What do you think of prayer? Do you pray regularly? And if you do, do you pray with confidence? Can God, whom we call ‘Father’, be trusted to hear our prayers and answer them?

In Luke chapter 11, verses 9 and 10, Jesus says: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

On either side of these words Jesus answers two questions we might have about prayer: Does God always listen to us? Does he always have our very best interests at heart? His answer is found in two metaphors that sit on either side of his words in verses 9 and 10.

His answer to our first question is in a parable sometimes called, ‘The Friend at Midnight’ (11:5-8). The parable has an underlying, unspoken question, ‘Can you imagine…?’ ‘Can you imagine a man talking like this to a friend in need?’ Jesus is asking.

The key to the parable is found in the words in verse 8, translated, the man’s boldness. Let me suggest this is one place where most English translations are unhelpful, for they follow a translation that only dates back to the 12th century.

In recent times the late Dr. Kenneth Bailey brought fresh insights to the parables from his work on Middle-Eastern culture. In the original text the noun, man’s does not appear; rather the personal pronoun his is found. Furthermore, in the light of the research by Dr. Bailey, a better translation of boldness is sense of shame. The flow of the syntax, the narrative impact of the story has the sleeper in bed as the focus – not the man knocking on the door. It is a parable about God and the issue of God’s honour, his name. It is not a parable about the man’s persistence. Persistence is a theme taken up in a parable in Luke chapter 18.

In the parable of the friend at midnight God is represented as the one who is in bed, shut in for the night. The unwritten laws of mid-eastern hospitality, which are an important sub-text of the parable, required a man to get up and help his neighbour in need. If he didn’t he would be shamed and he would bring dishonour to the whole community. “Can you imagine,’ Jesus asks, ‘anyone saying, ‘Don’t disturb me?’ to a neighbour in need, even at midnight?

So it is with God.  His very nature demands that he get up and act. Otherwise, he will bring shame to his name. It’s a matter of God’s honour and integrity. He can be trusted to hear our requests, no matter how small, no matter what time of day or night.

‘That’s so encouraging’, you may say: ‘But what about the next question? Will God give me good things? Can he be trusted at that level or is he fickle?’

In verses 11 and 12 Jesus adopts two metaphors to move from the lesser to the greater: the most violent thief can be kind to his son and the most mercenary-minded father can be generous to his daughter. ‘Do you think God is any less open-handed?’ Jesus asks.

We need to think about this. To trust God is also to rely on his fatherly wisdom. A good and loving father will give good gifts, but he’ll use his own discretion as to how he will act.

Jesus assures us that God will not exploit our prayer or act in some malicious way. In the model prayer he gave to his disciples (11:2-4), he tells us to call God, “Father”. We need to be assured of this when we pray. Furthermore, we must realise that we are not wise enough, nor good enough, to get everything we request from someone who is the all- powerful, creator, lord of the universe.

Jesus’ direction in the model prayer to say, “Your will be done”, is not fatalism. These words are necessary to any conversation with an all-loving and all-powerful Father.

People who find it difficult to grasp the idea of a good and loving father are often those who have had an unhappy or abusive childhood. Jesus is saying that we can trust our heavenly father. Even if you have not had a good experience of an earthly father, you can nevertheless trust in the goodness of your father in heaven. We need not fear that he will twist our words.

He may not give us everything we want; he may delay making any response; but like any good and loving father he does not want to spoil us with over-indulgence. He may also want to test our seriousness in prayer and the quality of our relationship with him.

Sometimes God does say, ‘No’, as he did when Paul asked him to remove the thorn which was troubling him. He also said ‘No’ to Jesus when he begged that the cup of suffering might be taken away. When God says, ‘No, it’s because his plans are bigger than ours.

When we begin a prayer relationship with God the Father, we open the door to untold blessings. That’s why Jesus is speaking with such unqualified confidence when he promises: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”.

Prayer is a precious privilege. As Blaise Pascal, the 17th C French mathematician, chemist and philosopher observed, ‘God has organised the government of the universe so that our prayer, our talking with him, has meaning. It brings us into the very presence of the God who is at the heart of the universe’. Yet so often our prayer life is dead. Why don’t we pray more consistently and more confidently?

And for anyone who is still asking questions about the faith and is finding it hard to make a commitment to the Lord Jesus, his words are for you as well: ‘Ask, Seek, Knock’. If you want faith, ask for it. If you seek, you will find. If you really are knocking on God’s door, the door will be opened.

God is the Father who loves to give. We can take Jesus at his word. ‘Will God not give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?” Jesus asks.

Why does he speak about the Holy Spirit here? He is anticipating the great gift of his coming to us through his Spirit: the Spirit will open our minds to hear the voice of God through the Word of God; the Spirit will open our hearts to God and enable us to call God, ‘Father’ – as we read in Romans, chapter 8, verse 15. The Spirit will open our lives to God and empower us to trust God.

Prayer. Let your merciful ears, Lord God, be open to the prayers of your people, and so that we may obtain our petitions, direct us to ask such things as will please you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

© John G. Mason

With the current geo-political upheavals many fear what the future holds. The uncertainty today is exacerbated by the angry divisions within societies. Vindictiveness has replaced respectful and serious conversation. And we can feel utterly powerless when it comes to talking about our faith.

In Perelandra or Voyage to Venus, the second in CS Lewis’ science-fiction trilogy, Ransom, the main character, feels powerless in confronting an evil force at work on the untainted planet Venus. The crafty subtle evil power reflects the temptations in Genesis chapter 3. Despite being a learned scholar in philology, Ransom constantly finds himself defeated in his arguments. What can he do?

This raises an important question for us, for today people have little knowledge of the Jesus of the Gospels. So subtle and persistent has been the attack on Christianity, they are not looking to the Christian faith for answers about life. Is it time for us to review our approach?

Come with me to a parable Jesus told – the parable of the sower. It begins in Luke chapter 8, verse 4. When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: ‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’… ‘Now the parable is this,’ Jesus explained: ‘The seed is the word of God.’

People travelled from near and far to see Jesus. Expectations were rising. It would have been a great time for him to call them to join him in a march on Jerusalem to set Israel free from Rome. But that was not God’s way.

We need to focus on the key to the parable: “…The seed is the word of God” (verse 11).

Causes and revolutions are staged by various means. Last century Marxists brought in Communism at the end of a gun. This century began, as we are reminded on 9/11 each year, with Islamist extremists trying to de-stabilise and destroy through terrorism. In Jesus’s day zealots tried to revive Jewish independence through guerrilla warfare.

But these are not Jesus’s methods. The picture he paints in these verses is of a farmer quietly sowing seed. The Word of God he is saying, has within its DNA the capacity to change people’s lives for good. At first the transformation is hidden but there comes a day when the change is obvious.

Churches today have often lost confidence in the power of God’s Word to change lives. So, many churches focus on the sacraments, and others on social justice. But to make these things the priority is to lose sight of the way God works. God’s Word is the key that unlocks the door into God’s kingdom and therefore to life.

In Second Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17 we read: All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the people of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The Scriptures, as the Word of God, give us exclusive information about salvation. They don’t contain exhaustive truth, but what they do give us is sufficient for restoring our relationship with God and for living as God’s people.

In the larger context of Second Timothy chapter 3, Paul reminds us we live in a world that prefers to find or invent its own religion. He tells us that our only real hope for life and meaning is found in God’s unique self-revelation. Human resources won’t provide deep and satisfying answers. Our sure hope is in dependence on the resources of the living God.

To return to the parable in Luke chapter 8, Jesus warns us that the results of sowing the seed of God’s Word aren’t uniform. Some of the crop grows well, some poorly, some hardly at all. The results are not so much caused by bad sowing but rather because of some failure in the ground. We could call this parable the parable of the four soils.

One group, having heard God’s Word, hardened their hearts through the silent, crafty work of the power of evil. A second group received God’s Word with joy, but in times of testing fell away; they had liked the preacher but there was no true repentance, no real change in their lives. A third group also heard God’s Word but had not counted the cost of commitment; they were not convicted of their sin and their need to turn to Christ in repentance; they had come as customers to buy, not as disciples to surrender.

But Jesus also speaks of a fourth group. They are true followers of Christ who hold fast to God’s Word with an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. Perseverance in godly living is the sign of God’s grace at work. A real lesson here is the encouragement we can experience in the ministry of disciple-making and outreach.

Jesus’s references to birds, stones, and thorns could easily demoralize us. But he is saying, ‘Don’t be put off. Be realistic, yes. But the ministry of God’s Word will always have its successes, and what success that will be!’ So let’s be encouraged. Let’s never forget Jesus’s words: “I will build my church, and nothing will prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

And most of all, remember the key to ministry is letting God’s Word do its work.

To assist you in your own faith and equip you with a small book to pass on to others who don’t know what to believe, I have written The Jesus Story: Seven Signs that focus on the miracles of John’s Gospel. You can access it through the banner below if you are in the US, or through Amazon anywhere else in the world.

A prayer.  Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that, encouraged and supported by your holy Word, we may embrace and always hold fast the joyful hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

Note: I have adapted material here from my book, Luke: An Unexpected God (2nd Edition, Aquila: 2019)

n his Screwtape Letters CS Lewis observes that there are two equal and opposite errors that people fall into regarding the dark powers. One mistake is to disbelieve in their existence; the other is to believe in them to excess.

In Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 12, Paul the Apostle writes: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power… For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places…

Paul takes the reality of conflict in the world to another level: ‘our struggle’, literally, ‘our wrestling’, is not so much against ‘flesh and blood’ but ‘principalities and powers’. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 10, Paul speaks of the day when all things, ‘in heaven’ and ‘on earth’ will be brought under rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, as we read in chapter 6, for the present there’s a war between the two spheres of darkness and light.

Spiritually speaking, God’s people live in enemy occupied territory. The epic the Gospel records reveal is that the true king has slipped into our world to rescue people enslaved by the dark powers. The Gospel of John records Jesus’s words to Pilate: he could have called on a powerful army to rescue him (John 18:36). However, knowing that he alone could defeat the prince of darkness, he came without fanfare to accomplish his mission. He knew that only through his sacrificial death could the powers of evil, and death itself, be conquered. This is clearly stated in Colossians, chapter 2, verses 13 through 15. Jesus’s resurrection from the dead validates his victory.

However, for the present the dark powers, although mortally wounded, continue to do their worst, attempting to destroy God’s ultimate and sure plan to glorify his people.

Against this backdrop we learn from Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10 that God’s people are caught up in a spiritual conflict as individuals and together. It is here that too often we are naïve. We might reckon it is only the smooth-tongued and powerful elite voices that obstruct spiritual truth in the world. No, Paul warns. There are formidable supernatural forces at work – powers that will not respond to reason. We are caught up in a conflict that involves dark powers and human choices.

Put on the whole armor of God, we read in verse 13, so that you may be able to stand your ground. There will be times when the dark forces press us morally, whispering that everybody’s doing it. Sometimes they press us intellectually: you’re too clever to believe that. Sometimes they press us psychologically: your faith is so intolerant. And there are times when we are physically persecuted. The aim is always the same: to silence the voice of God’s people.

Stand firm, Paul says. Be alert. Don’t give in. Put on the inner protection of a godly lifestyle. Our loins need to be girded with God’s truth; we need a breastplate of righteousness; our feet need to be shod with the commitment to spread the gospel of peace, and we need the headpiece of salvation. Our lives are most at risk when our inner defenses are broken. We need the qualities of integrity, righteousness, gospel readiness, and the deep assurance of God’s ultimate victory.

The dark powers will do their worst to discredit our integrity, prevent gospel outreach through lethargy and infighting, and demoralize us by discouraging us.

We need protection: the shield of faith with which we can quench the flaming darts of darkness. We can’t cope on our own. We need to trust Christ, for when we do, the darts of darkness will fall useless. ‘The victory that overcomes the world,’ John tells us, ‘is our faith’ (1 John 5:4).

The sword of the spirit. While Paul hasn’t spelled out the meaning of his metaphors up to this point, he wants us to know that God’s Word is a sword. Unlike communism or any other ‘ism’ or ideology, there is no place in Christianity for a literal holy war. God’s new society is not brought in by act of Congress still less at the end of gun. God works through his Word.

The Word of God is not a message of the freedom fighters, but one that focusses on personal repentance and God’s forgiveness: the building of God’s new society and its compassion and care for a lost world. The victory of God’s Word will have eternal outcomes.

Pray. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints… (Ephes 6:18).

In any battle, communication is vital. In the histories of World War II there is a picture of a young soldier holding together a broken telephone line. Prayer is our field telegraph. Paul urges us to pray constantly, to persevere in prayer, and to be vigilant in prayer. We are to pray in the Spirit.

Romans chapter 8, verses 26 following, help us understand this, for there Paul tells us that the Spirit works with us in our prayer. In the midst of suffering we’re often at a loss to know what we should say. In those times, Paul tells us, the Spirit comes to our aid, putting our inarticulate thoughts into meaningful prayer, speaking to God on our behalf.

Despite the noise of opposing voices, God’s work continues to make inroads on the kingdom of darkness. When Jesus stood on the hills of ancient Israel with a handful of his followers, he said, ‘On this rock – the rock of faith – I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). He was speaking to a small group of humble, un-influential men.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the legitimate ruler of the world. No, much, much more: the universe. Nothing in all creation will prevent the return of the King.

How important it is that, by God’s grace, we hold on to the shield of faith, wield the word of God with greater confidence, and most of all, pray – for one another and for others. Pray that we will stand firm, not failing to live under God’s gospel, nor failing to take his gospel to those around us.

If you have not already done so, let me encourage you to obtain copies of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs – a copy to revitalize your own faith and copies to pass on to others who don’t know what to believe. If you are in the US you can purchase copies through the button in the book banner below. If you are elsewhere purchases can be made through Amazon.

A prayer. Almighty God, give us grace so that we may cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came amongst us in great humility: so that on the last day, when he comes again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

© John G. Mason

In the concluding chapter of his book, Dominion (2019), Tom Holland draws together his theme of the ways Christianity has impacted “the rise and fall of empires, the actions of bishops and kings, the arguments of theologians, the course of revolutions, the planting of crosses around the world. Yet”, he comments, “that hardly tells the whole story.

“I have written much in this book about churches, and monasteries, and universities,” he writes, “but these were never where the mass of the Christian people were most influentially shaped. It was always in the home that children were likeliest to absorb the revolutionary teachings that, over the course of two thousand years, have come to be so taken for granted as almost to seem to be human nature. The Christian revolution was wrought above all at the knees of women.

“The success, then, of the most influential framework for making sense of human existence that has ever existed always depended on people like my Godmother: people who saw in the succession of one generation by another something more than merely the way of all the earth. Although she had no children of her own, she was a teacher, … and publicly honoured for it.

“As a Christian, … she had the hope of eternal life. It was a faith that she had received from her mother, who had received it in turn from her parents,  … And this was the tradition that my Godmother passed on to me” (p.519).

Let’s think about this. In the Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 4 we read: Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

These words would have shocked the Roman world where a father was the autocratic head of the family, with untold power over his offspring. Paul’s command was revolutionary: parents – for mothers as well as fathers are included – are not to abuse their children, giving them cause for bitterness and anger. Rather, they are to provide a home of love and care, helping their children to grow in the knowledge and love, wisdom and self-discipline in the Lord.

The words of Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 7, written around 1200BC, come to mind: Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

The one-ness and uniqueness of God echo a great theme of Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Behind the diversity and complexity of the universe there is one God who holds everything together and unifies it. We live in a meaningful, ordered world because everything that happens, no matter how varied, is all part of the one creation.

It’s crucial for us to understand this for it helps us begin to answer the question we all ask at some point: “Who am I?” The answer of Deuteronomy chapter 6 is that there is one God who is our creator. We won’t make sense of ourselves without him. Strip from the universe and our lives the notion of God who is Lord of his creative handiwork, and we’re left with an emptiness and sense of meaninglessness.

The God of Deuteronomy chapter 6 is not an abstract being, without meaning or message. This is even more so in the New Testament where, for example, we read in the Gospel of John: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth (1:14). And in Philippians chapter 2 we read: At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue will confess him as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Our world and our children need to hear these truths. We do great harm to our society and to the next generation if we so cram our children’s lives with activities and programs that they do not hear these truths. Yet how many parents fill their children’s lives with music before school, activities after school, and success at school that they never have time with them as a family to talk about the things of God.

Who should teach these things about God? Consider Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 6: Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

Parents and family are the most important educational influence on children. It’s built into the very nature of family. Children don’t stop learning when they get home from school. They are learning every waking hour of the day. It’s one of the reasons they need to be guided in their use of phones, social media, and television viewing.

Despite research that suggests parents are handing over responsibility for their children’s education and training to schools, the best people to instil fundamental attitudes and form children’s moral lives are parents and family. This involves commitment but the rewards are great.

If you are a parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle or godparent, consider the example of your life – how much time you spend on your phone or in front of the big screen. Use the precious conversations around the dinner table, on walks, and at bedtime. Be known for your reading of the Bible and living it out, not just with words but also in your lifestyle.

Be prepared to answer questions about life – about right and wrong, life and death, about drugs and alcohol, about nuclear or climate concerns, about God. Speak plainly about what Jesus means to you. These are crucial times. Children’s experiences with family, and family connections, will live in their memories for a lifetime.

It’s in the home, as we instruct our children about God and Jesus Christ, that they learn their own value and self-esteem as a boy or girl, made in the image of God. It’s in the home they learn how to get on with other people and to respect authority and discipline. It’s in the home they develop as individuals and find their individuality accepted, appreciated and affirmed.

Parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, godparents and godly family connections are well placed to blend the demands of society and the needs of the child in a way that affirms a child’s dignity and yet also makes them ready for society, to mix with other people and not just to be a self-centered little island.

Much more needs to be said about how we can pass on God’s good news from one generation to the next. A starting point is your own understanding of and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you will allow me a personal reference, have you taken up an opportunity to read The Jesus Story: Seven Signs to refresh your own faith as well as have a book to pass on to others? You can access it through the link below if you are in the US, or through Amazon.

A prayer. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, whose Son Jesus Christ shared at Nazareth the life of an earthly home: bless our homes, we pray. Help parents to impart the knowledge of you and your love; and children to respond with love and obedience. May our homes be blessed with peace and joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason

Everyone loves a story – the huge success of the Narnia books of CS Lewis, The Lord of the Rings from JRR Tolkien and, of course, JK Rowling’s, Harry Potter series, all come to mind.

But fiction is not the only form of story people long for. There is always wide-ranging interest in the personal stories of people – the successful and the unknown, recent and long-past. It is as though people find their own sense of identity and purpose in the story of others. This is especially true in troubling and challenging times – as we are currently experiencing.

With that thought in mind, come with me to the story of the man who, as HG Wells – author of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds – once observed, is “irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history”.

In the course of preaching sermons on John’s Gospel last year I was struck afresh by the conversations that we read in chapter 14.

The chapter opens with a dark cloud hanging over the close followers of Jesus. For three years they had followed him with increasing confidence that he was someone very different from anyone they knew. But he had just told them that within a matter of hours he was going away. They were in a state of shock.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus said. “Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going” (John 14:1-3).

At this, Thomas, one of his followers, expressed his frustration: ‘We don’t know where you’re going’, he said. ‘How can we know the way?’ We might sympathize with Thomas. The idea of Jesus going to heaven and preparing a place for his followers seems far-fetched.

Let’s think about this. Many people will never admit that their view about life is wrong – that there might be more to life than the material world we experience. There are even people like this in churches: they say the creed, but they don’t really believe it; they might give the impression of spirituality but there’s no substance to it.

At least Thomas is prepared to admit he didn’t understand. But while Jesus doesn’t belittle him, his response is nevertheless startling: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father but by me” (14:6). ‘If you truly know me Thomas, you would know what I am talking about.’ Significantly, Jesus doesn’t say, “I’ll show you the way” but “I am the way”; he doesn’t say, “I’ll tell you the truth” but “I am the truth”; he doesn’t say, “I’ll give you eternal life” rather, “I am the life”.

It’s as though Jesus is saying, the path to life beyond the grave involves a relationship, a relationship you already have – a relationship with me. His words are incredible: he is saying that behind the universe is not a mathematical equation or a scientific formula but a person.

John Lennox, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy at Oxford University, has written: “The rational intelligibility of the universe,… points to the existence of the Mind that was responsible both for the universe and our minds. It is for this reason that we are able to do science and to discover the beautiful mathematical structures that underlie the phenomena we can observe.” (cited in PW Barnett, Gospel Truth, p.21)

Jesus is saying that the impossible has happened: God has come amongst us in person and that he is the one. His words echo what we read in the introduction to John’s Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In John chapter 14, Jesus is saying that the only way to make sense of our human existence is by recognising that he is the complex person who is the Mind behind the universe. And, while it seems impossible, he is that person.

As the chapter moves on, we discover that Thomas’ frustration leads to a request from Phillip: “Lord show us the Father. That’s all we need,” he says (14:8).

Philip wanted to know what every religion wants to know: What is God like? He wanted some tangible experience of God that would sweep away his doubts. He might have been thinking of God’s special appearance to Moses at the burning bush. He wanted to see God.

Again, Jesus’ response is astounding: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9). We would not have been surprised if Jesus had replied, ‘Philip, you’re asking the impossible’. Rather he says, ‘Don’t you know me Philip, even after I’ve been among you over these years? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father?”’

Some people think of Jesus as one of history’s great teachers. But this doesn’t come anywhere near to what Jesus was saying. He is saying that he is not just God’s emissary or ambassador, but God himself. He was claiming the impossible – to be God in our midst.

Consider how Jesus continues. We read his words in verse 11: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

Jesus anticipated their doubts. Think about it, he is saying. You’ve seen me turn water into first-class wine. You have also seen me perform many other miraculous acts that no-one else has ever been able to do – including bringing out of a tomb a man who had been dead for four days. ‘Doesn’t that tell you something about me?’ he is asking.

In a new book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs, I have taken up Jesus’s words in his response to Philip’s request (14:8): “…Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (14:11). The works are the signs.

Many people today have no problem with the existence of Jesus and the idea that he was a good man. However, they’re unaware of the real Jesus story that points to his uniqueness and divinity, and the life and hope he offers us.

John’s Gospel is sometimes called the book of the signs. My book takes up the gospel story for those who believe and those who don’t know what to believe. It is written to encourage and reassure God’s people before being handed on to others with an invitation to find out more.

Copies can be purchased in the US using the banner below, or anywhere else from Amazon at: The Jesus Story: Seven Signs, John G. Mason.

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

Can we help our broken and divided world find hope and peace? Or has the voice of God’s people been silenced? As I point out in my recent book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs, Tom Holland in Dominion traces the influences of the Jesus story on the West, including the values of right and wrong, justice and compassion.

In his Letter to God’s People in Colossae, Paul the Apostle writes of the hope that has awakened their faith in Christ Jesus and their love for one another. He reminds them that this hope is found in God’s good news which is itself grounded in the truth.

What is more, he observes that not only were God’s people in Colossae growing in their faith, love and hope, but God’s good news was bearing fruit and growing in the whole world.

These words are very encouraging for us today.

Let’s consider the flow of Paul’s thought: He begins by thanking God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ for their faith in Christ Jesus and the love they have for all the saints,… because of the hope laid up for them in heaven (1:3-5). There is a causal link between hope and faith and love. Hope is not the consequence of faith and love. Rather, hope has awakened them.

This is so important. The hope that we have is the motivation for our faith and love.

Let’s consider this. In First Corinthians chapter 15, as we have recently seen, Paul writes of the reality and significance of Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead. He points out that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, our own future resurrection from the dead is negated. Our professed faith would be meaningless and the associated Christian morality a joke. As he says in verse 32, if the dead do not rise, we may as well ‘eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’.

The hope of which Paul speaks in Colossians chapter 1, verse 6 is not a baseless optimism. It is a certain hope.

In verses 5b – 6 he writes: Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing – as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, …

It’s important to notice the emphasis Paul puts on the word truth. The gospel, is literally, the word of the truth. He could have left out any reference to the words, the truth, but he doesn’t. He wants to stress that the essence of the Christian message is true.

Reflecting on this, we can see that God’s good news is beyond human invention and imagination. No one of us would have invented a God who was prepared to forgive a self-preoccupied and faithless world by such a costly and humiliating death as occurred at Calvary.

The gospel is also true, historically. Paul implies that that the accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are no invention. The records are true and trustworthy, supported by eyewitnesses.

Furthermore, the gospel is true experientially. By this I mean that when people put their trust in Jesus Christ who is at the center of the gospel, they discover that their faith is not a hoax.

It’s so important we are assured that our faith and our love for one another as God’s people are based on the hope that is laid up for us in heaven. We need to ask ourselves, “Is my faith, love and hope a response to God’s good news?” Paul assures us it is the truth, and nothing but the truth.

Indeed, we need to pray that God’s Spirit will awaken within us, as he did in the lives of the Colossian Christians, an ever-deepening love for the Lord Jesus, and for his people across social, cultural, and racial divides.

In the 2nd century, God’s people in the Roman world were under great suspicion. Tertullian, one of the church leaders at the time, responded by contrasting Christians with the Roman society: ‘Look, they (the Romans) say, ‘How they (the Christians) love one another’ (for they themselves, the Romans, hate one another); ‘and how they are ready to die for each other, for they themselves (the Romans) are readier to kill each other’.

Furthermore, it’s worth praying for opportunities to talk with others about the inconsistencies and unworkable nature of the diversity that careless and false narratives are imposing on the western world.

Robert Letham, for example, observes that ‘the world of postmodernism is entirely arbitrary. If the emotions trump reason, we have no rational grounds for anything… Postmodernism cannot stand the test of everyday life’, he says. ‘It does not work, and will not work. It fails the test of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who insisted that language and philosophy must have “cash value” in terms of the real world in which we go about our business from day to day. To do that, we assume that there is an objective world and act accordingly. If there is not, life could not go on’ (Letham, The Holy Trinity, pp.452f).

Because God’s good news is based in the initiative and promises of the living God, we can be assured that his word and work will continue in today’s world. God’s passion is to rescue the lost. But we too, have a part to play: the testimony of our faith, the example of our love – which includes forgiving those whom we believe have wronged us – and the reality of the hope we have, will all bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Above all, we need to pray that God in his mercy will send his Spirit into the world, opening blind eyes to the truth of the hope, the joy, and the peace that God holds out to us.

If you have not already done so, let me encourage you to obtain copies of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs to read for yourself and to pass on to others. You can use the button in the banner below or, if you are outside the US, you can get copies through Amazon.

Prayers. 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.

Grant us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always such things as are right, so that we who cannot do anything that is good without you, may in your strength be able to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason

In his book The Holy Trinity (2004), Robert Letham commented on the impact of postmodernism on society: “In terms of instability and diversity,” he wrote, “the postmodern world of constant flux is seeing insecurity, breakdown, and the rise of various forms of terrorism… As diversity rules, subgroups are divided against each other… A cult of the victim develops, and responsibility declines. This is a recipe for social breakdown, instability, and the unravelling of any cohesion that once existed” (p.453).

Come with me to Paul the Apostle’s prayer of thanksgiving for the church in Colossae that we read in Colossians chapter 1: In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,… (1:3). Significantly Paul begins his prayer defining the God we worship: He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s think about this: The essential nature of a perfect father is to love and give life. Paul’s understanding is that God the Father delights to love and give life. From eternity God the Father has given life to a Son.

Paul’s words are consistent with what we read in the opening line of John’s Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And in Jeremiah 2:13, the Lord says of himself that he is the ‘spring of living water’. From eternity, before the creation of the universe, God the Father was loving and begetting his Son. God did not become a father at some point.

A water fountain, whose very nature is to pour out water, helps us with this idea. In the same way that a fountain is not a fountain if it doesn’t pour out water, so God the Father would not be who he is, unless he was giving life to his Son. God the Father and God the Son are distinct persons, but they are inseparable from one another. They always love one another, and they always work together in perfect harmony.

This is important, for it tells us that Paul is giving thanks to the God whose existence is not simply as a powerful intelligence behind the observable universe, but to a personal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Colossians’ faith in Christ Jesus was real and personal, expressing itself in their love and care for one another. The Colossian church was a place where there was genuine community. People accepted one another, treated one another as equals across the social and racial divide. Their love for one another led to compassion and practical care for those in need.

Significantly, Paul goes on to tell us that the faith and love the Colossians enjoyed, was inspired by a third Person of the Godhead – the Holy Spirit. In verse 8 he writes that Epaphras had told him of the Colossians’ love in the Spirit.

In John chapter 14 we learn that on the eve of his arrest, Jesus promised his disciples he would send the Holy Spirit to comfort and equip them. And in John 16:8 we learn that the Holy Spirit would also convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment:… An important part of the Spirit’s work is to convict our consciences of our failure to honor and love Jesus as Lord. One day God will ask us all: ‘What did you do with my Son?’

In his treatise, The Bondage of the Will Martin Luther addressed what he saw as the fundamental question regarding salvation. He pointed out that so distorted and flawed is the human heart, that no one has a free will when it comes to our relationship with God. The desires of our hearts lock us into self-worship and vainglory, rather than the rightful worship and glory of the one true God who is Lord of heaven and earth.

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Henry VIII, held a similar view of humanity. Dr. Ashley Null sums up Cranmer’s anthropology this way: ‘What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies… For Cranmer the mind is actually captive to what the will wants, and the will itself, in turn, is captive to what the heart wants’.

So how are hearts changed? From his rich understanding of Scripture, Cranmer’s prayer books stress the need for God to intervene in our minds and hearts. And so the 1552 Service of the Lord’s Supper begins with a Prayer for Purity: Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, so that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

It is a prayer for the outpouring, the coming down, of the Spirit of God, significantly not on the bread and wine on the Holy Table, but on the minds and hearts of everyone present. As Ashley Null points out, the prayer is saying that we cannot truly love God unless God supernaturally changes our hearts.

A careful reading of Cranmer’s liturgies reveals that his prayer is that the Holy Spirit will work through the Scriptures to change the hearts of the worshippers. For Cranmer, with all the English Reformers, believed in a living God whose delight is to answer prayer.

To return to Paul the Apostle’s prayer of thanksgiving in his Letter to the Colossians, we see the One God who exists in Three Persons, delighting to give life to his people.

Our broken world needs to hear afresh the good news of this Triune God. If we grieve for our world, we need to pray that God will act with compassion and send his Spirit to soften hearts, turning them, as they hear the gospel, to Jesus Christ as Lord.

Let me encourage you to obtain copies of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs to read for yourself and to pass on to others. You can use the button in the banner below or, if you are outside the US, you can get copies through Amazon.

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.

© John G. Mason

Is there anything that can really make us different, that can shake us out of our apathy and anxieties? That can inject enthusiasm and joy, confidence and courage into our lives?

Come with me to the events of Pentecost that we read about in Acts chapter 2. It was six-weeks after Jesus’ resurrection.

Three questions emerge.

What happened?  When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were together in an upper room in Jerusalem. ‘Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came…  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’

Pentecost is the Jewish festival celebrating the giving of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 19:18 we read that violent wind and tongues of fire had enveloped Mt Sinai at the time God gave Moses the law. However, as Israel’s prophets had said, the law failed to change the world because the law failed to change people.

Now at Pentecost some twelve hundred years later, God was coming with fire and wind, not to impart more law, but to impart his Spirit. The mighty wind symbolised the power of Jesus; the fire symbolised his purifying and cleansing work; and speech pointed to the good news of Jesus reaching every nation.

Luke, the author of Acts focuses on speech. He tells us: Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. … And everyone was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each (2:5).

The crowd came from the Caspian Sea in the east to Rome in the west; from modern Turkey in the north to Africa in the south. ‘How is it?’ they asked, ‘That we can understand them in our own native language?’

The cynics in the crowd mocked, saying the disciples were drunk. But Peter wasn’t silenced: ‘The bars aren’t open yet,’ he said. ‘It’s only nine o’clock in the morning’. This was the ultimate Author of speech reversing Babel.

The disciples, previously demoralised and defeated, had a new enthusiasm, confidence and joy. Peter, who had denied Jesus, was no longer a coward but a courageous preacher. What made that difference? It was the Spirit, ‘Another Helper’ whom Jesus had promised.

For many, Christianity is little more than a moral code they must struggle to observe, or a creed recited mindlessly every week. But in John 14 Jesus had spoken of ‘a Companion’ who would enable his people to experience a life-changing personal relationship with him.

What did it mean? The Holy Spirit was turning cowardly disciples into intrepid apostles. From verse 22 Luke records Peter’s speech: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.  …And you, …put him to death …but God raised him from the dead, …”

People today mock the idea of Jesus’ miracles. Yet first-century historians such as Josephus, agreed that Jesus was a miracle-worker. Peter called the miracles signs. Just as a sign-post points to the road we might follow, so Jesus’ works pointed to the power and authority he wielded. “If I by the finger of God cast out demons,” Jesus had said, “then the kingdom of God is come upon you.”

The climax of Peter’s speech is in verse 36: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Peter had a logically developed progression of ideas – not a frenzied set of phrases. He explains that Jesus’ cross and resurrection reveal God’s extraordinary love. The Son of God had put aside the glory of heaven and come amongst us, giving his life as the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Human authorities had judged Jesus a threat and guilty, and nailed him to a cross. From his supreme court, God overturned that judgement and raised Jesus to life.

Does all this matter? It happened so long ago. Peter’s hearers were cut to the heart…, “Brothers, what should we do?” they asked (2:37f). They were utterly ashamed. Previously they had mocked the dying Jesus. Now they knew the truth. God’s Spirit was at work.

Peter’s response is one we all need to hear: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven (Acts 2:38). He didn’t tell his hearers they needed to turn over a new leaf and start living moral lives. Rather, he focused on their relationship with Jesus. Repent. ‘Come to your senses about Jesus,’ Peter is saying. ‘Turn to him and ask him for his forgiveness.’

Three thousand responded to Peter’s call that day. God’s Spirit was taking up the work of Jesus the Messiah in the world, opening blind eyes and changing hearts.

Significantly Peter continued: And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him (Acts 2:38f). From now on God’s Spirit would come into the lives of all God’s people (see also Romans 8:9).

What God did that day, and what he has been doing ever since, matters. God’s delight is to draw men and women from all over the world, from every culture and walk of life – people like you and me – into a personal, living relationship with himself.

And we have a part to play. Let’s not be fearful. Rather, let’s pray for the Spirit’s strength and wisdom to take up opportunities to introduce people we know to Jesus. Let me encourage you to obtain copies of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs to read for yourself and to pass on to others. You can use the button in the banner below or, if you are outside the US, you can get copies wherever you are through Amazon.

A 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.

© John G. Mason