by John Mason | Jun 11, 2014 | Word on Wednesday
Trinity Sunday (this Sunday) is a wonderful reminder of the God whom we worship. Article I of ‘The Thirty-Nine Articles’ states in a concluding sentence: And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
When Jesus commissioned his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:20), he expanded the Old Testament phrase, ‘the name of Yahweh’ into ‘the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’. He was not introducing a new teaching but rather giving more detail about the eternal character of God referred to in the Old Testament as, ‘the Spirit of God’.
Furthermore, in the Gospel of John we find Jesus’ teaching about the nature and work of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – all of which is enormously encouraging for you and me.
A new confidence. For example, in John 16:23-24 we read,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Jesus here reveals an important aspect of prayer: we enjoy a new intimacy in our experience of God.
In the Old Testament, people relied on the order of the priesthood for their relationship with God. During Jesus’ earthly ministry he had been the go-between in the disciples’ spiritual experience. And, even though he taught them to think of God as close to them and concerned for them, they never really enjoyed this assurance.
A new dynamic. But following Easter and Pentecost we see a new dynamic in the disciple’s relationship with God. The Spirit of Jesus began to witness in their hearts that they were truly the children of God. They even began to use Jesus’ own intimate name for God – “Abba”, “Father”.
What’s more, we too can enjoy this confidence. In Romans 8:15, Paul the Apostle tells us that the Spirit of Christ within us assures us of this new, profound relationship we have with God as his adopted sons and daughters. We can call him, ‘Abba’, ‘Father’. This is profound.
A new privilege. It is vital we do not under-estimate the work of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Through the combined and costly work of the three Persons of the Godhead, we are not just saved, we come to enjoy the greatest of all human privileges – knowing God as ‘Father’.
Too often we are complacent about what it means to be a Christian. So we wonder if God really hears our prayers. We forget that when we pray in the name of Jesus, he has direct access to the Father.
If we fail to experience a vital prayer life and a strong assurance of God’s personal love for us, then we are living as if Easter and Pentecost had never happened. We are living as if we are still on the other side of the Cross. We exist as spiritual paupers, when the riches of heaven have been placed at our disposal in the new age that has already dawned.
A Prayer for Trinity Sunday.
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given us your servants grace by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and by your divine power to worship you as One: we pray that you would keep us steadfast in this faith and evermore defend us from all adversities; through Christ our Lord. Amen. (1662, Book of Common Prayer)
by John Mason | Jun 4, 2014 | Word on Wednesday
This Sunday is Pentecost or Whitsunday. Yet for many of us it is an enigma. Within Judaism it was the Greek name ascribed to the Feast of Weeks, celebrating the giving of the law at Mt Sinai. In Christianity it is the festival that comes seven weeks (fifty days) after Easter (ten days after ‘Ascension Thursday’), and celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus Christ’s first followers – about 120. (Acts 2:1-31) It celebrates the birthday of the church.
Why don’t we give Pentecost greater attention than we do? Is it because the Holy Spirit and his work are obscure? Is it simply because we don’t know what to make of him? In this all too brief ‘Word’ let’s look at something Jesus promised about the Spirit.
During the Passover meal Jesus told his disciples that he was going away but that he would not be leaving them alone. He pointed out that his going would mean the coming of the Comforter, the Advocate. So, we read in John 15:26-27:
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning”.
In the previous chapter (John 14:26), Jesus had made specific promises to his disciples – in particular that the Holy Spirit would enable them to have accurate memory and right understanding of all that he had taught and done. Now in these verses, Jesus was reassuring them of the work of the Spirit of truth in their lives. He developed this by setting out more clearly the functional relationship within the Trinity.
The Spirit’s work is to implement the will and the purpose of both God the Father and God the Son. So Jesus explained God’s larger plan. The Father, having sent his eternal Son, the Word of God, into the world, would now give him the position of highest honor in heaven; he would be enthroned in glory. The Spirit of God would now be sent to replace Jesus Christ in the lives of his people.
Here Jesus makes one of the clearest statements about the true nature of God: he is one, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Son does the will of the Father and the Spirit does the will of both the Father and the Son.
The Spirit who came to Christ’s disciples now comes to bring us encouragement, comfort and boldness in the place of Jesus Christ. As the ministry of Christ as Comforter was important to the first disciples, so too was the ministry of the Holy Spirit as their Comforter. In the same way, as the work of Christ is essential for us, so too is the work of the Spirit – teaching us God’s Word and prompting us to walk through life with Jesus Christ as our Lord.
Prayer: Almighty God, who taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit: so enable us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things and always to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (1662 BCP, Whit Sunday – adapted)
by John Mason | May 28, 2014 | Word on Wednesday
Jesus’ words: “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12), can be puzzling.
Miracles. No one today is performing miracles on the same scale as Jesus was, two thousand years ago. Today’s instant mass media would be on to it and we wouldn’t be able to get near because of the TV cameras. This suggests that Jesus was either not telling the truth or that he had something much more in mind than the healing of physical ailments.
God’s passion. We need to read text in context. In John 15 and 16 we read about the coming Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s coming was dependent on Jesus’ going. The Spirit’s work would be to breathe new life into the lives of men and women everywhere, opening their eyes to the truth about Jesus. He would also enable Jesus’ followers to recall and to understand Jesus’ words, and to have the boldness to introduce Jesus to people everywhere. On the day of Pentecost following Jesus’ death and resurrection, more people were converted on one day through the disciples’ preaching, than during the three years of his public ministry.
Furthermore, John 20:31 sums up the purpose of John’s Gospel: These are written so that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
If we saw things from Jesus’ perspective we would understand that conversion is a greater miracle than healing the sick. On one occasion, he said something like it himself – ‘Which is more difficult,’ he asked ‘to say your sins are forgiven or rise, take up your bed and walk?’
One minister tells the story of an alcoholic whose life was a total mess. A friend introduced him to Jesus Christ and his life was changed. He worked at his drinking problem and began to put his life together. But work colleagues mocked his new faith. ‘You can’t believe in miracles,’ one man said. ‘What about the story of turning water into wine? You’ve never seen that happen, have you?’ ‘No, was the reply, ‘I haven’t seen water turned into wine, but I have seen wine turned into furniture for my home.’
There’s evidence for this kind of change all around us – lives being touched and transformed as people come to know Jesus. We have only to ask any true believer and they will tell us their story of the good that God has done in their life. So Jesus goes on fulfilling his words – even the promise we read in John 14:14: “…If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
This is not a blank check. It’s not a promise that God will supply all our wants – success in every aspect of life. Again, reading text in context, we see that Jesus’ words: ‘In my name’ are key. Prayers he promises to answer are those that he would have prayed himself were he praying in our place. They are prayers that are consistent with his person and purpose.
Prayer and the lost. Jesus’ promise is a great incentive for us to pray without restraint, knowing that we are not working magic spells that might go wrong. No. We are petitioning a loving, all-wise Lord who never makes mistakes and whose greatest passion is to rescue the lost.
Recent research indicates that almost one in five would respond positively to an invitation to go to church. Why not pray for five people you know – that you will have the opportunity to invite them to church so that they might come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior?
by John Mason | May 22, 2014 | Word on Wednesday
We live in a world of uncertainty and the unexpected. Where do we look for security and hope?
Bewilderment. At the end of John 13 an ominous cloud hung over Jesus’ disciples. For three years they had been with him, increasingly confident he was God’s promised king. But at the Passover meal he had told them he was going away.
“Don’t be troubled,” he said. “Believe in God, believe also in me… I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1, 3-4).
Thomas’s response expressed a frustration we all can feel: “Lord, we do not know where you’re going…” (John 14:5).
Jesus’ reply is astonishing: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He didn’t say, ‘I’ll show you the way’ but rather, ‘I am the way’; he didn’t say, ‘I’ll tell you the truth’ but, ‘I am the truth’; he didn’t say, ‘I’ll give you eternal life’ but, ‘I am the life’.
At the heart of the universe is not so much a theory of unification, but a person. The only way we make sense of our human existence is by recognizing the one who is the truth – the Word of God incarnate. Jesus is the One we need to know – hear him, love and honor him, and every day, walk with him.
This is not a fantasy. John the Gospel-writer candidly reports that Thomas thought for a while it was. He didn’t believe the other disciples when they said that they had seen Jesus risen from the dead. And then when he saw him he responded, humbly and honestly, “My Lord and my God”.
Were those first followers dreaming? Six weeks later Peter preached the first Christian sermon less than two miles from Jesus’ tomb, yet no one contradicted his claim that the tomb was empty.
In uncertain and tough times we can remember Jesus’ words, “Believe in God, believe also in me.” Just how real is your walk with Jesus?
Prayer:
Almighty God, we confess that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: keep us outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, so that we may be defended from all adversities that may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, Lent 2 – adapted)
by John Mason | May 14, 2014 | Word on Wednesday
What is God really like? Who is he and what should we expect from him? We are left with the possibility that there is no way of knowing God. And of course, there are always those who tell us that there is no God – Nietzsche in the 19th century and some scientists like Richard Dawkins today.
The fact is that the idea of God is embedded in every culture that has existed for more than three generations. So it’s not surprising that even in popular music, questions of God arise. Back in June 1996 the pop singer Joan Osborne came and went with a #1 single, ‘One of Us’. The music was catchy and the lyrics asked some good questions: If God had a name, what would it be? If God had a face, what would it look like? In essence it asked the question, ‘What would God be like if he were flesh and blood?
Hindus tell us that there are many different gods (Shiva, Vishna, and so on); Judaism insists that there is only one. Buddhism denies the notion of God and Islam insists that everything is directed by the will of Allah. So, who’s right? Certainly not all of them. Perhaps none.
It’s this kind of question that makes Joan Osborne’s question so relevant. The only way we can really know what the creator God is like is if he lived as one of us. If he stepped into our shoes for a while we could see him from his birth to the grave. We could observe where he was born and the school he attended. We’d hear of his interests and life-style, what music he listened to and what social events and pubs he might check out. And we’d see the way he’d treat people – the politicians and the celebrities; the poor and the outcast; or just the average guy on the street like you and me. And if he had to die, we’d see how he would cope with it.
One of the striking things about Christianity is that it is grounded in history. The Gospel writers insist that Jesus of Nazareth not only lived but was unique. He was not just a prophet, he was more than a prophet. He was not just a man, he was God’s Messiah. He was not just an extraordinary man, he was both God and man.
In the hours before his arrest one of Jesus’ friends asked him a question that wasn’t very different from the one in Joan Osborne’s song. We read it in John 14:9: Philip said, “Lord show us the Father. That’s all we need.”
Philip wanted to know what every religion has always wanted to know: What is God like? He wanted some tangible experience of God that would sweep his doubts away. Perhaps he was thinking of God’s special appearance to Moses in the burning bush. Or maybe he was influenced by the Greek mystery religions and had in mind some inner ecstasy, a spiritual trip that would lift him up to new levels of consciousness. Either way he wanted to see God.
Jesus’ response is electrifying: “He who has seen me has seen the Father…” He was saying, ‘Philip, don’t you get it? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.’ How many people think of Jesus merely as the ultimate good guy or one of history’s great teachers? Both ideas are no doubt true, but neither comes near what he was saying. He was saying that he was not just God’s emissary or ambassador, but God himself. He was claiming to be God in our shoes.
It’s a startling, astonishing claim: ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father…’ Do you really believe this? And if you do, what will your answer be next time someone asks you about God?
