In the light of Dr. George Barna’s Reports in February and March this year, I am touching on Bible references that have been foundational and inspirational for me.

The Barna Report in February revealed, “that while 71% of adults” (in America) “believe in the existence of one or more gods or spiritual authorities, far fewer said they believe in the existence and influence of Jesus Christ (59%) or the God of the Bible (40%). Barely half of all adults (54%) said they worship or follow Jesus Christ with only one-third (34%) saying they worship or follow the God of the Bible”.

In this second week in the series, ‘God’s Great Passion’, let me take up another reference that is significant in my ministry: Matthew chapter 28, verses 18-20. In verse 18 we read that the resurrected Jesus said to his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”.

Jesus’s words reveal the supreme power and authority over the universe, the whole created order, that has been given to him. He is far superior to all earthly human authority and power that has existed or will exist – be it a president or prime minister, monarch or governor. He is, as we read twice in the Book of Revelation, King of kings and Lord of lords (17:14, 19:16).

On the day of which Matthew speaks, the disciples stood before the High King of the universe. In his words that follow, Jesus set out what we might call his royal mandate: his disciples were to go and as they did, they were to make disciples …

The form of the verb go in the original language is significant: it is an imperative, present participle. It implies that the disciples are to go out, not simply stand still or sit around discussing recent events. They were to go and make disciples of all nations, …

From its outset, Christianity is missional and international. Its message is not just for the Jewish people. All peoples can be beneficiaries of the ministry of the apostles, that is the disciples who were now sent (hence apostles, from the original Greek). We may be Jewish or African, Asian, or European. Jesus offers to all people throughout the world, throughout time, the full and free benefits of his work.

But to be beneficiaries we need to learn of his goodness and beauty, his greatness and his selfless love. We need to be introduced to him and discover just who he is and what he has so wonderfully done for us.

Furthermore, his people are to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In using the singular word name, Jesus is telling us that three persons constitute the one God. Everyone who is baptized is to be instructed, not only in God’s existence, but also his triune nature.

Baptism is the outward mark of a changed attitude towards Jesus Christ and our relationship with God. It signifies our identity with Jesus, in dying to sin and rising to new life with him – as we read in Romans chapter 6, verses 3 and 4.

Furthermore, there is another element to Jesus’s royal mandate: disciples are not only to be baptized, but also instructed in the faith. They are to be taught about Jesus: who he is and what he has done and in turn, the new lifestyle he expects of his people.

The central theme of Jesus’ teaching is that God’s king has come into the world in person. In this age of mercy, he calls on all men and women everywhere to turn to him, the true king, in repentance and in faith, asking forgiveness for the past, and responding to him with love and loyalty.

Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 is Jesus’s very clear commission for the disciples to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing and teaching them. To follow the logic of this, because the apostles would die, the expectation would be that those whom they had discipled, would in turn disciple others in accordance with the apostles’ teaching. Here is the biblical meaning of apostolic succession: ministry that passes on the gospel that Jesus’s apostles proclaimed together with their teaching. It is not the ‘succession of bishops’.

Three themes become evident in the closing scene of Matthew’s Gospel: the King, the Royal Mandate, and thirdly, our task. Every generation is called upon not only to respond to the apostolic gospel and teaching, but also to continue the work of making disciples, who in turn make disciples.

Because the Lord Jesus has all authority, his mandate to make disciples guarantees his own involvement and success in rescuing the lost sheep of the world. His power through the Holy Spirit assures us of this. And so he calls on us to pray and to work as he catches us up in God’s great story.

On this point Jesus’s concluding promise here is so encouraging: “Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age” (28:20). Our English translation always masks a Greek expression that we find only here. It means the whole of every day. Jesus promises to be with us as we make disciples, the whole of every day to the very end of the age. We are not alone.

Making disciples who become disciple-makers is central to our work. Disciple-making ministries build God’s new society. God’s people who are progressing in the faith will increasingly want to know and honor the Lord in their lives, serving him in serving others – in their needs and with the gospel.

In today’s world this is challenging, but we don’t need to be fearful. First Peter chapter 3, verse 15 says: … always be prepared to give an answer for the hope (or the faith) that you have in Jesus Christ. And Colossians 4:6 says, Let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Let me encourage you to pray for three to five people you would love to see come to know the Lord Jesus. And as you do, let me suggest that you will find, sometimes unexpectedly, an opportunity to open up a conversation about the faith. You don’t need to say much. Indeed, if you will pardon a personal note, you may find it helpful to pass on to them a copy of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs. It takes about an hour to read. You can purchase copies through the link in the banner below.

Prayer. Lord Christ, eternal Word and Light of the Father’s glory: send your light and your truth so that we may both know and proclaim your word of life, to the glory of God the Father; for you now live and reign, God for all eternity. Amen.

© John G. Mason

In a report released this week, Dr George Barna wrote that ‘Americans are increasingly minimizing the role and influence of God in their lives—with a minority of only 40% who believe He exists or influences human lives.

‘As a result, fewer American adults put God at the center of their lives, view their relationship with Him as important, or rely on Him for daily guidance.

‘This shift removing God from the center of American life is being seen inside the church, with the role of God becoming less important to people of faith. But the findings also indicate this shift is bringing a dramatic loss of reliance on God among Americans generally’ (Dr. George Barna, Director of Research, Cultural Research Center, Arizona: March 12, 2025).

Given that authentic ministry is grounded in the ministry of God’s Word, during this season of Lent let me identify some texts that have been foundational and inspirational.

Today, let me focus on Exodus chapter 24 – The God Who Rescues.

Background. We learn from Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, that God created men and women in his image: we are the glory of his creating work. However, tragedy entered in chapter 3, for Adam and Eve wilfully chose to ignore God’s specific command and attempted to usurp his place in creation. From that moment humanity became the shame of God’s creation.

God could have decided to destroy humanity and start again. But that would have been an admission of failure. Rather, he chose to follow a rescue plan, at great cost to himself, that was part of his creation plan.

We get a preview of this in the heavenly conversation that took place on Day 6 of creation. In the opening words of Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 we read: Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness…”

At this point in the creation narrative the style of the language changes and we sense a break between the creation of the animals and the creation of men and women. It is as though there was a pre-cosmic pause while a conversation took place within the Godhead where a question was discussed: ‘Will we do it?’ The language, ‘Let us…’, implies the question, ‘Will we go ahead with this next and final part of creation? The cost will be great.’

In the New Testament, in his Letter to the Philippians, chapter 2 verse 6, Paul the Apostle opens another window on this pre-cosmic conversation. He tells us that the Second Person of the Godhead made a personal choice to follow through the plan that had been set before creation. Jesus’s coming amongst us as one of us, his crucifixion and resurrection, were not God’s Plan B but key elements in God’s Plan A!

To return to Exodus chapter 24. In verses 1, 9 and 11, we learn that such is God’s nature, it is his delight to rescue us from our guilt and shame and open the way for us to share in his glory, as we read in verses 16 and 17. In Exodus chapter 24 there are echoes of Genesis chapter 3 where Adam is described as walking in the garden with God.

And there are further developments in Exodus chapter 24 that we overlook; the chapter speaks of our not just being with God, but feasting with him and enjoying his presence.

Too often our thinking about our relationship with God is limited to forgiveness and salvation. Exodus chapters 24 through 39 reverberate with the language of ‘glory’ and God being with his people. It is an anticipation of the parable of the wedding banquet that we find in Luke chapter 14, but more specifically and grandly, the scene in Revelation chapter 21.

Furthermore, Exodus chapter 24 verses 3 and 12 spell out what our relationship with God should come to look like; Moses is called upon to write up and declare the ordinances and commandments of the Lord.

With this, another important theme opens up. The Bible is not just a record of God’s redemption: it is the instrument of his rescue. It is not enough to read the Bible. We need to understand that God speaks to us personally through his written, self-revelation. His Word opens the window for us as to what it will be like to know him and to be with him. We ignore God or treat him casually at our peril.

Exodus chapter 24 reveals another great theme: How God Rescues. We can only enjoy God’s promises when the consequences of our transgression have been removed. So in terms of the old covenant, Moses was told to splash in two directions, the blood of perfect animals that had been sacrificed – against the altar, symbolizing the satisfying of God’s justice (24:6) and over the people (24:8) symbolizing the covering of their sin.

Some twelve hundred years later at the Passover meal on the night of his arrest, Jesus said, “This is my blood of the new covenant that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 22:19-20).

God’s mercy and forgiveness are not cheap. Christ the righteous suffered for the unrighteous so that God might see us as having the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The gospel of the New Testament is foreshadowed in Exodus chapter 24: it is the good news of God’s redemption.

It is essential that we keep God’s gospel front and center in Christian ministry today. Let me say, it is being forgotten or seriously challenged in many churches. If we lose the gospel as God has revealed it in his Word, we have no grounds for hope.

If we turn to God in the way he has designed and implemented, we will discover freedom, joy and the hope of glory.

If you will allow me a personal note, let me mention my newly released book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs.

Given the interest in the stories of people’s lives today, I have sought to tell Jesus’s story with a focus on his works – signs as John the Gospel writer calls them. Following the order of the seven signs in the Gospel, I endeavor to retell each story in a way that sets out the scene and interacts with questions people might have today.

Copies can be purchased from Amazon using the link in the banner below. Proceeds from sales in 2025 are being used for the Anglican Connection ministry.

My prayer is that as you pray for family and friends you might find it helpful to purchase 3-5 copies of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs, to pass on to others who don’t know what to believe, at an appropriate moment. You may want to start by purchasing one copy to read yourself.

Prayer. Almighty God, we thank you for the gift of your holy word. May it be a lantern to our feet, a light to our paths, and strength to our lives. Take us and use us to love and serve all people in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason

It’s often said, we have only one life to live! We need to live it well.’

How many people 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 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 they 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 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!

And 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 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 or had verified their record with eyewitnesses (Luke) – the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And we note that the account about Jesus is not written up by only one man, but four!

Many people are aware that there is more to life than our material existence. Without that hope, life offers little purpose for most people.

We often forget that God’s Spirit uses his Word to touch and transform lives – opening their eyes to who Jesus really is, convicting them of going their own way rather than God’s way, and bringing them to a ‘Gestalt moment’. However God doesn’t act in a vacuum. He gives us the privilege of working with him in his ministry of mercy to which he is passionately committed.

Will you join with me in praying that the Lord will be pleased to renew his people with the vision of reaching the lost, so that many others might come to know and love Jesus Christ as their Lord and their God – through experiencing a life-changing Gestalt moment?

Prayer. Lord Christ, eternal Word and Light of the Father’s glory: send your light and your truth so that we may both know and proclaim your word of life, to the glory of God the Father; for you now live and reign, God for all eternity. Amen.

© John G. Mason

No-one likes a hypocrite – someone who says one thing and does another. I’m not talking about times when we fall short of the Lord’s expectations of us. I’m referring to the general disposition of someone whose professed faith is hollow.

A hypocrite – an English word derived from the Greek, hypokrisis – 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 taught: “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. At first glance his words seem to be contradictory. Is he inconsistent? No.

In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus begins his sermon on the Mount with what we call the Beatitudes – qualities of lives blessed by God. Jesus also says that his followers are to be salt and light in the world and he goes on to exemplify what this looks like in areas of anger and lust, truth-speaking, retaliation, and prayer for enemies.

Now in Matthew chapter 6 he is saying that our faith doesn’t entitle us to promote ourselves. There’s all the difference in the world between honoring God in our lives and wanting to make a name for ourselves.

These days we may not win popularity for our faith in the wider community. However, it can be a different story within the church. Preachers and church leaders, musicians and generous givers can generate acclaim if they work at it. And social media networks can promote it.

But with three examples in his Sermon, Jesus warns against a faith that has no substance. 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.’

Giving. “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,” Jesus says (6:2).

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.

However, 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. It’s not the kind of giving that honors God, because it is motivated by self-interest. This is a reason why for decades the names of living benefactors were not on plaques in church buildings.

Jesus is saying that hypocrites give in order to be honored by those around them. ‘And’, he says, “I tell you they have their reward” (6:2).

Jesus uses a telling metaphor that the right hand should not know what the left hand is doing. No one, apart from God, should know about our giving. He will see our true motives: our real concern to support gospel ministry and to care for the needy. Such giving will be rewarded by our heavenly Father, Jesus says.

Prayer. “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…” (6:5).

To be invited to lead the prayers in the synagogue was a mark of distinction, especially as the leader prayed in front of everyone. Jesus knows how easy it is for anyone leading prayer in church to focus on themselves, their presence, the theological and literary quality of their prayer – even the tone of their voice, rather than truly addressing God.

Now Jesus isn’t saying that prayer must always be in secret. He and his disciples attended services in the Temple and synagogue. Prayer in public is not the issue: it is our attitude. However, there is something special about prayer in private. It reveals who we really are – including the fact that we pray! Prayer in the privacy of our room will be more honest and genuine. We are less likely to focus on self. It’s the kind of prayer God hears and blesses.

Fasting. “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show to others that they are fasting… (6:16).  Fasting was one of the characteristics of Jewish devotional life and was particularly observed on special days, such as the Day of Atonement.

With his words, “whenever you fast …” Jesus assumes there will be times when his followers will fast – as we read in Acts 13:2-3. Fasting was typically associated with a time for reflection with a Bible open and repentant prayer. Fasting can be a helpful self-discipline, prompting us to focus on God without distraction.

But once again Jesus warns: “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show to others that they are fasting…” There is to be no ostentation, perhaps through whitewashing the face or using ashes or earth on the face. Rather, Jesus says, use oil to brighten the face – again not ostentatiously. We are not to show or tell others what we are doing: it is between us and God.

In verse 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,” And with each of the warnings against hypocrisy he contrasts two types of reward: the applause of others or the reward from your Father who is in heaven.

In verse 9, the first words of the prayer he teaches his followers to pray are: “Our Father …”

All God’s people throughout time, no matter their race or their status in life, are invited to call the creator of the vast and complex universe, “Father”.  It’s an extraordinary privilege, far, far greater than we ever imagined or dreamed.

Jesus’ words about giving, prayer and fasting are humbling. Doing the right thing before God, living with integrity before the Lord, must never become confused with play-acting spirituality, pious ostentation. Jesus challenges us to ask, ‘Who am I trying to please?’

Honest answers to this question can produce the most disquieting results. How many of us would want to hear God’s chilling verdict: “Hypocrite!”

The story is told of an occasion when the esteemed philosopher CEM Joad of London University was asked by a visitor at a College high table, ‘Tell me, Dr Joad, what do you think of God?’ To which he replied, ‘My greater concern is what God thinks of me’.

What reward are you looking for in life – approval of people you know or the secret blessing of the Lord that will one day be shouted from the rooftops?

Prayer. 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.  (BCP, Ash Wednesday)

© John G. Mason

HG Wells, historian and author of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds responded to a request from The American Magazine in July 1922, to identify the six most influential people in history. “I am an historian,” he said. “I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history”.

Why then was HG Wells, and many like him, not a believer? Perhaps it has something to do with what we might call, God’s deep irony. In First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 22 we read: For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, …

The Jewish people wanted miracles – something that Jesus recognized in the course of his public ministry. In Luke chapter 11, verse 29 he seems to have strangely observed: “This generation… seeks a sign…” I say, strangely, because Jesus performed many miracles. He objected to performing signs because he knew what was in the hearts of people who asked for them: in their pride they thought they had a right to evaluate him, test his credentials.

Significantly, Paul the Apostle not only knew what was in Jewish minds; he also understood the mindset of the non-Jewish world, the Gentiles. They may not look for signs, but they too had a problem which proved to be an obstacle to faith. They believed they were smart enough to explain the world and life: if God exists, he would need to fit into their philosophical and scientific worldview.

First century Corinth was a world not much different from our own. But Paul came with a very different message – a message about a king who came and who was put to death. In verse 23 he writes: but we proclaim Christ crucified,…

It’s not what we would call a brilliant line! But it sits at the heart of God’s powerful message that can transform people’s lives across the nations and races throughout time. It doesn’t sound wise, but it is the only power that can rescue a lost humanity.

Many Jewish people longed for the coming of God’s Messiah who, they believed, would come in majestic glory and great power. For them, Paul’s message of a crucified Messiah was a contradiction in terms. It was blasphemy to think that God’s Messiah would hang, cursed by God, on a tree. And this is what Paul also thought before he met Jesus in a vision on the Road to Damascus.

Paul, a Roman citizen who had been educated in the University of Tarsus, also understood the non-Jewish world. He knew the Gentiles valued reason and philosophy. They weren’t interested in tales about an uneducated man who was put to death as a felon.

Both Jewish and Gentile peoples rejected or mocked the message about a cross. But Paul is insistent. In verse 24 he presses his point: but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

The Jewish people expected a powerful Messianic ruler, a great King David. They scoffed at the idea of a crucified Messiah. It is a matter of deep irony that Jesus’ death which seems to be a moment of supreme failure, is in fact a moment of God’s supreme power.

For their part, the Gentiles who prided themselves in wisdom, mocked the idea of a crucified hero. Yet again, it is a matter of deep irony that through what seems to be utter foolishness, the profound wisdom of God is revealed.

Which brings us to an all-important question: In What Do You Glory? In verse 26 he says: Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

Are you ever impressed when you find you are in a church where there are successful people – perhaps a top surgeon, or successful banker or financier, a top sports person? How easy it is to focus on people like this. But the reality is, in human terms, not many of God’s people are successful. This was true in the church in Corinth.

Back in Paul’s day, churches brought together people from all backgrounds and with a wide diversity of ability and skills. One of the things that came to be noticed about them was this very diversity – of free people and slaves, of rich and poor, of educated and uneducated.

Paul is reminding us of the way that God’s mercy reaches across our social divides. None of us can claim an advantage with God because of birth or family, position, success or wealth.

And Paul comments that even in this very diversity God has a purpose: But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God (1:27).

None of us can boast about anything we have done to secure a place with God. We are not good enough. Our relationship with God is God’s free gift to us. To quote Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

However, there is one thing about which we can boast: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1:31).

Typically, we don’t respect people who boast about themselves. It’s rude and arrogant, the height of pride and self-centeredness. Paul’s words about boasting here are of a very different order. He is talking about boasting in God. In fact, another word we could use for boasting is glorying – glorying in the Lord.

In verse 30 he tells us why: He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord”.

Christ Jesus who died and rose again is God’s wisdom. His wisdom secures our righteousness – our legal standing before him. God’s wisdom brings about our sanctification – the special status we have with God. It is God’s wisdom that purchases our redemption – the freedoms we now enjoy as God’s people – freedom from sin, from the power of evil, and from death.

How wonderfully wise is our God. How amazing is his mercy. The more we get to know him, the more we will want to bring every part of our life in line with him – our hopes and dreams, our joys and our sorrows, our laughter and our tears.

Here is the God who is not just worth knowing about, but personally worth knowing.

Prayer. Father in heaven, whose Son Jesus Christ was wonderfully transfigured before chosen witnesses upon the holy mountain, and spoke of his suffering in Jerusalem: give us strength so to hear his voice and follow him, that in the world to come we may see him as he is; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

© John G. Mason

Last week a good friend of mine went to be with the Lord. In a final conversation with him – in this world – one of the things we talked about was the hope we have in God whose loving action led to Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus’ death is reckoned to be foolishness by the world. Consider what the Apostle Paul writes in First Corinthians, chapter 1.

Foolishness…? Writing about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ Paul says in verses 18 and 19: For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart”.

Paul wants us to know that when Jesus died on the cross the power of God was uniquely at work. He wants us to know that God in his wisdom has addressed the root problem of the human dilemma in a way that no other religion or philosophy has.

Our world has made incredible strides in the field of science and technology. We can peer into the vast spaces of the universe and map the human genome, but there is always something that trips us up, especially the persistent inability to find a path to perfect peace with one another.

William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, was once asked why he wrote it. He responded: I believed then, that man was sick – not exceptional man, but average man. I believed that the condition of man was to be a morally diseased creation and that the best job I could do at the time was to trace the connection between his diseased nature and the international mess he gets himself into.

In First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18, Paul is telling us that where human wisdom has failed to find answers, God himself has stepped in and acted. The man who hung on a cross between two self-confessed criminals on a hill outside of Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago, was God’s one and only eternal Son. Crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea, the Son of God, who is the source of our life, died the death we justly deserve.

That day the all-holy God acted in love and provided a solution to our human dilemma in a way that nothing else could. For in his death, the sinless Son perfectly satisfied once and for all every righteous requirement of God.

A moral universe. Paul is saying that we live in a moral universe. Despite the strident voices in the public square, we are not here by chance simply to make the best of a fleeting life. We are image-bearers of our creator God. Our deepest problem is that, designed to know and enjoy a rich relationship with the living God, we worship the desires of our own hearts – ourselves and whatever catches our attention. But we were designed for so much more – and for eternity.

The good news is that through the cross, God in his wisdom and love offers a new start and a new way of living to everyone who turns to Jesus Christ in heart-felt repentance and faith. The cross is not simply good advice. It is not even news about God’s power. It is the place where God has destroyed all human pretence and indifference, even arrogance.

It was something very strange that God did when Jesus died, but there is a rightness to it. Paul tells us that God has deliberately ordered things this way so that we arrogant, self-centered people cannot, and will not, find our own solution.

More foolishness…? In verse 21 Paul says: God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. This is breath-taking. Through the announcement of Christ’s crucifixion, a message that seems senseless and inane when we first come across it, God has determined to rescue anyone who turns to Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

The implications of this are humbling. God, in his wisdom, has determined on a plan that to human eyes seems so ludicrous. Furthermore, it means that all people (it doesn’t matter who we are) have an equal opportunity to benefit. Priority isn’t given to the highly intelligent or the elite. God’s offer of salvation is open to anyone who, by his grace trusts him at his word, to anyone who relies on him, who turns to him and believes in him.

The message of Christ crucified is God’s strange wisdom that subverts the wisdom of the world and provides the one and only solution to our human need – turning our hearts to our true home with God, and giving us motivation and a model for working out our relationships with one another.

In the conversation with my dying friend, we talked about death and the hope of a future that God in his wisdom and love holds out to us. There will come a day when we will meet again in the perfected age to come.

Reflect: For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19).

Prayer: Almighty Father, look graciously upon this your family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked leaders, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

© John G. Mason