‘We have only one life to live! We need to live it well.’

How many of us really believe this? Most people have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to life – that death is not the end of our existence.

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity commented, If I find in myself desires which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

Come with me to a significant question that Jesus put to his close followers. We read it in Mark 8:28: “Who do people say that I am?” he asked.

Up to this point, Mark tells us, Jesus’ followers seemed dull and obtuse in their understanding of him. They had seen first-hand his power and authority when at a word, he had healed the sick, commanded the powers of evil, and even raised the dead to life.

On one occasion they had been in a boat with him when a sudden storm threatened their very lives. When they cried out in fear, he calmed the tempest at a word. “Have you no faith?” he’d asked them. They saw his many miracles and they heard his teaching, yet they still didn’t understand.

Let’s think about this. Most of us have seen pictures that have two perspectives. We look at the drawing one way and we see a vase. We look at it another way and we see a face.

Sometimes we can look at a picture like this for hours and only see one thing. The second perspective remains hidden. Then we blink our eyes or turn our head and look back, and there the second perspective is. We wonder why we didn’t see it before. Psychologists call this a Gestalt phenomenon. It comes from the German word meaning shape or pattern.

The phenomenon can’t be broken up into logical stages. We can’t get half-way. It’s all or nothing. We either see the second perspective or we don’t.

Opinions about Jesus are a little like this. There have been times when I have talked with people for hours about him – answering questions, making points, developing the case that Jesus is who he claimed to be. Yet often people don’t see what is so obvious to me.

The ability to recognize the uniqueness of Jesus is an insight. We can’t organise it. It’s a perception we must have. It comes, not as a conclusion to a logical argument, but as a gift.

In the same way that people can be perplexed by picture puzzles, the disciples couldn’t make proper sense of Jesus.

Then came a critical moment. Jesus had taken them away to Caesarea Philippi, “Who do people say that I am?” he asked. Mark tells us they cited the popular perceptions: some say you’re Elijah, others, John the Baptist, and others, one of prophets.

It was obvious to everyone that Jesus was someone very impressive, but there had been impressive people before. The general consensus amongst the people seems to have been that Jesus belonged to the group of great ones in Israel’s history.

But Jesus was not content with this, “What about you?”. He pressed them: “Who do you say that I am?”

Suddenly, Peter seems to have got it. He’d probably thought about it before, but it was too crazy for words. But now the penny had dropped, and his blurred vision cleared. Jesus wasn’t just a prophet. He was the One the prophets had foreshadowed.

We can almost hear a click as Peter saw this new perspective. “You are the Christ”, he said.

How did Peter work this out? Was it the outcome of reasoned research? No. The moment of insight came, as it does for every true believer – out of the blue. It wasn’t a deduction or a discovery. It was revelation!

But there was something else: inspiration! The ministry of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 16:17 we read Jesus’ words: “… Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

It is here that we find the key to the meaning of life. To see that Jesus is no mere man but God in the flesh, is to see that there is much more to life than what we experience now. For to understand that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Messiah, God’s eternal Son who has set aside his true glory and become one of us, opens our minds and hearts to a hope and a joy that satisfies our deepest longings.

As we reflect on these deep matters of life we see that there is something mysterious in the way God opens our eyes. As we come to know the Jesus of the Gospel records, we come to realize that there are critical moments when we are conscious that Jesus is personally asking us: “Who do you say that I am?”

How do we come to experience this? We don’t have the advantage of having Jesus with us in the flesh. But we do have the reliable accounts from those who did meet him face-to-face – the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And we note that the account about Jesus is not just written up by one man, but four!

Richard Borgonon, a keynote speaker at the recent Anglican Connection Online Conference, spoke of a new Bible-reading series through the Gospel of John: ‘The Word One-to-One’. As the notes are already in place, all we need to do for friends we invite to coffee is to be ‘a page-turner’. The Word of God continues to do its work as in the days of Jesus.

And there is something else. God’s Holy Spirit is at work, convicting people everywhere of sin and opening blind eyes to who Jesus really is – the Christ, God’s Son, our Lord and Savior. Revelation and inspiration. A life-changing Gestalt moment!

No-one likes a hypocrite – someone who says one thing and does another. A hypocrite is basically an actor – consciously or unconsciously. In fact, the original Greek word translated by our English word hypocrite, means actor.

In Matthew 6:1 Jesus warns: “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

Earlier in his Sermon on the Mount Jesus said: “…Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven…” Now he is saying, “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them,..”

In both places he is talking about being seen by others, yet he seems to contradict himself. Is he inconsistent?

Counterfeit religion. In chapter 5 Jesus is speaking about the moral qualities of our life in public. Now in Matthew 6 he warns against using our faith to win applause. There is a sharp difference between living as God desires and wanting to make a name for ourselves. The first glorifies God; the second only brings the momentary applause of the crowd.

The attention-seeking ‘religious’ get what they delight in – accolades and celebrity. But Jesus warns, they will miss out on the true reward that comes from the living, all-righteous God. All they have is a counterfeit religion – empty and without lasting value. John Stott commented, ‘Our good works must be public so that our light shines; our religious devotions must be secret, lest we boast about them.’

Counterfeit Giving. Look at v.2: “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others.”

Trumpets may be a metaphor – we shouldn’t sound our own trumpet when we give to the needy.  But trumpets may also have a literal meaning. In Jesus’ day, when there was a pressing need for charitable funds, the Temple trumpets sometimes called people to make a special contribution. Anyone watching would see who responded.

Jesus says that when we give so that others know what we are doing, whether in the street or in the synagogue, whether in church or at a charity function – we are being hypocritical.

That said, giving to the ministry of God’s Word and providing assistance for those in need is biblical. Writing on Godly and responsible giving in 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul the Apostle says: For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might be rich.

Hypocritical religion is not from the heart. It’s motivated by self-interest. Jesus is saying here that hypocrites give in order to be honored by those around them. And, he says, “I tell you they have their reward.”

They get what they’re after – celebrity status. But that’s all they’ll get. There is no genuine faith and no reward from God. It is counterfeit religion. This is one of the reasons that for decades naming rights of living people were not allowed in churches.

“But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your father who sees in secret will reward you.”

To ensure that we’re not proud or smug about our generosity, Jesus uses the telling metaphor that the right hand should not know what the left hand is doing. No one, apart from God, will know about this private giving. He will see our real motives – our genuine concern to support gospel ministry and to care for the needy.

To be rewarded by God is the best kind of blessing. Approval by others is transient; approval from God is eternal. Aware of the deceitfulness of our hearts, we need to pray for God’s grace to avoid counterfeit giving.

Counterfeit prayer is another form of counterfeit religion that Jesus highlights.

In verse 5 we read: “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward…”

Prayers in the synagogues were typically led by a synagogue member – not just the formal leaders. To be invited to lead the prayers was a mark of distinction, especially as the leader prayed at the front of the congregation.

Jesus knows how easy it is for the person leading prayer in church to focus more on the literary quality of their prayer and tone of voice, than upon God.

Now Jesus is not saying that prayer must always be in secret. He and his disciples attended services in the Temple and synagogue. On the night of his arrest Jesus urged Peter, James and John to pray for him – as a group. The first Christians regularly met together for prayer. Prayer in public was not so much the issue as the attitude of the pray-er.

In fact, the main point Jesus makes is the need for private prayer, for who we are in the privacy of our room is who we really are. Private prayer will be more honest and genuine. We are less likely to be motivated by selfish reasons. This is the kind of prayer that God hears. This is the way we can begin to counter counterfeit prayer.

How important it is on this Ash Wednesday and the start of the season of Lent, that we heed Jesus’ warning about counterfeit religion, counterfeit giving, and counterfeit prayer.

© John G. Mason

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday: Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made, and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts, so that we, lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain from you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The resentment, bitterness and pain that many have experienced through the pandemic have tended to drive people further away from any sense of belief in God. ‘If God is there,’ I hear people say, ‘he certainly is not kind and compassionate. He can’t be good.’

Where can we find answers to comments like these? Let me suggest we need something more than our own testimony and wisdom.

Come with me to one of the great chapters of the Bible – Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah tells us that when we are confronted with this world’s evil and suffering, rather than deny God, we need to think again about who he is.

Turn back the clock some two and a half millennia to a scene in the Middle East. Picture a great nation of the ancient world, brought low by conquering armies. Picture those people having been taught for hundreds of years that they are God’s special people. But the unthinkable had happened; the Babylonians had devastated Jerusalem and their lives. The temple was in ruins; the economy in tatters; and their homes destroyed. Now exiles in a foreign land, the temptation for the Jewish people to reject the God who had made promises to their forefathers would have been enormous.

Yet Isaiah 40 opens with these words: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. There’s a timelessness about them that Handel’s Messiah identifies, for they speak to people suffering in every age. The language, ‘Comfort’ speaks of the tenderness of God. Indeed, the theme continues in verse 11: ‘He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom…’

Isaiah knows that in tough times only a big God can sustain us. And this is who God is. Only he can overrule our world when it is falling into chaos around us. Only he can say to us with any degree of credibility, ‘Comfort.’

Isaiah draws us into his picture of God’s awesome majesty and kindness, with questions such as, ‘What is God like?’

Can we compare him to the great ones of the world? Some try to pose as gods! Nebuchadnezzar, the great emperor of ancient Babylon, tried it for a while. So did Augustus Caesar and other Roman emperors.

Isaiah’s response is telling: Have you not known? Have you not heard?  Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  It is he who sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to nought and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing…

God’s throne fills the universe. He needs no capital city: the heavens are his palace. God has only to blow on the arrogant and power-hungry and they wither away.

‘Who created the heavens?’ Isaiah asks. Don’t you realize that every night God summons the stars because he controls the vast cosmic gravitational field? The universe is the arena of God’s artistry. We search the universe in vain for an adequate comparison to God’s majesty. There is nothing that men and women worship – be it science or technology, intelligence or wisdom, military might or political power, or even the sun or the stars – that can be compared with him.

 Yet our world today has walked away from the very thought of God.

Which brings us to another question: Is God kind and compassionate?

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Isaiah asks again. The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable (40:28).

No matter how heart-breaking our situation, no matter how perplexing, it’s not out of God’s control. We are in the hands of a kind and limitless intelligence, who knows what he’s doing. Events like Covid-19 don’t mean that God’s hands have slipped from the helm. They are permitted sufferings and a wake-up call to a world that has forgotten him. We may not always understand God’s ways, but we have every reason to trust him.

Indeed, God is good and caring. In verse 29 we learn: He gives power to the faint, and gives strength to the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, and note this: they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

We may wonder at the order of the words here. Why not conclude on the note of soaring higher, like the eagles? Yet concluding on the note of walking makes sense, for that is what life with God is like.

In life’s struggles, it’s not the wings of an eagle we need but the endurance of the long-distance walker. Flights of spiritual experience are no use if they are followed by plunges into the darkness of depression.

Walk and not faint. That’s what we need when life is tough and incomprehensible. That is the strength that the God of all strength, provides for his people.

In those times when resentment, bitterness and pain make it hard to believe and hard to pray, hard to sing and hard to read the Bible, turn afresh to Isaiah 40.

Let’s fill our minds with the awesome majesty and love of God. The greatness of his power is matched exactly by his love and compassion. The opening words of the chapter, ‘Comfort, comfort my people’ tell us that in the midst of disaster, God provides us with the strength we need to endure. Like God’s people in Isaiah’s day, let us hear the Word of God and believe it.

It’s said that patience is a virtue. It’s a very old saying from the 14th C and is attributed to William Langland. It reflects a Latin proverb, patience is the greatest virtue.

But is patience a virtue? Let me suggest that it is the context that helps us understand why it is a virtue.

Consider what we learn about Jesus in Mark chapter 1 verses 29-39.

Jesus commanded extraordinary authority. With a word he could heal people of all kinds of sickness – Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with a fever; all who were sick with a variety of ills or who were demon-possessed; and even a man with leprosy. As Mark’s Gospel unfolds, we are invited to see that into a world plagued by sickness and despair, Jesus brought new hope.

But Jesus did something much more – he had a message. Jesus’ primary purpose was not to come simply as a miracle-worker or social-worker to address the physical and mental ills of men and women. He was not a politician or celebrity using his wealth to cure the social evils of a messed-up world. Rather, he had come to perform radical surgery for a sick and messed up humanity. He knew, in the words of Jeremiah, that the hearts of all men and women are deceitful above all else.

Malcolm Muggeridge, one-time editor of Punch, understood this when he commented that men and women are imprisoned ‘in a tiny dark dungeon of the ego,… involving us in the pitiless servitude of the senses. So, imprisoned and enslaved, we are cut off from God and from the light of his love.’

Earlier in Mark chapter 1 we read that the central theme of Jesus’ ministry was the kingdom of God. His ministry and mission is summed up in these words:  ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe the good news’ (1:15).

And now, despite the pressure of large crowds from Capernaum, calling on him to heal their sick, Jesus was resolute: ‘Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do. I must preach the good news of the kingdom in other cities also,’ he said (1:38).

Mark wants us to know that Jesus’ mission is bigger than Capernaum, and bigger than Galilee. And bigger than healing physical ills. His mission was to impact the world with God’s good news – not with a sword or through power politics, but through a ministry that revealed God’s justice, compassion and hope.

Prayer is another theme we find in the final section of Mark chapter 1. In verse 35 we read: In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus (he) got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

Jesus regularly took time out to speak with his heavenly Father. When I first started to think about prayer and why I should pray, this verse was very important to me: If the Son of God prayed, I too should pray.

Words were central to Jesus’ life and ministry. With words of authority, he healed the sick and gave orders to the powers of evil. With words he taught with extraordinary wisdom and fearlessness about God’s kingdom and our need to sort out our relationship with God. And with words Jesus regularly spoke and kept his personal relationship with his heavenly Father vital and fresh. As with any meaningful relationship words were key.

It is therefore significant that in his Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15) Jesus explains that ‘the seed is the word of God’ (8:11).

When we think about this we appreciate that Christian ministry – which is to be Word-centered – is like sowing seed. And just as a farmer needs to learn patience as the seed does its work of germination and growth, so we need to learn patience in building one another up in the faith and drawing people to faith through the ministry of God’s Word today.

Yes, sometimes there is rapid and exciting growth. But generally, coming to faith and growth in the faith takes time. We are to learn patience, trusting the Lord to do his work.

And this is why we need to pray – keeping our own relationship with the Lord fresh and vital, asking him, amongst many other things that he will honor his promise and therefore his Name.

Never forget Jesus’ promise: “… On this rock (repentant faith in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Significantly, in praying for his Colossian readers Paul the Apostle prays that they (and we) will be strengthened to display great endurance and patience… He prays for the kind of mentality that tackles the tough issues of life and the kind of stamina that perseveres. He asks that God’s people have the resolution and determination to stay in the long-distance race of Godly living.

How different all this is from life in our culture where immediate solutions are demanded, success is lauded, and independence is prized. Paul prays that God’s people will have the capacity to survive stressful times with joy, overcome insult with composure, and most of all, know that God can be trusted to be working out his all-wise and all-good purposes even in the toughest times.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).

Words, words, words. We are constantly bombarded by them — from Social Media, email and text messages, our phones, TV and movies. And now you’re reading words from me!

Have you ever wondered why words are so powerful? Words on the tongue of the comedian can make us laugh; but words on the lips of the cynic can cut down and demolish. The words, ‘I love you,’ bring the thrill of joy and hope to couples in love. But the words, ‘We’ve done all we can,’ from the medical specialist in times of sickness, grip us with fear and a sense of impending loss.

Emily Dickinson wrote this of words: A word is dead / When it is said / Some say; I say it just / Begins to live / That day.

Authority. Come with me to Mark 1, verses 21and 22: They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, Jesus (he) entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Jesus regularly attended the church of his day – the Jerusalem temple or the local synagogue in towns and villages. Mark tells us that Jesus began his public ministry in the town of Capernaum, on the northern shore of Lake Galilee.

We can begin to picture the scene. Jesus was the guest speaker that day in the local synagogue. As he spoke everyone sat up and listened, for he taught with authority.

People could see that he wasn’t like their usual speakers – the scribes. The scribes, so dependent on the authority of others, were diffident and cautious, ambiguous and lacking clarity.

But Jesus was different. He spoke as one who knew first-hand what he was talking about. He spoke with a personal command of his subject. He spoke with clarity as he talked of God and humanity, of righteousness and hope. His hearers were stunned. They’d never heard anything like it before. And not surprisingly he caused a stir.

But there was another facet to Jesus’ words. In verse 23 we read: Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?’

Mark doesn’t hesitate to record this voice of protest. Jesus’ words didn’t necessarily bring harmony and peace. Opposition came from a demon-possessed man who, up until that moment, had been happy to be in the congregation! But that day was different. This demon-possessed man was confronted with a greater power and he knew it: ‘I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’

While some will dismiss Mark’s assessment as myth, saying it doesn’t fit with modern psychiatry, we can note that medical science today suggests that some psychotic behaviour occurs for organic reasons – brain tumors, drug addiction, or even genetic factors.

Indeed, in the same way that we bring prayer and medicine to bear on cancer, we can bring prayer and psychiatry together when a person is mentally ill.

What is clear however, is that there are some mentally and emotionally sick people today who are, like this man, in the grip of alien forces. And whether we regard these forces as real or imaginary, they are irresistible – as irresistible as the impulse that drove that man to call out that day.

Sometimes mentally disturbed people are aware of supernatural realities in a way that most people are not. This man recognized Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Not even the disciples had woken up to this.

Power. Consider Jesus’ response in verse 25: But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’

Be silent is literally, be muzzled or, colloquially, ‘Shut up!’  Jesus wouldn’t accept the compulsory testimony to his divinity given by evil powers. Rather, he wants our voluntary recognition that he is both God and man. And so, he ordered the spirit to be quiet and to come out of the man.

And notice what happened: And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. The spirit obeyed.

There’s only one word for that: power. Power of the kind we have never seen – not even in churches today that claim they have the power to heal. Mark’s focused report here powerfully conveys God’s authority, energy and vitality evident in Jesus’ word.

Amazement. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee (Mark 1:27f).

Jesus’ words and actions were unprecedented. They confirmed what the crowds had begun to suspect – that he was invested with a unique authority.

Jesus was not only a powerful speaker. He commanded extraordinary authority with his words. Indeed, as Mark’s Gospel unfolds, we are invited to see that into our world of darkness and despair a light of hope has come.

It awakens us to the reality that Jesus can’t be ignored. The voices around us may try to shut him up, but he will have the final say. Everyone needs to treat him seriously.

Why is it then that we are so often silent about our faith? Isn’t it true that often we are afraid – afraid of what others will think of us? Afraid of what it might mean for our job? Afraid that the word of the gospel will not work?

We need to remember the power of words in God’s hands. He has used words to reveal himself to us. It is the combination of words and the work of His Spirit that changes and transforms lives.