’ve coughed up. Won’t you?”
It has often been said by ministers trying to get their church members to give, “When Jesus touches your heart, he touches your wallet as well”. Indeed, it could be said that God hasn’t really touched your heart until he has touched your pocket! But the appeal to the Christians in Corinth (and Macedonia) was based on the truth that Christians the world over belong to each other. Will you emulate the Macedonians as well?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, by your love make me generous.
Monday 14th June
MORE THAN IS POSSIBLE
“I can assure you that they gave as much as they could, and even more than they could”.
2 Cor 8:3 GNB
I t is good that the great apostle chose to teach the congregation in Corinth about Christian giving. We have his guidelines to this
day. There is no rule about how much to give, despite the fact that churches do sometimes lay down standards of ten percent. Ten percent might be a lot for some people. It might be too little for others. If a person receives an income of a thousand Rands a month ten percent would be a huge chunk. If the next person were getting a hundred thousand Rands a month, ten percent would leave such a person with a huge amount to spend.
It used to be said, “You are only really giving when it hurts”. To which someone responded by saying, “No. You’re only really giving when it thrills you”. The poor people of Macedonia gave for the poor in Jerusalem in a way that thrilled their apostle and minister. They gave “more than they could”. Most likely it thrilled God as well!
This all tells us that giving to God is an essential component of the life of a Christian disciple. Jesus gave himself in sacrificial service and finally on the cross. He didn’t hold back to save himself. Life for Jesus meant giving himself away, and he called on his disciples to do the same. Many of them were burnt at the stake or thrown to the lions. Some of the arenas where they were mauled by the lions are still there - and are well worth a visit. Discipline yourself to give, don’t hold back. It’s God you’re giving to, not the church budget!
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to have a heart that loves to give.
Tuesday 15th June
WILLING GIVING
“Of their own free will they begged us and pleaded for the privilege of having a part in helping God’s people in Judaea”.
2 Cor 8:3, 4 GNB
A ll too often Christian believers have to be implored, cajoled, and persuaded into giving to God. All manner of excuses are
used behind which Christians hide to hold on to their cash. Debt, expenses, taxes, rising costs of living, and providing for dependents are common reasons. Complaints at how the church spends its money and the resentment against assessments that go “up to head office” are other frequently held convictions that impede the flow of gifts to God.
The believers in Macedonia, however, though poor, had got the message and they actually wanted to give to their fellow Christians in Judaea. They didn’t have to be badgered, argued, or persuaded to give. They knew they had received the most valuable thing in the world - the gospel of Jesus Christ - and they wanted to give in order to thank God for his grace and the gift of his son Jesus Christ. Their hearts overflowed with thanksgiving to God. The church was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened in their restricted little world. It was a new thing in their lives, and it released the springs of love deep within their hearts. Life had taken on a whole new meaning for them. God had become real. They had become born again. They saw trees, flowers, birds and other people in a completely new way that was thrilling and even exciting. By asking if they could give they were saying, “We want to be a part of this new thing, this special way of life. We want to show our love and make more of it happen”. Do you?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, fill me with the love that wants to give.
Wednesday 16th June
THEY GAVE
“It was more than we could have hoped for! First they gave themselves to the lord; and then,
by God’s will they gave themselves to us as well”. 2 Cor 8:5 GNB
Most people do not stop and ask themselves what the meaning of life is. They follow everybody else and the world tells them
loud and clear that life is about getting as much money as you can lay your hands on. You also get as much power as you can, as much popularity as you can, as much fame, as much fun and as many things. For the whole world life is spelt G-E-T-T-I- N G, grab as much as you can as fast as you can for as long as you can. But when Paul visited Macedonia and told them that the secret of living on planet earth was spelt J-E-S-U-S it changed everything. It turned their world and its ideas upside down. From then on life was spelt “G-I-V-I-N-G”. And it wasn’t just about “Giving as much as you can”. It was about “Giving more than you can”.
It wasn’t about philosophy and ideas. Giving had meaning because Jesus had given and had set a new pattern. Whether he was giving living water to the woman at the well, new sight to the man born blind, direction to his disciples or hope to the man dying on the cross, always Jesus was giving. And now the Macedonian disciples were giving - to help the poor in Judaea and setting a pat-tern for the new disciples in Corinth.
Be a giver. Make giving a plank in your whole being. Don’t think how much it will cost you, or how empty you will be. Give out of thanks to God and in order to glorify him.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord let me live to give, for Jesus’ sake.
Thursday 17th June
A SPECIAL SERVICE OF LOVE
“We urged Titus, who began this work, to continue it and help you complete this special service of love”.
2 Cor 8:6 GNB
M oney is a strange commodity. We all need it to live. And it can be, usually is, a symbol of greed, selfishness, and avarice.
People can use money - or the absence of it - to manipulate other people – and to exploit them. It can be a source of evil, a misunderstood force, and a mistaken value by which people make themselves known or by which they assess other people. We tend to honour rich people and despise poor people. Money enables some to show off. It makes some deeply envious of others.
And it can be a channel of love, kindness and sympathy. We do not know much about the problems amongst the poor of Judaea in Paul’s day. We do know that they were in need. The project of collecting for them was uppermost in Paul’s mind. And he saw the drive to collect as a work of love – and originating in God’s grace. It wasn’t a fund-raising project for him. It was “a special service of love”. It emanated from the heart of God. It would increase love in the hearts and minds of those who contributed. It would make them better disciples, more conscious of human need around them, and by this means they would be playing their part in the life of the wider church. It would make them big people.
There are often special services of love calling for giving on the part of those who know about them. Take part in them. Give generously, never thinking of what it will do for you. As long as God knows that’s all that matters.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, involve us all in service to others.
Friday 18th June
HOW RICH ARE YOU?
“You are so rich in all you have: in faith, speech, and knowledge, in your eagerness to help and in your
love for us. And so, we want you to be generous also in this service of love”.
2 Cor 8:7 GNB
T here are different ways in which you can be rich, not only in the amount of cash you have. Some people are very gifted - they
are clever academically, or they are artistic or musical. And some can turn their hand to any sport and become winners. Some also are rich in their kindness to other people - they are just outgoing. And some are multi-gifted. They are great all-rounders.
The Corinthians had developed a special relationship with Paul and his fellow-ministers. They had argued and struggled but held together in love and mutual respect. Paul knew them well and he knew he could make demands on them. He was amazed at how blessed they were in so many ways. Now to ask them to give was to present a big challenge to them. “Be as big as I know you can be” he says, gently buttering them up. But he was also saying, “To give generously will make you rich in spiritual things. It will draw you closer to God, increase your capacity to love more, and enlarge your hearts, and if you fill your church with love that will draw more people in to be part of your church body”.
All Christians should see the challenge to give, not merely as a way of meeting church expenses, but as a way of expressing their gratitude to God for all his blessings to them and for Jesus who sacrificed his life for them. Well, how rich are you in generosity and love?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, make me rich in generosity and love.
Saturday 19th June
HOW REAL IS YOUR LOVE?
“By showing how eager others are to help, I am trying to find out how real your own love is”.
2 Cor 8:8 GNB
W e often lose sight of the crucial importance of love in our contemporary church life. We go to things and “show up”.
We support this, that or the other. We sit and pass judgement on how good the choir is, how well the minister preaches, or how full the church is. Was this meeting good? What is the music like? How friendly are the people? How relevant or inspiring is this or that?
For Paul, the request to the Corinthian congregation to take part in the collection for the poor in Judaea was more than just a routine event. He dared to tell them how keen the believers in Macedonia were to give, poor though they were themselves. He hoped this singing of the praises of the Macedonians would spur the Corinthians to equal efforts. It was all about love, not money as such. The appeal in Macedonia had lit flames of love - for God, for Christ, for their fellow believers. And they had suffered various troubles which meant that the Macedonians’ love was tested all the more. So, since it was all about love, God’s love in their hearts prompting their love into action, now came the acid test - just how real in hard terms was their love at the end of the day?
This is a question we could well pose to modern-day Christian believers. How effectively is the love of God working in our members’ hearts? This will reflect not only in giving, but also in serving, in concern for community issues and in supporting the poor.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, stir your love in our hearts to reach out to others.
Sunday 20th June
ALL ABOUT GRACE
“You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as he was, he made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty”.
2 Cor 8:9 GNB
T he basis of Paul’s appeal to the Corinthians is not the need of the poor Christians in Judaea, real though that was. He
grounds it entirely in the grace of Jesus Christ. “He might have spoken of the ‘love’ of Christ for the Corinthians, but since it was a love for sinful, undeserving human beings, he uses instead the word grace. They know of that grace from the preaching of the gospel message. The full name our Lord Jesus Christ gives impressiveness and greater appeal to the mention of Christ. ‘He was rich’ in his pre-existent heavenly glory. ‘Yet for your sake’, i.e. for your salvation, ‘he became poor’ by entering upon the lowly state of human life in the Incarnation. He was poor in comparison with his earlier heavenly position. Implied but not expressed is a reference to the entire humble and costly career of Christ, as it is described in Paul’s letter to the Philippians (‘He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God. Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness. He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death - his death on the cross’ (Phil 2:6-8 GNB)). His purpose was that ‘by his poverty you might become rich’ through the gift of new life with God” (F.V. Filson, “The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol 10, p367).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, thank you for your lowly life of humble service .
Monday 21st June
KNOWING THE GRACE OF CHRIST
“You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”. 2 Cor 8:9 GNB
“T o know the grace of Christ is more than merely to apprehendthe fact. It is an experience of the soul. At least two results
are produced in us as we let it work upon our hearts to change us. One is that we see other people with their needs and their failings in a new light. The grace of Christ is a mirror in which we see them reflected in their own priceless value. They are revealed as our brothers and sisters for whom Christ died. In his poem ‘Everlasting Mercy’ John Masefield described this effect of grace, ‘The bolted door had broken in, I knew that I had done with sin. I knew that Christ had given me birth to brother all the souls on earth, and every bird and every beast, should share the crumbs broke at the feast.’ The poor Christians in Jerusalem were unknown to the Corinthians who doubtless regarded them with some suspicion as people who despised Gentiles and were unwilling to accept as Christians any who had not passed through the Jewish gate into the fold. But for these, as for themselves, Christ had died. Now in the light of the Cross they had a new value. They were brethren and sisters for whom all the Christian family ought to care. So the cross changes the whole perspective in which we see humanity. All people are equal in their need of Christ. This is the true equality” (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible” Vol X, p368).
So does the grace of Christ work in you to cause you to look upon your fellows as people for whom Christ has given you a love you never knew before?
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, increase this love for people in me.
Tuesday 22nd
June
KNOWING THE GRACE OF CHRIST (2)
“You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as he was, he made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty”.
2 Cor 8:9 GNB
When you “know” the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ it has all manner of effects on your life. The most notable of these is
the deep assurance that God accepts you in your sinfulness as his child. He wipes out the guilt caused by that sin and gives you a fresh start in life, cleansed, forgiven, and renewed. The Corinthian believers had experienced this “new life” in Christ. They “knew” the grace of Jesus Christ. They had tasted it! It was part of their being. They were grateful for this profound change.
“The experience of the grace of God also, secondly, awakens undying gratitude. We are conscious of a debt to Christ which must be paid and can be paid only to those for whom he died. ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’ said Jesus, (Matt 25:40). This personal gratitude to Christ, which is born of his deliverance of us, is the supreme motive of generosity, Francis of Assisi took all men to his heart because he saw in them the Christ to whom he owed everything. G.K. Chesterton sums it all up: ‘It is the highest and the holiest of the paradoxes that the man who really knows he cannot pay his debt will be forever paying it … He will be always throwing things away into a bottomless pit of un-fathomable thanks’” (J. Reid, “The Interpreter’s Bible”, Vol X, p368).
Trying to repay that unrepayable debt is what makes Christian believers generous.
PRAYER THOUGHT Thank you Lord, for your boundless grace to me.
Wednesday 23rd
June
DON’T GET TIRED TOMORROW
“Finish now what you began last year”. 2 Cor 8:10 GNB
T he Zulus have a wonderful proverb that is trotted out when enthusiasm in any situation begins to flag. They say, “Don’t get
tired tomorrow”. All too often that is what we do. If the going gets steep, and the energy grows thin, the legs drag and the shoulders droop, then we tend to slow down and take a rest - or try to. Sometimes then someone will pop up and say, “Don’t get tired tomorrow”. It is often a timely word and one we should all be ready to heed.
It seems that the Corinthian Christians had started to work on the collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem a year before Paul wrote his second letter to them. Perhaps the dispute that had arisen between Paul and the Corinthians had, in the meantime, led to a temporary halt. Some of us, when asked to give money are only too quick to seize on an excuse to wriggle out of it. Now that they have resolved their dispute, Paul is keen to get them back into loving service again. The more you love, the more God works in you.
One of the major causes of tiring in doing good is our tendency to procrastinate. Sometimes very keen and competent people say, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today”. But many of us make an amendment to that piece of wisdom and turn it into, “Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow”. Our consideration should be, when we know God is waiting for us to act - and wanting us to - “Lord, get me moving now and to your honourand glory”.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to avoid procrastinating in all things.
Thursday 24th June
YOU ARE GIVING TO GOD
“If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you haven’t”.
2 Cor 8:12 GNB
M any Christian believers have only the vaguest idea about Christian giving. This is often due to a completely wrong
approach by their churches. So often the matter of giving is handed over to the church treasurer who says to the people, “This year inflation is running at six percent, but our expenses are going up by seven and a half percent, so we ask you to up your pledge by at least seven and a half percent”. This kind of approach reduces Christian discipleship to mathematics, which it isn’t, or shouldn’t be. What disciples give is a gift to God, not “a contribution to the church budget”. They should be approached on the basis of discipleship and gratitude to God, not on the basis of helping the treasurer to meet the expenses. In this verse Paul speaks about “God will accept your gift”, not “the people in Judaea are hard up”.
Christian giving is giving to God not “raising funds for the church”. The motive for giving should be “God has given to you and out of gratitude to him you should give generously”. Further, the Christian disciple gives to God in response to God for the work Jesus Christ has done in his heart and life. It is true that the church should give an account of its stewardship and an explanation of what it does with what people give. “Of your giving, 52% pays for the cost of ministry, 17% pays for the maintenance of the building, 12% for administration, 10% for outreach and 9% for our levy to the wider church”. These figures will vary from one situation to another.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, guide us all in our giving to you.
Friday 25th June
SHARING THE LOAD
“Since you have plenty at this time, it is only fair that you should help those who are in need. Then, when you are in
need and they have plenty, they will help you”. 2 Cor 8:13, 14 GNB
The question of giving and money in the church raises many issues - theological, financial, practical, and ethical. As the
church in Paul’s day was not nearly as fully developed as most churches are today, the high administrative costs churches have today did not exist. The guidelines that Paul lays down for the church at Corinth are, therefore, only of use in very broad principle. For example, in his day ministers were not paid stipends or pensions and had to depend sometimes on their own “secular” earning power.
The point Paul makes here is that Christians should be prepared to share. In some areas wealthy people give generously to God through their churches. Those churches have a responsibility to look around and see if there are others where temporary support is needed to enable them to keep proclaiming the gospel. Then there are situations where natural disasters leave large numbers of people in desperate need and churches not affected by such problems can, and should, organize relief schemes to show solidarity with their brethren and sisters in distress. This has happened in Mozambique from time to time and messages of thanks have come in return. The principle - which was being applied in the appeal to Corinth for the poor Christians in Judaea in Paul’s day - is that Christian believers are one in all the world and should accept responsibility in love for each other where there is need. Christians need to think big, live big and give big.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, prompt us all to be loving in real tangible ways.
Saturday 26th June
EXERCISE CARE IN HANDLING MONEY
“We are taking care not to stir up any complaints about the way we handle this generous gift”.
2 Cor 8:20 GNB
H andling money is not easy. It is infinitely harder if the money being handled does not belong to the person doing the
handling. If it is the church’s money it requires double the care. The inflexible rule is “You cannot be too careful”.
There was no institutional way to get money from Greece to Jerusalem. It had to be carried. There had been questions that suggested people were wondering if Paul could be trusted with this sacred task. The apostle therefore made extra precautions to ensure that nobody could accuse him of having an interest, or of fiddling the books. He arranged for three other men to handle the collection for the poor Christian believers in Judaea. These men were known to the Corinthian Christians and were highly respected. In 2 Cor 8:20 (NIV) the collection is referred to as “this liberal gift”. This suggests that it could have been a quite sizeable amount. Eventually the money was carried to Jerusalem by seven men. Its arrival must have brought much joy to the Jerusalem church as they had recently suffered a severe drought in the area. The seven men were envoys from different churches.
Always exercise scrupulous care when handling “God’s money”. The people appointed to do the handling must be well-known in the community and have proven track records in deserving the trust placed in them. Nobody should engage in short cuts. Regular checks should be made in terms of auditing and the sharing of responsibility. Signatures should be examined carefully. Nothing should be taken for granted. Judas Iscariot lived close to Jesus - and disaster happened.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, keep us on our toes when handling your money.
Sunday 27th June
BRING GLORY TO CHRIST
“Titus … is my partner and works with me to help you; as for the other brothers who are going with him,
they represent the churches and bring glory to Christ”. 2 Cor 8:23 GNB
People get involved in the Christian church with all kinds of motives. Sometimes a woman who is a committed Christian
will persuade her husband to take some office in order to “get him involved” in the hope of his becoming eventually a disciple of Christ. He does it to pacify her - but his heart is not in it. Many other half-hearted people get appointed to office, sometimes with regrettable consequences.
Paul made sure that those who worked alongside him were genuine believers. He wanted people he could trust and who would promote the church and do the work of God. There was a sharp line between the community of Christians in a place like Corinth and those who were pagans. Paul had a high regard for Titus and relied on him to be a co-minister and take on all manner of duties. Such people did much to enhance the growth and development of Christianity. The criterion by which such people are identified both then and now, is this phrase of Paul’s - “they bring glory to Christ”.
Do those holding office in your Christian fellowship bring glory to Christ? Some in fact seek their own glory - they are in it to make a name for themselves. It can sound good in a testimonial - “He serves on several committees in St John’s Church”. If you are asked to take on any position in your church, ask yourself whether, by agreeing to do it you will bring glory to Christ or not. Christ depends on you.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, let me serve you and bring glory to Christ.
Monday 28th June
LOVE IS THE KEY
“Show your love to them, so that all the churches will be sure of it and know that we are right in boasting about you”.
2 Cor 8:24 GNB
F or most people love is a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. But there are different kinds of love, especially for Christian believers.
There is the kind of love which is a development of “like”. Some people are just irrepressibly “likable”. You get on well with them and they with you. You may become friends for life. But the “agape” love of the New Testament is different. That describes God’s love for you. If you are filled with God’s “agape” love you are compelled to love those whom God loves who may not be likable. But it isn’t as impossibly difficult as it sounds. For God imparts his Holy Spirit who, when he possesses you, fills you with a desire to work for the other person’s welfare and benefit whatever the cost to you. It is a costly love which yearns to see the other person filled with God as well, growing in grace and becoming spiritually mature.
Paul was commending Titus and his two companions to the church at Corinth and asked the church to (“agape”) love them because of the vitally important task they had to perform in collect-ing and transmitting the collection for Jerusalem.
It is not always easy to love one’s fellow church workers. Some of them are irritating. Some are “çlever dicks” or “know-alls”. Some are critical or want all the limelight. Others will work their socks off for Jesus and leave you standing. The attitude you need to adopt is “We are all in this together for Jesus. We will love one another in order to glorify Christ”.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help us to love each other through Christ.
Tuesday 29th June
DELEGATING THE WORK
“I thought it was necessary to urge these brothers and sisters to go to you ahead of me and get ready
in advance the gift you promised to make”. 2 Cor 9:5 GNB
S ome people are compulsive “Give it to me” workers. They want to grab it all, to see that it’s done “properly”, and (secretly)
to see that they get limelight, the praise, and the credibility for whatever is on hand. Usually they are highly competent and supremely well-organized.
However, one senior minister in charge of a huge London congregation wrote a book for his fellow ministers on how to lead a large community. His recipe was simple: Cultivate, Eliminate, Delegate. Cultivate by making sure that you do things properly and well – and do them now. Eliminate by ensuring that all time-wasting activities are cut out and only the really productive duties are attended to. Delegate by getting other people to share in whatever duties they can, thus spreading the load. And people to whom responsibilities are delegated feel that they are important parts of the show.
Paul was hectically busy – he had apostolic work to do. Handling money was something for which other people had experience and skills. He appointed a team of helpers to do the book-keeping and accounting. It released him for the vital work of teaching, preaching and pastoral work. For him it was a valuable instance of “all hands on deck”.
Delegation is an essential skill in church leadership. Paul knew that. It freed him to lead more than one congregation at a time. Be ready and willing to take on whatever duties your church leader asks you to. See it as a means of serving Christ and the church. Make it an opportunity to bring glory to Christ.
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, help me to share in the process of leadership by delegation.
Wednesday 30th June
GIVE BECAUSE YOU WANT TO
“The collection will be ready when I arrive, and it will show that you give because you want to, not because you have to”.
2 Cor 9:5 GNB
A church in Cape Town was holding its triennial “Planned Giving” drive. It chose as its theme “LIVING IS GIVING”. For
Christian believers living and giving are bound together. This is why Christians do more than helping to meet the budget when they give their gift. They give out of joyful gratitude for all that God has given to and done for them.
“The only real way to give is to give under love’s compulsion, to give because one cannot help giving, to give because the sight of a soul in need wakens a desire that cannot be silenced or stilled. This is in fact to give in God’s way, because it was because God so loved the world that he gave his Son. It is Paul’s great desire here that the gift of the Corinthians should be ready and should not have to be collected and prepared at the last moment. There is an old Latin proverb which says, ‘He gives twice who gives quickly’. That is always true. The finest gifts are given, not when they are demanded, but before they are asked for. The finest gifts are given, not after waiting until need has to ask, but by the person whose eye sees and whose heart feels and whose hand is stretched out even before any request is made. It was while we were yet enemies that Christ died for us. God hears our prayers even before we speak them. And we should be open to our fellow human beings even as God has been to us” (W. Barclay, “The Letters to the Corinthians”, p260).
PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, make me a happy giver.
Family - (Continued from page 09)
Dysfunctionality dogged the heels of Jacob and his family in the story in the Old Testament. However, it didn’t have the last word. After years of separation, caused primarily by jealousy, they all found one another again. It’s a profoundly moving scene when Joseph and his brothers meet in reconciliation. The tears and warm embrace speak louder than words. They pronounce both forgiveness and acceptance. To an astonishing extent each little family unit, with all its hopes and fears and inexpressible longings, is a microcosm of the great family of humankind, created for relationship with one who is our Father. He shows us this in Jesus and calls us out of all that is dysfunctional about our lives into a new dimension of being, in unity with each other and in unity with himself. As Paul put it in Ephesians 3:15 “ín him every family … is named”, that is, reaches full potential by being rooted and grounded in love - in HIS LOVE.
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One Thing I Know - (Continued from page 43)
Instead the man gave his own exalted view of Jesus :“One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see” and “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing”. His was a powerful testimony which they could not refute. The Pharisees had only one way of dealing with the situation. They cast the man out! It was tantamount to excommunication. The man had sided with Jesus, his healer, and that was unacceptable.
However, it’s a particularly beautiful story for it says that Jesus had heard that they had cast the man out and he found him. Jesus seeks and finds the outcasts. This is the good news of the Gospel. Finally, we hear Jesus say, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” In the context of personal encounter, the man comes to faith in Jesus and he worships him.
He not only received the gift of physical sight, but the blessing of spiritual sight was his as well. For all who lack spiritual sight the answer is the same. It is an invitation to trust in Jesus - to be in a relationship of trust with the one who is the light of the world.
IN WAYS THAT I KNOW AND KNOW NOT
(Author Unknown)
He’s helping me now this moment Though I may not see it or hear, Perhaps by a friend far distant,
Perhaps by a stranger near Perhaps by a spoken message,
Perhaps by a written word, In ways that I know and know not
I have the help of the Lord.
He’s keeping me near this moment, However I need it most,
Perhaps by a single angel Perhaps by a mighty host,
Perhaps by the chain that frets me, Or the walls that shut me in,
In ways that I know and know not He keeps me from harm and sin.
He’s guiding me now this moment In pathways easy or hard,
Perhaps by a door wide open, Perhaps by a door fast barred, Perhaps by a joy withholden, Perhaps by a gladness given
In ways that I know and know not He’s leading me up to heaven.
He’s using me now this moment, And whether I go or stand,
Perhaps by a plan accomplished, Or maybe he stays my hand. Perhaps by a word in season,
Perhaps by a silent prayer, In ways that I know and know not
His labour of love to share.
YOUR MAY BIBLE READINGS (As supplied by and with grateful acknowledgement to the I B R A)
THE GOSPEL OF MARK (2). 2. Jesus the teacher.Saturday 1 Mark 9:42-5
Michal’s Story. Sunday 2 1 Samuel 18:1-16 Monday 3 1 Samuel 18:17-29 Tuesday 4 1 Samuel 19:8-17 Wednesday 5 1 Samuel 25:39-44 Thursday 6 2 Samuel 3:12-16 Friday 7 2 Samuel 6:12-19 Saturday 8 2 Samuel 6:20-23
READINGS IN THE SHORTER EPISTLES. 1. Do good.Sunday 9 Titus 1 Monday 10 Titus 2 Tuesday 11 Titus 3 Wednesday 12 Philemon 1:1-7 Thursday 13 Philemon 1:8-21 Friday 14 Jude 1:1-16 Saturday 15 Jude 1:17-25
READINGS IN THE SHORTER EPISTLES. 2. The way of love.Sunday 16 1 John 1 Monday 17 1 John 2:1-17 Tuesday 18 1 John 3:11-24 Wednesday 19 1 John 4:7-21 Thursday 20 1 John 5:1-5, 13-21 Friday 21 2 John Saturday 22 3 John
THE UNDERSIDE OF HISTORY. 1. Women of spirit.Sunday 23 Acts 2:1-21 (Pentecost) Monday 24 Genesis 38:6-26 Tuesday 25 Exodus 1:15-21 Wednesday 26 Numbers 27:1-11 Thursday 27 Judges 1:12-15 Friday 28 1 Samuel 25:4-19 Saturday 29 1 Samuel 25:23-35
THE UNDERSIDE OF HISTORY. 2. Women of the word.Sunday 30 2 Samuel 21:1-14 Monday 31 2 Kings 4:17-22, 27-37
YOUR JUNE BIBLE READINGS (As supplied by and with grateful acknowledgement to the I B R A)
THE UNDERSIDE OF HISTORY. 2. Women of the word.Tuesday 1 2 Chronicles 34:18-28 Wednesday 2 Judges 4:4-10, 5:1-12 Thursday 3 Luke 2:36-38 Friday 4 Acts 9:36-42 Saturday 5 Acts 16:11-15
READINGS FROM JOB. 1. Have you considered my servant Job?Sunday 6 Job 1:6-22 Monday 7 Job 2 Tuesday 8 Job 3:11-26 Wednesday 9 Job 4:1-11 Thursday 10 Job 8:8-19 Friday 11 Job 11:7-19 Saturday 12 Job 12:4-12
READINGS FROM JOB. 2. Cold comfort.Sunday 13 Job 14:1-17 Monday 14 Job 16:1-5 Tuesday 15 Job 19:19-27 Wednesday 16 Job 23:1-12 Thursday 17 Job 28:12-28 Friday 18 Job 28:12-28 Saturday 19 Job 28:12-28
READINGS FROM JOB. 3. Out of the storm.Sunday 20 Job 31:1-15 Monday 21 Job 32:1-9 Tuesday 22 Job 35:1-8 Wednesday 23 Job 36:1-12 Thursday 24 Job 38:1-18 Friday 25 Job 40:1-14 Saturday 26 Job 42
THE BIBLE THROUGH THE SEASONS: SUMMER.
Sunday 27 Luke 21:29-31 Monday 28 Ecclesiastes 2:18-25 Tuesday 29 Psalm 121 Wednesday 30 Proverbs 6:6-11, 10:5, 30:24-28
CONTINUED FROM INSIDE FRONT COVER
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