City on a Hill: Digital: Recent Episodes
City on a Hill: Digital
Sermons from City on a Hill: Digital, a church committed to Knowing Jesus & Making Jesus Known. For more resources, visit https://resources.cityonahill.com.au.
Four months Nehemiah prays for a breakthrough, and then with the king’s approval, he returns to Jerusalem to help them rise up and rebuild the temple. Jerusalem was once the city of God, but it had become the city of fools. Sometimes we can become so accustomed with brokenness, we forget it exists. In order to do something about brokenness, we have to first admit the problems exist. Then we rise up and build. There is joy in the build, as God watches us step in faith to live for Jesus and serve him with our giftings and resources. With his hand upon us, we can do meaningful work, and everyone has a part to play. All 32 verses of Chapter 3 are basically a list of names, with the places they served, the things they built, and the people they were next to. May we, with God’s help, do the same in rebuilding the church.
Nehemiah could have minimised the tragedy of the destruction of his home city, or felt apathy toward it. He is living in Susa, the most liveable city of Persia, and has influence as the loyal cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I. Yet, Nehemiah wept and prayed. First, he adores God and praises his glory, realising that he cannot do anything without God. Second, aware of God’s steadfast love, Nehemiah prays on behalf of his people, bearing the responsibility for Israel’s disobedience, prefiguring Christ. Many times we come across mess in our lives, our work, our family, the church, and the world. Everytime we have the choice to keep calm and carry on, or to reckon with the mess and do something about it. It is easy to shift the blame, and the responsibility, to someone else. Yet, we ought to take the responsibility on ourselves. May we repent of the deceit, false teaching, hypocrisy, hardness of heart, misplaced love, worship of idols, disdain toward the church and contempt toward our fello...
Light cannot have fellowship with darkness; A believer cannot marry a non-believer. For those already in relationships with unbelievers, however, the Bible says to persevere so that your holiness might stir the heart of the other. Yet, cases of non-believers coming to faith because of a faithful significant other are few and far between. If you are single seeking a spouse, seek one that serves Christ.Israel had a problem with compromise, marrying pagan wives and thus marrying their gods, breaking the first commandment that God is to be worshipped exclusively. Ezra sees that Israel’s sins have piled up to heaven, and he prays and fasts for mercy. Repentance is required in the rebuild, and we need leaders that pray on behalf of the people. We have forsaken God’s commandments and our guilt has reached heaven. Yet, Christ died as our substitute on the cross, incurring the wrath of God in our place, that we might no longer be slaves but through his mercy be adopted as children of God....
The rebuild requires complete devotion to God’s word, that we would obey and live his word, trusting the hand of God’s grace. In a culture where the Bible is challenged, and in a world that pulls and pushes us away from God, we need to take time to pray that God will help us believe in the inspiration of scripture by faith. The Bible is not merely a historical text or a text of laws, it is a notebook written by God to us that we might come back to him. May we learn from Ezra and set our hearts on God and his word, not confusing knowledge with obedience but being doers of the word.
Seduction, suffering, and slander of God’s people left the temple unbuilt so God’s prophets, Zechariah and Haggai, called the people out on their inaction. Haggai rebuked God’s people for prioritising building their own houses while God’s house remained in ruins. Rebuilding the temple was necessary to rebuild relationship with God. We cannot waltz into the presence of God without him making a way to meet us on his terms: the temple was that holy mediating place. Israel’s rebuilt temple was eventually destroyed, but we have a living temple in Christ. May we not be too busy building our own life that we forget Christ and his church. Use your gifts and passions to meet the needs of the church and the world.
God’s people are prone to experience seduction, suffering, and slander. The world seduces us with compromise — that if we adapt our beliefs to fit the culture around us we would be supported.Christians are judged more by their reactions than their actions. We don’t plan to be seduced, nor do we plan to react badly to displeasing situations. Yet, neglecting to compromise, we experience suffering and slander which is liable to silence and oppress us. May we not cave in. May we stand firm on Christ and his words, lest we be ashamed of him and he be ashamed of us when he returns.
Church is not a consumeristic product or spectator sport, it is a commitment that calls for investment from all hands on deck. Rebuilding the church requires an altar of our God, obedience to God’s word, all hands on deck, and is marked by tears and joy. The early starts of the rebuild centred on repentance and desire for God’s word as Israel remembered following the ways of culture led to exile. Those who knew the first temple wept when the foundation of the second was set as they recalled their fall from grace and their burden of sin and shame. Yet, many shouted with joy as they celebrated their release from exile and their arrival home.
In exile, Israel wept. They were spiritually distant, unsure of God’s promises, and caught in complete darkness. These last few years of lockdowns have caused frustration and loss, and we are now coming out of the rubble and must work together to rebuild the house of the lord. The rebuild begins with God, who never gives up, but promises to rescue his people. God’s plan for his people is good, and he won’t leave them by the rivers of Babylon for ever.Rebuilding the house of the lord requires a reordering of our life and loves around Jesus, the perfect fulfilment of God’s renewal and rescue. He is the greater temple, and a temple that cannot be destroyed. The world wants us to rebuild our lives on our own, but Christians are meant to be a city on a hill, established in Christ and seeking first his kingdom, not our own. Everyone matters to God, and is required to be part of the fulfilment of his promise. Let us resolve and commit to rebuild.
The tomb is empty: if it weren’t, all the Romans and Pharisees needed to do was go to the tomb and show Jesus’ body to his disciples. Yet, his body was never found. Furthermore, women, who in the first-century were not valid witnesses, were the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. One of the women was Mary, a former prostitute, and when she bows down before the risen Jesus, he receives her worship and comforts her.Every day, we fall short of the expectations required for us to be considered “good enough” for “the good place” but the story of Easter is that Jesus is good enough, loves you no matter what you’ve done, and has died a substitutionary death to defeat the darkness and bring us into his glorious light. Evil will have its day, and one day Christ will return to usher in a new heaven and earth, wiping away our tears, and ending suffering. Until then, may we be a City on a Hill that stands for Jesus’ truth, love, justice, and hope, trusting that he is risen, and triumphant o...
How should we feel about the death of Christ? We ought to remember that it was a death undeserved in the place of a life undeserved, Barabbas. Like Barabbas, we have all committed treason against the king of the universe through rebelling against him through our sin, making a mess of the life he’s given us. Like Barabbas, we are responsible for the debt we owe yet Christ took our place and paid the debt of sin for us, dying the death we deserved for sin and satisfying the wrath of God.When Christ cried ‘it is finished,’ the temple’s veil was torn from top to bottom signifying that God has made a way for man to come receive eternal life instead of a tomb, and a feast in heaven at the table of the Lord.
Pride is the innate desire of our hearts to be entitled to more than what we have. Pride takes, humility gives. We are to daily clothe ourselves with humility by casting our anxieties onto Christ and being watchful for the devouring devil by staying sober-minded.God is supreme, all-knowing, and all-powerful: We are not. May we humble ourselves therefore and trust that we will be exalted in the age to come. On that day, when Christ returns not as as a servant but as the king, the weak will be strengthened, the broken restored, and the humble exalted. Until then, may we endure through suffering and live righteously, not boasting in our strength nor being overwhelmed by our weaknesses, but casting our burdens onto the one who bore our grief on the cross.
Suffering refines true faith and removes the dross of false faith. Opposition to Jesus and friction with the world forces us to decide where we stand and counterintuitively can be a source of joy as we share in Christ's sufferings.When bad stuff happens, respond with good. Whatever people say about us, do what God thinks is right. We live in light of God’s judgement, not the world’s judgement. In the end, we are accountable to God through how we act amidst suffering. May we as the people of God entrust our souls to our faithful creator, trusting that he rests on us through our suffering.
As Christians, living for God in these last days, we must be alert yet not alarmed with the war of ideas between the world and the Christian life. This is not our home, but still find yourself some travel companions: the church, the only place where pursuing godliness is celebrated.Don’t be surprised by suffering or by antagonism to the Christian life. The kingdom of the self and the kingdom of God are at war with each other, therefore arm yourself with the knowledge that Christ is risen and one day you will be too. Pursue godliness in the church and gospel communities. Live like Jesus, not like the world. Be obedient to God.
If you want to live an authentic Christian life, speak the truth, pursue peace, and let God reign supreme in every sphere of your life. By this we “honour Christ as holy” and become zealous for doing good.When Jesus calls us to follow him, he calls us to a life abounding in truth and full of grace. Even in suffering and hostile environments, we are meant to pursue peace amidst evil because we are blessed in knowing that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is ours. God is for us, and so we do not fear those who can kill the body but rather fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. May we be zealous for doing good, defending our faith by our gentleness and respect, whilst holding fast to the gospel — that “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” and is now seated “at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
Marriage is a live drama of Christ and the church. If we are to live righteously in the home, we must partner together — husband and wife — to live humbly and understand each other. Christ loved the church not by dominating her, or belittling her, but by washing her feet and sacrificing himself. When the Bible says that wives should submit to their husbands, it also says that husbands should honour their wives as co-heirs. Husbands should use their strength to protect and not to impose on the woman who is biologically designed to be physically weaker. Abuse is not masculinity. Every week a woman dies at the hands of their current or former spouse. This is not masculinity, but the mark of the beast. The Bible does not condone remaining in submission to an abusive relationship, but rather calls wives to submit to a husband who is able to love and honour them as Christ loved the church.
We are wired to resist pain, yet as Christians we are called to be like Jesus even when it hurts. Though God is opposed to slavery, he plays the long game and calls his people to fight injustice not with injustice but with humility and grace. When we’re treated like slaves in the workplace, suffering for doing what is right, we are to be encouraged that God sees and has gone ahead of us. Jesus knows what it means to suffer like a slave despite doing good, yet he persevered. Peter was a witness to this — seeing that Jesus ‘committed no sin, and was reviled but did not revile in return, suffered though did not threaten, entrusting himself to him who judges justly.’ So too we ought to follow in Christ’s footsteps, becoming uncomfortable for his sake, restoring relationships that have been broken and standing upon our faith wherever we are, shining the light of Jesus to those around us. Justice for our suffering will come, but until then our job is not to fight back injustice with injus...
While we live as elect exiles, we can’t drink from the spring of living water while at the same time poisoning it with the sin of the flesh. Our right thinking ought to shape our right living. If we are in Christ, we will abstain from sin, pursue a life of beauty, and honour all — even government.Living in what was the world’s most locked down city and coming out to vaccine mandates and political tension can make it hard to want to obey the government. But Peter wrote this letter during the time of Nero. So we submit in recognition that God is sovereign over all, and has all authority. The purpose of the government is to work for good and restrain evil. If they fail, we can speak out and shine light against authority that is misusing power and acting contrary to the goodness and grace of God. In the end, governments will give account to God. Until then, we submit to the king and honour one another — that “through our good acts we should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people...
Jesus, as the chief cornerstone, is infinitely precious. The chief cornerstone was the largest and most expensive stone used in building. It had to be perfectly cut, and it reminded the other builders who began the work. Jesus must be the foundation of life, for when we believe in him, the cornerstone will not be put to shame. The world may shut you in, but Jesus welcomes you in; the world may talk behind your back but Jesus will shower you with praise; the world may point at you as dirty and broken, but Jesus heals and makes us whole.The love The Father has for The Son, is the same love he has for us now. It is not conditional upon our merit, or whether we have it all together, but on the legitimacy of Christ. Belief is more than intellectual assent, but complete trust in Christ as the foundation of our salvation and of our lives. We cannot build our life on any other foundation, because it is all sand. No one and nothing but Christ can carry us and hold us together. Let us live us...
The Bible is more than the best selling book of all time, it is the living word of God that is life-giving, lasting, and maturing. Thus, we obey the Bible by believing it, and being born again. Our rebirth is not something we gain ourselves, but something that God alone can give you through the life-giving and life-restoring word of God which does the work of God to accomplish the will of God. Kingdom’s will rise and fall, but God’s word endures forever.As children of God, born again through the living word of God in Jesus, we must rid ourselves of hypocrisy, jealousy, and deceit. We must not slander one another, but seek to out-do one another in love and showing honour. To become mature we must drink the pure milk of God’s word, and live a life of repentance in light of this reality as the beloved children of God.
How do we remain faithful to Jesus in a post-Christian secularist age? By understanding that we are exiles sojourning on earth as temporary residents in a foreign place, and our home is in heaven. Although the world will try to tell us that this life is all there is, God has placed eternity in our hearts and we will find that nothing else will satisfy. Still, instead of rejecting earthly blessings we ought to be thankful for them, but never confusing them as the eternal thing.It takes courage to live out our faith as outsiders in the world, but we know our hope is not in the world but certain security in the living hope of Jesus. When we chose sin, Christ chose holiness. When we chose the world, Christ chose God. Now all who place their trust in him for forgiveness of sins are his elect, inheriting his kingdom and his righteousness, a kingdom unshakable and without end. In his kingdom, our true home, we will enjoy every spiritual blessing and the wholly satisfying pleasure of the pr...
The Great Commission is global, for all nations, because in Christ we are all one. We as the global body of Christ exist to know Jesus and out of the overflow of our knowledge of him to make him known. Instead of building walls, Christians should be building bridges. May we recognise the need for the gospel in our city, sharing the hope of the goodness of God to the some 200 nationalities within our own city of Melbourne. The Great Commission is vital, and by God's presence and power that will be with us always, it is achievable.
Baptism is a symbol of our engagement to Jesus, and is open to every believer. Faith is about word and action. The Great Comission instructs us to be baptizing and teaching the faith. It is amazing to see what God can do when we meet together and read through the Bible. It is not complicated, and could be as simple as meeting up with someone over coffee and to read a chapter of the Bible together. May God help us to live out our faith in word and action, pursuing community through loving God and loving one another.
Everyone is a disciple to something that influences us, and is part of our environment. Who are you a disciple of?A disciple of Jesus is someone who loves, trusts, obeys, and is becoming more like Jesus.There is nodiscipleship without community. As part of the body, we are to encourage one another using the gifts God has given us. This is more than being friendly and talking to people at church, but being vulnerable with and learning from one another. You need not travel the world to go and make disciples, let us know Jesus and make Jesus known to those around us, trusting the Holy Spirit will make us more like Jesus.
To understand Christ’s authority, look at the cross. His authority is self-sacrificial and humble, giving rest to the weary. He has come to give us eternal life and rest to the weary, freedom from sin, and Satan, and death. Instead of living our own truth and submitting to our own authority, let us fall down and submit to the kingship of Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and earth. Tomorrow is not ours, but it is God’s. The kingdom of this world is coming to an end, but the kingdom of Christ is everlasting. Trust that he is no tyrant, but that the supreme one is loving kind.
Because of the deep-seededprivilege of Israel, who felt they were entitled to a saviour, and because of their stiff-necked rebellion in idolatry, judgement fell upon Israel. Even their renowned prophets, Elijah and Elisha, were sent to restore not their people but a gentile widow and gentile leper. Similarly, Jesus was rejected by his people so that the gentiles might be saved. The gospel eats at our sense of entitlement. To know Jesus is to need Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost. Jesus came for the spiritually poor, for those who think that God would never want them, for the oppressed, and the widow. Jesus is needed by all, privileged and poor, but only when we recognise our own spiritual poverty and our need for Christ to save us can we know him.
The first Christmas is historical fact. Some of the first witnesses of Jesus’ birth were pagan magicians, shunned characters that a religious Jew would not have put into their story if it weren’t true. The first Christmas, though predicted by prophets, was still unexpected. He was born in a poor town, slept in a manger, hung out with tax collectors and sinners, and was crucified as king of the Jews. We can choose to be consumed by our self like Herod who secured his own power and kingdom, or the religious leaders who knew the prophecies but did nothing. Else, we can be like the wise men who in their wisdom knew that the maker of the stars and king of kings lay in a manger: Jesus, the Son of Mary.
As Josiah dusts off the book of the law, he realises that Israel has been at war with God. Showing true repentance, Josiah tears his clothes and made a covenant with God, steering an entire nation away from idolatry and back to God, even reinstituting the Passover which hasn’t been kept since the judges. His efforts were so great that Josiah was called the greatest king that Israel has had, or will have. Still, it was too little, too late. God’s wrath could not be kindled, and by the end of 2 Kings Jerusalem is destroyed and Israel is exiled to Babylon. Fourteen generations later, God’s wrath would be kindled forever through the death of Jesus, his son. Christ is the king Josiah could not be, granting us repentance that does not result in judgement, but in acceptance if we confess our sins, trust Jesus is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us. May we walk in the newness of life by the Holy Spirit.
Jehu was anointed by God to strike down Ahab, the former king who did more evil than any king before him, committing atrocious idolatry with his wife Jezebel. Jehu, directly and indirectly, slaughtered the entire house of Ahab and Jezebel, and all the worshippers of Baal. Idolatry angers God and incurs his righteous wrath. Like Jehu, our world wants justice and God has called us to take action. Better than Jehu, we are to show the world how our faith has changed us to push back against darkness and evil with goodness and light. In Christ, we are called to fight the good fight for our faith against the powers with the sword of the Spirit (the Bible) and the armour of God. Christian, use a sword and not a butter knife. First, use the sword of scripture on yourself to pierce through the idols in your own life, then use it to pierce the lies and idols in other’s lives.
Every king of Israel was ranked and measured against one criteria: their faithfulness to God. All that mattered was whether they lived to lead others to God, and to please God, not their military success, riches, geographical expansion, or political influence. Every bad king fell away from the correct worship of Yahweh and to idolatry, which was the sin of Jeroboam, Israel’s first evil king. Ahab was worse than any king before him, even worse than his wicked father. What made Ahab particularly wicked is that alongside his idolatry, Ahab married a foreign wife (Jezebel) and took the gods of her people. One of these gods was Baal, a storm god which would have been particularly important considering Israel’s environment. Ahab’s sin was that of compromise. He chose to pray to God but also Baal, and to follow the violent, destructive, path of his wife: Jezebel.God cares about our relationship with him, and the way we treat others, particularly the poor and powerless. There is to be no co...
Wisdom without worship is worthless, and kings rise and fall when they lose sight of the wisdom of God, take pride in themselves, and seek to build Eden on Earth through money, sex, and power. Solomon, made king at the age of 12 with the death of his father David, was offered anything by God, and he chose to ask for wisdom. This led him to become renowned as the wisest man in all the world, who wrote elaborate proverbs and was the first to build God’s temple. Yet, he rapidly fell into pride and riches. He became known for accumulating multitudes of horses and chariots, hoarding excesses of gold, and taking many foreign women as concubines and wives. All of this in direct contradiction to God’s command regarding the prerequisites for a king.Like a ship adrift at sea, the compass needs only be off by a few degrees. To reverse engineer our life and live with the end in mind is the key lesson from the wise fool to never forget. Let us pursue our first love, beware of our subtle sins and...
The blessing that comes through Jesus is not about worldly riches, but about being adopted as children of God. In our sin and rebellion we have been incurring spiritual debt despite thinking that there’s a glitch in the system that lets us have profit instead. The pandemic has increased people’s desire for God. He is on the move and the gates of hell cannot persevere against the church, but we have a job to do. Here at City on a Hill, we have felt God call us to make disciples, to care for the homeless and disadvantaged, to reach the next generation, to focus on growing the church in the digital age, and to build a community on prayer that hungers for intimacy with God and fights battles on their knees.
There are occasions in life where God appears inactive and indifferent, letting the wind and waves take over to the point that the boat seems like it will sink. The waters of chaos may overwhelm us with fear — of division, big government, vaccines, or viruses, of loss, grief, suffering, or death. There will be storms and winds, but a day is coming when the sea will be no more. Until then, we trust that Jesus is still king. His miracles reminds us of his divinity, and that he is on the mission to restore order in a chaotic world of sickness and suffering and death, and to establish his reign on earth as it is in heaven. Not too long after calming the winds and waves on the boat, Jesus, at the cross, was drowned in the waters of chaos and wrath which we deserve for sin, was submerged in death, then raised eternally victorious over sin and chaos and death.
A mondegreen is a misunderstanding or misinterpreting of a section of a song. In a similar way, many of us have misunderstood the figure of Zaccheus, seeing him as a short man who climbed a tree to see Jesus. Yet, Zaccheus was a rich tax collector, stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. His riches meant that he was corrupt, and had gotten away with taking cuts from tax collection for a long time. Jesus knew the type of man Zaccheus was, but he still called him by name and wanted to dine with him. Though Zaccheus was rich and corrupt, an unlikely convert with an undignified pursuit. Yet, unlike the rich young ruler who held onto his riches, Zaccheus was willing to humiliate himself and give from his riches after his encounter with Jesus. This is the heart of Jesus: one that seeks the lost, and dines with them. If you are to reject Jesus, reject the Jesus of the Bible and not a mondegreen Jesus. He longs to bring the rebel, the renegade, and the unloveable home. Let this Jesus...
When will the cost be too great for you to follow Jesus? Despite having kept the commandments since youth, the rich young ruler had one thing he lacked: giving up his all to follow Jesus. After he walked away saddened, the disciples were shocked and said: ‘who then can be saved?’ To which Jesus says: ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.’ We cannot do anything to earn material inheritance, but have a good relationship with our family. How much less so can do we anything to inherit eternal life, but be born in the family of God, have a right relationship with him, and follow Jesus.
For twelve long years, the bleeding woman was outside looking in. For twelve long years, she was touched by no one. When she reached out by faith to touch Jesus, in hopes of healing, Jesus calls her his daughter, and says that her faith has healed her so she can find shalom. That is, the full restoration of peace with each other and peace with God. Her healing was not a tap and go transaction, but a relational connection. She had faith that Jesus could heal her, and it was this faith that made her well. Her faith was not blind trust or a superpower, it was trust in a person. To have faith in Jesus is to realise that he is the only one who can free us, save us, and heal us. It is not about the strength of our faith, but about the strength of the person we have faith in. Whether you feel like a somebody like Jairus, or a nobody like the bleeding woman, all of us end up on our knees begging for Jesus. Let us live our lives caring for the ones on the sidelines in truth, love, and grace....
Chaos is the disruption of God’s good design, and the forefront of the darkness in the spiritual realm that is over the world. The forces of evil in the spiritual realm knew that Jesus came to overthrow chaos and the power of darkness. Darkness is also self-destructive, and in the same way that Legion was cast into the herd of pigs and drowned in a lake, so too every force of darkness will eventually be cast into the lake of fire. Violence, disease, chaos, and death will not have the final word: Jesus will. The war with the spiritual realm is real, but Jesus is the victor and through him we too can have victory. Jesus not only delivers his people from evil, but he also makes them new, clothing them with his righteousness and granting them a peace beyond understanding. Yet, without Christ we remain enslaved to sin and the powers of darkness.
The woman who wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair and tears was a ‘woman of the city’ known to be a sinner and prostitute. Her alabaster flask was her appeal, and once the flask is broken to pour the ointment there is no turning back. Furthermore, a Jewish woman wouldn’t reveal her hair until her wedding night, yet here she was breaking her flask and unbinding her hair, wiping the feet of her saviour. Thus, overcome by guilt and shame, yet realising Jesus is the only one who could set her free, she laid down her all at the feet of her saviour.We are all in spiritual debt and need a saviour to come on our behalf and pay our debt. The religious and rebellious are both equally in need of Jesus. A faith with conditions is no faith at all, so may we lay down all our sin and shame before the feet of our saviour who on the cross said ‘it is finished’, paying in full our debt of sin by his life, death, and resurrection.
Widows were the most vulnerable of society. When Jesus saw a widow had lost her only son, Jesus had compassion on her, without her even asking for help. He then raises her son from the dead, unafraid of becoming polluted by being near a dead body because Jesus is the source of life.God is never too busy for us, nor is he unable to do the extraordinary. He does feel compassion on us. And he has the power to set us free from our greatest threat and pollution: sin and death. Therefore, we can be fearless to give the rest of our days to living for the glory of the one who loves us and has raised us to eternal life.
The law mandated that the unclean had to live in isolation outside of society, and if they ever came across another person they were to shout their shame and say: “Unclean! Unclean!” Lepers, wherever they went, were unclean outcasts who no one dared approach, lest they too become unclean. Yet, in Luke 5, we see the leper approaching Jesus, bowing facedown, to receive the healing he so desperately needs. By asking Jesus “if you are willing, make me clean” he shows that he knows Jesus is able to heal him. When Jesus touches the leper before healing him, he is showing that his love for the unclean person is not dependent on their cleanliness. Grace is the arms of Jesus reaching into the mess of our lives, and pulling us close. There is no affliction or suffering beyond Jesus’ power to heal, if he is willing. At the cross, Jesus willingly took upon himself our greatest affliction — sin and death — so that whoever comes to him, trusting in his power to save, shall be made clean and set f...
Jesus, like Moses, is in the desert at the edge of the Jordan river. Where Israel spent 40 years there because they failed to be faithful, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert and persevered. In the desert, Jesus relived the story of Israel and rewrote the ending. The devil wanted to offer Jesus the crown without the cross, to give Jesus the glory without walking the path of suffering and faithfulness his father has set for him. Throughout the temptations, Jesus trusted that his father will provide, is for him, and has a better plan and greater kingdom.The story of Jesus’ temptation helps us with our own. We are to be like Jesus in our trust of God’s promises and plan, but also not too much like Jesus in being the hero of our story and facing the devil. The Bible says we are to flee temptation, pray against it, and resist the devil so that he will flee from us. Trust in the righteousness of our forerunner and great high priest, Jesus Christ. Trust in the father above who cares for us,...
In 1st Century Israel, Rome controlled Israel through tyranny. It is a time where Israel felt isolated and hoped for redemption and freedom from political oppression. Simeon was ‘a righteous man who waited for the consolation of Israel’ and didn’t die until he saw the Messiah. Oppression through sin, brokenness, and evil isn’t just out there — it’s inside us. Yet Jesus comes into the essence of our being, looking into our heart and wanting to transform us from the inside out. We are made to have a real relationship with Jesus, to encounter his presence in our daily lives. In the midst of fear, uncertainty, suffering, and despair, Jesus is our hope, our anchor, and our love. We ought to wait upon the Lord through prayer, setting our eyes on things above, and reading through the promises in the Bible. Every promise finds its yes in Jesus.
The cross is about how we relate to God and how knowing God changes us. We are refugees fleeing the oppressive regime of darkness, but God has come to bring us to his kingdom of light through the cross of Christ. Jesus is now our peace with God. His death is our life. His strength is perfected in our weakness. You can’t earn the cross of Christ, but you will have to pay the cost for receiving it by taking up your cross daily. Let us trust ourselves into him who judges justly. We can know that we belong to God’s eternal family, and know him as our perfect and attentive father by living under the cross of Christ, the only place of salvation, security, and safety. We can trust God for the future because of the cross of Christ. We can be a non-anxious presence to those around us because of the cross of Christ.
True worship is about approaching God on his terms. Anything apart from that is false religion. The institution of the tabernacle is a microcosm of creation, and of God’s will regarding offerings. The willing of heart (God’s people) bring the resources and the wise of heart (builders) make it happen. God wants us to use our gifts to bring beauty in chaos. You don’t have to be the best but do your best with what you have for God. It wasn’t the sheer glory of the tabernacle, or the skill of the workers, that was worth the presence of God, but rather the presence of God chose to dwell there. Now he chooses to dwell in our hearts by his Holy Spirit. Let us live as his priests and workers, using our skills to the building of the church and the advancement of the kingdom in the world. Jesus was the ultimate sacrificial offering to God, revelation of his character, and fullness of his glory. Let us truly worship him in Spirit and in truth.
In a tent outside of town, God’s presence dwells away from his people as a reminder of what could have been had they not disobeyed in idolatry and their stiff-neck ness. How often do we forget that the prize of heaven is the presence of God? On the mountain, God reveals himself to be firstly merciful, abounding in love, and slow to anger. He is not quick to look for excuses to condemn. His love extends to thousands of generations. Yet, God is not apathetic to evil. His mercy is not ignorant to sin, but it is lopsided. While his justice is poured upon a few generations, his love is poured upon thousands. His greatest act of love and judgement was met at the cross, when the judgement we deserve for sin was put upon Jesus, because of God’s love for us.
Where does your mind go when it’s free? Whose approval do you seek most of all? What are you pursuing that you believe will make you complete? What are you most fearful of losing? Who or what do you look to when things get tough? What are you making the most sacrifices for? Who or what do you see as the answer to the world’s biggest problem?Many times we fail to give God the glory and honour he deserves. Let the story of the golden calf be a warning for our own lives. The Israelites projected their own image and desires onto a mute god they created so they won’t have any accountability, a god that let them play games of sexual immorality. They lost sight of God, yet God never lost sight of them. Even when it feels like God is high on the mountain away from us, persevere and pray. Do not take the easy route and create a god. Do not forget to pray, for the little things and the big things. Do not lose sight of God. Remember his fearsome holiness, then lean into his arms of grace. What...
Israel’s priests are the mediators between the holy God and a sinful people, representing God to the people and the people to God. They were to stand before the Lord for the people: offering gifts and sacrifices for sins, helping those who are ignorant or astray, teaching the people, and interceding in prayer. In their consecration, the priest put the blood of a ram on their earlobes, thumbs, and big toes. This represent the priests becoming hearers of the word and mediators of God, giving an example to the people of how to walk. Yet, all these men died but we know a high priest who lives forever. He did what those high priests could not do, and was what they could not have become: God’s true and perfect son. Jesus perfectly represents God to us, because he is God, and he perfectly atones for our sin by offering himself to God in our place, dying our death for sin, and living forever to make intercession on our behalf.
The tabernacle is the sanctuary of God’s holiness, the place of his absolute morality, perfection, glory, and goodness. As such, because of sin, no one could enter his presence without specific boundaries and rules in place. Even the outer sanctuary was designed to separate the people from God. The sanctuary of our king is full of blue (like the sea and heavens) and purple (a rare colour used by royalty), representing God’s dwelling place and kingship. Jesus was given a purple robe as he was beaten by the Romans. The word that was with God in eternity, the reason which formed the world, became flesh for us and we have seen his glory. When he died, he tore the veil for, top to bottom, making a way for us to live with God, and God to live with us. The tabernacle was the sanctuary and home of God, but now God makes our hearts his tabernacle. Pitch the tent of your life around God, with him at the centre of our life. Don’t fall for a false Jesus. We want a Jesus of acceptance, but not o...
We are always ready to accept the terms and conditions for any company we use, but whenever we hear about God’s terms and conditions we become hesitant. Making the terms and conditions a religion is a problem, but wanting a relationship with God without accepting the terms and conditions is like telling your loved one you love them but don’t want to put in any effort to maintain that relationship. Yet, the law is a covenant of grace that pointed to God’s promise: that those under the blood of Christ, through grace, will one day see his face. Neither the elders nor Moses on Sinai could see God’s face, in fact, no one has seen God’s face in all his glory. Yet, as on the mountain God feasted with a few chosen people, so did Jesus feast with a few chosen people at his last supper. Through his death, he has drawn all people to himself so that through obedience by grace many from every nation will feast with the lamb in heaven.
When we read the Bible, we must remember we are travelling to a foreign country and be good travellers. We must understand the context of the time (the ancient near-east 3500 years ago), and then we can see that God was indeed showing mercy to the vulnerable and oppressed. By Exodus 20, the Israelites were rescued from their slavery in Egypt and given the law to help them reflect God’s character amongst themselves and to the nations around them. The law embraces the vulnerable. People weren’t allowed to be abducted, slaves (which worked more as interns) were only obligated to work for seven years and then given a choice of freedom. Furthermore, runaway slaves had to be protected on the basis that they ran away from an abusive master. God’s laws are not oppressive. They work in the dark reality of our world, and provide mercy and grace amidst the darkness. Now we live in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Let us live in light of the kingdom, and live to see bondages released an...
Like us, Israel doubted, disobeyed, and were divided. The ten commandments ultimately reveal the heart and holiness of God, as well as the chief goal of our life.The idols we bow down to are never static, and your religion is what you do in your solitude. We are to give our all to God and see the disconnect between what we know, and what we do. Many Christians understand biblical concepts, but they struggle to obey them because of innate desires prevent them from doing so. Set your eyes on God, for he is jealous for our affection and will not share his glory with another. This is because he knows what we ultimately need, and seeks to keep us free. Therefore, rest within his presence. Take time from your work, and from your recreation to rest in God. When we live rested in God, we live free and love God and neighbour as God intended. When we cover, we are saying that God isn't enough. Let us not grumble, but have gratitude with what we have. In Jesus, we have been blessed with every...
Salvation is more than what we’ve been saved from, but what we’ve been saved to. In Jesus, we are loved and adored by God. Yet we are also called to be holy as God is holy. Clearing our debt is not God’s highest aim, it is to make us like Jesus. Before the foundation of the world, God predestined us to be conformed into the image of his son. Lastly, God has saved us from wandering to worship. In Jesus, we are all a kingdom of priests.
Exodus 18 speaks of a reunion, redemption, and a revelation. Like Jethro, we were not part of God’s people, but now we are brought to reunion with him, through redemption found in the one who prays and intercedes on our behalf to God. For Jethro that was Moses, but for us it is the greater Moses: Jesus Christ the Son of God. The revelation in the dialogue between Jethro and Moses is that pastors ought to not carry the burden of ministry and care alone, lest they burn out. In fact, 70% of pastors consider leaving the ministry due to burn out and 50% do after 5 years. Let’s pray for our pastors, look to Jesus more than any servant of his, help our pastors by caring for one another and dealing with smaller matters amongst ourselves. As Jethro suggested to Moses, and Moses was all the better because of it.
When the Israelites grumbled, God heard them and answered their cries, but later on they forgot his grace and grumbled again. How often have you complained the moment things don’t go your way, even after God has revealed his faithfulness and grace? Such is our capricious and grumbling nature. When you are anxious, look at the past and remember God’s faithfulness and grace. Whenever we grumble, we question God’s character, judging him of not doing his work. God has the power to turn what is bitter into something sweet. We have had our Exodus from slavery, but we are not at the promised land yet. We have to go through the wilderness of sin. Here, he wants us to listen to his voice and to do what is right in his eyes, as an opportunity for us to grow and develop our character. Let us not be a grumbling people, but a grateful people, trusting God’s character, power, and faithfulness. Let us look to Jesus as the rock that God strikes and from whom salvation and blessing flows....
When the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming, they reframed the past and rebuked Moses for bringing them out to die. In rebuking Moses, God’s representative, they also rebuke God. Though free, they still lived as slaves and couldn't see what they were saved from. When we set our lives on anything but God, we remain slaves. And there is judgment for sin that must be paid. The same waters of chaos which swallowed up the armies of Egypt, were parted so that God’s people could pass through. The Exodus primarily points to the sovereign power of redemption and salvation found in Jesus. At the cross, Jesus swallowed up death and the judgement for sin, making a way for those who believe in him to no longer be slaves to sin but live free as children of God. Yet salvation is not only a work of justification, but also sanctification. In Jesus, we are justified and declared right before God. Sanctification speaks of the ongoing process for God to redeem our heart. We have been set free from Egy...
God has brought judgement against the gods of Egypt, and now he is facing against the supreme Son of Ra, the upholder of order and destroyer of chaos. On the night when Death passed over the land, every household needed to offer a sacrifice: their firstborn son, or the blood of a spotless, perfect, lamb. To satisfy God's judgement against sin, and in order to escape death, there needs to be a substitute. The wages of sin and our hard-heartedness is death. There is nowhere to run but to the arms of Jesus, the true firstborn son and perfect lamb who was our substitute on the cross. Now, he puts his blood on the doorposts of our hearts, saving us from the wrath and death that is to come. Instead of death and judgement, in Christ we receive eternal life and mercy.
Pharaoh wanted a world without God, so God uncreated Pharaoh’s world, by using the plagues to demonstrate his superiority over the gods of Egypt. Moreover, the Nile had been the place Egypt drowned Jewish babies, so God stopped it from being a source of life; the Egyptians used brick kilns to oppress the Israelites slaves, and from the same kilns came the dust that caused the plague of boils. A life without God’s order is chaos. It is only in God’s presence that we, like the Israelites during the plagues, find grace and shelter amidst the chaos and judgement. God pleads with us to turn away from our pride and sin, finding safety and salvation in him. Christ died to absorb the judgement we deserve for sin so that we can find new life and await the new creation in him.
God empowers the weak, hardens the proud, and defeats the strong. Moses had anger issues, pride, and didn’t take God seriously for most of his life. After murdering an Egyptian who was hurting an Israelite, Moses spent 40 years running away from his problems. Still, God made Moses like God to Pharaoh — empowering Moses as his divine representative and authority, putting Pharaoh, known as 'the son of Ra' (the Sun God), in his place. In judgement, God gives people over to their own depraved desires. When he hardens Pharaoh’s heart, he is actively handing Pharaoh, through his already-hardened heart, to the judgement his sin deserves, his pride being his downfall.All will know that God is sovereign and reigns supreme. When Moses’ serpent swallows up the Egyptian magician’s serpents, God showcases his dominion and hints at the cosmic warfare about to occur through the plagues. The swallowing up of the serpent also prefigures Christ, who swallowed up the grave on the cross, defeating sin,...
Pharaoh had many opportunities to do the right thing, but he didn’t so his arrogance had cost him his dynasty. God did not force Pharaoh to harden his heart, but rather used Pharaoh’s pride and already hardened heart to enact his plan of redemption. When Moses and Aaron politely but firmly ask that Pharaoh lets Israel go, he sabotages his own economy by making Israel work harder with less resources just out of spite. This in turn makes Israel turn against their liberator and saviour.Leaving Egypt is hard. Leaving our sin is hard. Jesus knows how bad this slavery is not only for us but for our relationship with God. We need the son to save us and to set us free. It’s never easy and freedom is not easily won. There is opposition and difficulty. Yet, through adoption in Jesus, we are as God’s firstborn son Israel, and so receive the same promises and loyalty that that entails. Christ is faithful and he will surely free us. Don’t give up to turn back to Egypt, but cling to Jesus to the...
After years in the Midian desert, decades from failed attempts at delivering his Hebrew brethren from injustice, Moses is being called by God to become an instrument of deliverance. Moses rightly notes his own inadequacy for the mission, his concerns mounting up to doubting the very Lord commissioning him. Here we are reminded afresh of God’s exceedingly holy and uncreated nature, independent from any need for sustenance or help. Wonderfully, this lofty and un-coercible God set loving promises on his people, and continues to be faithful to keep these promises throughout the generations. This chapter leads us to consider our own identity. While the world tells us we can find our identity through our associations, achievements, or in what we assert ourselves to be, God’s word reminds us our identity is one received: we are creation, redeemed and adopted children. We are also given a destiny; like Israel, we are freed to serve and worship God. We are delivered from our former evil mas...
Down by the river, a baby boy is placed in a basket to escape genocide mandated by the Egyptian Pharaoh of the time. Yet Pharaoh's daughter snatches this baby from the jaw of death and adopts him into the royal family, naming him Moses. An adult Moses stands up for Hebrew slaves by killing the Egyptian, consequently having to flee from Pharaoh to Midian where he saves the priest's daughters from shepherds. Moses' acts are at times villainous and others heroic and benevolent; we are reminded that God uses complex, sinful people for his good purposes.Chapter 2 of Exodus ends with a revelation of God's response to his people's groaning under slavery. He hears, sees, remembers, and knows. God is invested in his people, and even if he allows them to suffer for a while he will rescue and redeem them according to his faithfulness. We see, too, that we now have a greater exodus and greater Moses through Jesus the Christ. When the clouds overhead are thick and dark, remember the baby boy who...
The journey to the promised land wasn’t easy. Joseph died and the new Pharaoh that ruled over Egypt didn’t know Joseph and felt threatened by the Israelites, ruthlessly enslaving them to seal his power. Even today, slavery and oppression are still rampant. There are 21 million victims of human trafficking, mostly young girls who are also sexually exploited. We don’t have to look beyond our city to see slavery and oppression at work today. There’s sin, poverty, addiction, and domestic violence. We are called to help mitigate this. Like the midwives who defied Pharaoh’s command to kill every Jewish boy, we too must stand up against injustice. In Christ, we ought to be a people of mission and mercy who display God’s love in Christ. He is the father to the fatherless and the saviour of the oppressed.
What do you see when you imagine a City on a Hill? The lost found? The sinner forgiven? Men and women rising up in faith? Jesus is transforming lives in every moment, meeting us in his goodness and grace. There is so much more to come and more to see of his great work in his church.Reimagine is a unique opportunity for City on a Hill Melbourne to seek after God’s heart and vision for the city of Melbourne. It's a season of prayer and humble dependence upon God by seeking his heart for our church and our city.
Death is humanity’s greatest enemy, but there is one more powerful than death, who has conquered the grave: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the midst of sorrow, Easter proclaims joy. In the midst of despair, Easter proclaims hope. In Jesus we find our answer, and we find our hope. Mary Magdalene, who was oppressed by seven demons before knowing Jesus, was the first witness of the resurrection. She was also the first to bravely share the gospel with her friends and family, in joy because she knew the truth of what she saw: her lord risen from the dead. We exist to know Jesus, and make Jesus known. His story is our story.
Death by crucifixion was excruciating. After six minutes, the victim can barely breath and for the next few hours their limbs dislocate and their lungs suffer through plural effusion. Not only that, but crucifixion was so despised that when a hgh ranking Roman actor mimed the action of the cross in a play, he received threats of death by crucifixion for even portraying such an embarrassment and despicable thing. Yet, Jesus, knowing the law and prophets, saw that his crucifixion was necessary to save the world. Today, you can choose how you view the crucifixion of Christ: you can be repulsed by it like the Pharisees and Romans, indifferent to it like Pilate who also used the crucifixion as a means to execute a power play, you can cast lots and sell Jesus for profit, or you can choose to surrender your sins at the cross and rejoice in that true love was displayed by Jesus on the cross as the propitiation for our sins.
Jesus ends his sermon on the mount with a warning about false belief. True belief is about putting what we hear to practice, but we can still do the right things in the wrong way. Jesus warns that many who have even prophesied, cast out demons, and done many miracles will not enter the kingdom of heaven. It's a harsh and confronting warning. How can we know if we are truly saved? We must be poor in spirit and find the narrow gate. We must recognise that we are not good enough to know Jesus, but need to have absolute dependence on what Christ has done for us on the cross. We are only his because of his love for us. May we build our foundation on him, knowing that obedience without forgiveness is useless but forgiveness without obedience is incomplete.
The human heart believes it has the right to defend our actions and prosecute the actions of others. Yet, all have turned away from God and are worthy of judgement because of their sin. We need a righteousness outside of our own, and that is only found in Jesus who died a substitutionary death for us. Jesus then quickly pivots back to his original point of God being our Father, to whom we can ask and receive, seek and find, knock on his door and know he will open it. Let us then live a life of love and neediness, always asking God for his grace and knowing he provides for our needs.
Treasure is more than what's in our wallet, but what's always on our heart. Even those who love money love it for what it can give, not for the money itself. Jesus is saying that money, acceptance, fame, anything else we desire on earth is temporary. We cannot take anything to the grave. How do we find meaning and purpose here on earth? We find connection with God. We recognise that eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. Anxiety and worry are due to disconnection from God. The longing to be liked, secure, safe, healthy, noticed, and assured is due to our desire to find that Something Else. So, seek God. Instead of being consumed by the world, be captured by God. Use what God has given you to shine the light of Jesus in the world, and point to his kingdom.
How you pray is shaped by who you pray to, and Jesus teaches us to pray as children to God our father.When we hallow his name, we acknowledge his name as sacred and worthy of worship. When we pray for his kingdom and will, we pray for restoration, salvation, healing, and peace to spread throughout the world, and in our hearts. When we ask for daily bread, we trust that only God can provide for our holistic needs, and the needs of the world. When we confess our daily sins, we allow for spiritual growth and a heart to forgive others. Finally, when we pray for deliverance from evil and strength against temptation, we trust Jesus as the only truth, and the only one able to teach us and strengthen us through difficult times.
Jesus spoke with greater authority than the Pharisees and scribes who were seen as the pinnacle of righteousness and biblical knowledge. He rebuked falsehood, deceit, anger, and lust, to give us laws surrounding relationships because he wants us to live a life of truth.Instead of embracing sin, we put sin to death. Instead of harbouring bitterness, we walk the road of forgiveness. Instead of cloaking our speech to get people to like us, we stand secure in the acceptance of God and speak truth. Instead of running the religious treadmill, we stand firm in the righteousness of God. Instead of building a life around ourselves, we build our home in Jesus.
Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfil every letter. The Old Testament shows us we cannot live up to the law and God’s standard, but Jesus having fulfilled the law transforms us to live like him. Righteousness means being made right with God, and this is required to enter heaven. The Pharisees thought their self-righteousness made them right with God, which Jesus rebuked them of as having false righteousness. To gain true righteousness, we must be willing to look above and not within. We must come with empty hands knowing we don’t deserve grace or forgiveness, finding righteousness in Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross. Let’s embrace the life that we were made for: loving God and resting in Christ’s fulfilment of the law. Stop ignoring God’s commands: not because you need to be justified, but because you are a child of God. Resist the degradation of sin. Be stewards of the earth.
The world tells us we can believe whatever we want so long as we keep it to ourselves. Yet, Jesus says we are to be the salt and light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. We are designed for impact, and we are not powerless in the world we live in. If we are to follow Jesus, we are to be salt and light. Like salt, we are to draw good out of the world, cause people to thirst for righteousness and more of Jesus, and slow the decay of a dying world. Like light, we are to be a beacon of hope in a dark and hopeless world, guiding the lost and attracting them to the safety and security found in Jesus Christ. Let us stand out and stand in. We are Christ's representatives in the world, and so we are to stand out in the world and stand in the word of God. What should make us different is Jesus, and our lives being transformed by his Spirit. Let us be the salt and light in the world, pointing to Jesus in all that we do.
The kingdom of heaven is a compelling one. The word repeated throughout the beatitudes is ‘blessed’, or makarios. To the Greeks, this meant inner contentment and joy so great that philosophers like Aristotle were convinced only the gods could truly enjoy it. The kingdom of heaven is radically counter-cultural. The world celebrates sin, but Jesus calls us to mourn our sin. The world says to hunger for success and pride, but Jesus says to hunger for righteousness. We learn that the first four beatitudes are inner attitudes to describe a Christian’s relationship with God, whilst the final four flow out from that relationship with God into the relationship we have with others. The kingdom of heaven centres on Christ. In every beatitude, Jesus is giving a vision of himself. The point of the beatitudes is that we cannot do anything on our own, but be poor in spirit and ask for Christ to live in us so we can live like him. Jesus took on our curse to become our blessing, and was raised...
Sometimes it feels as though God wants to put a cap on our fun and joy. The truth is, God has blessed us all with things we take for granted. The successful life is often said to be net worth and social status, but there’s much more to be grateful for than our finances or fame. We in the West have much to be grateful for in comparison to others. We ought to be content with the seemingly ‘little’ blessings God has given us. Godliness with contentment is great gain. The pursuit of money and possessions puts us on a treadmill of 'want' that never ends. This is the reason we cannot serve both God and Mammon (wealth). Jesus is the only one able to satisfy our hunger, and able to change our desires to find true joy in him. Material things and fun are not in themselves bad, but they are temporary and fleeting. We ought to set our eyes on things above, not be haughty in the uncertainty of riches but to be rich in good works. Let us enjoy God’s gifts, and give thanks to God for his blessings...
Amidst suffering and turmoil in our own lives and the world around us, the story of Habbakuk encourages us to wrestle with God. We all have a deep-down longing for justice, so we when cry out to God for justice we are recognising God as the just creator, with power to bring justice and mercy. We should trust that judgement will come on the wicked. Only through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus can we find mercy and strength. In Habbakuk we find an example of joy in the God of salvation, even if things sometimes get worse before they get better. God continues to strengthen his people. Let us find refuge in him during times of trouble. We ultimately look forward to the day when God returns to wipe away every tear. Through Jesus we can enter into an eternity of no suffering, no injustice, no sickness, no pandemics...in a perfect world of endless joy and life in the presence of the father of lights and our good God.
All that we do is work, but we find joy in work by joining God in his work. Work is a vocation, a calling to serve God and others. Taking part in God’s work, loving Him and our neighbour, is worship. We enjoy God by loving and serving others, not ourselves. Without a sense of satisfaction through helping others, work cannot be enjoyable. It is the way God has wired us. Still, for most of us work is hard and draining. We should try seeing God in our work, seeking opportunities to enjoy God even when we don’t enjoy work. The good news of the gospel is that our work is not in vain, that God works through us and we are more than our work. Our identity doesn’t come from our work, but from Christ’s work on the cross in paying the penalty for our sin and being our salvation.
We live in a fathered world where every good thing comes from our Good Father in heaven. We can enjoy God in the little things, the deep things, and the best thing (Jesus Christ). We enjoy God through our work when we work for him and through strength he provides. God gave us responsibility over the world to bring out the good potential within it. Yet, we should not only keep ourselves busy as culture demand of us, but also enjoy God through rest. God himself rested from his work on the seventh day. We need to guard our rest. God invites us to enjoy all the good things he has made for us, for example, relationships with one another. God himself is a relational being: the three persons having related to each other in perfect love and unity forever. The world is the overflow of God’s relational instinct. We enjoy God through our relationship with Him, and with each other. There are few things worse than a broken relationship. The greatest chasm between the greatest relationship is s...
What do you truly treasure in life? Our purpose is to know God, and enjoy him forever. Being joyful in the Lord is also one of the most powerful apologetic tools we can use to make Jesus known. Jesus knows the heart desires treasure, but also that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, so he offers us the greatest treasure of all that never corrupts: the kingdom of heaven. Through a parable, which is both a short story and Trojan puzzle designed to puzzle and conquer, Jesus explains how the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. The fact that it’s hidden tells us that not many know that the treasure of heaven exists, or if they do know of it, they devalue and remain skeptic about the treasure. When the man in the parable finds the treasure of heaven, he sells everything he has to buy the field, not begrudgingly nor in sacrifice, but out of joy because he knows the hidden treasure is far greater than any material possessions.Christianity isn’t about know...
After a year like 2020 sometimes it's hard to think of anything except starting again. So much struggle, difficulty and pain which we want to leave behind. But what if this past year God has used every situation and circumstance to show you more of him? What if God has a bigger and better plan than making our lives comfortable and pain free? Jesus is our guarantee that in all things God is working for good. Have you taken hold of the good God has worked this past year?
This has been an extraordinary year – a hard year – and one of the defining experiences for people all over the world has been distance. Distance from family, and friends. Distance from the rest of the world. Distance from normality. We know that this is necessary to regain normality - ‘Staying apart will keep us together’ – and to help get us through this, we’ve been encouraged to look to Christmas; after long months of separation, we will once more be able to enjoy family and friends, joy and closeness. But what if Christmas doesn’t give us that? You see, even a ‘normal’ Christmas can remind us of the distance between us – the distance of fractured relationships. We want closeness, but we have a habit of creating distance – and so we’ve been ‘socially distant’ for years! That’s because, ultimately, we are distant from God. We were created to live with him, enjoying intimacy and fellowship, but sin separated us from him – and each other. We were made to be close, but sin makes us d...
We can be held captive by our circumstances but Christmas reminds us our current circumstances do not define us. Weighed down and paralysed by heavy burdens, Christmas helps us look back at where we've come from, and look ahead with hope to where we will be (heaven). God is greater than our circumstances. Judgement doesn't have the last word, and God will console his people with great comfort through his words. Firstly, the word of pardon tells us that though we have sinned against God in thought, word, and action, God will speak tenderly to us and offer us rest in Him through Christ. Secondly, God gives a word of providence, showing us that he is before and behind us wherever we go as the Word made flesh who dwelled among us. Thirdly, there is a word of promise that only God's kingdom and word will last forever, that all his promises will come true. Lastly, there is a word of peace that the gospel of Jesus is good news of great joy. Knowing Jesus is the greatest peace of all....
Sometimes there is a gaping chasm between expectation and reality, and this has been especially true for this year. When we face disappointment, where do we turn? Even when everything goes well, where does God fit in the picture? The Rabshakeh of Assyria sought to undermine everything the Israelites put their trust in. Judah had no hope but in the Lord. King Hezekiah turned to the Lord as his sole hope, and saw 150,000 Assyrians die the next day by the hand of God. However, Hezekiah did not stay loyal to the Lord. By the end of his reign, he boasted in his own accomplishments and showed the Babylonians all the riches of Jerusalem to woo them as an ally. Alliances are a sign of unbelief to God’s people, because it shows they do not trust God enough to deliver them. This became Hezekiah's undoing, and his people ended up in exile in Babylon. Hezekiah was thought to be the promised messiah who would rescue his people, but he failed them.There is no end to the depth of disappointment if...
In a world of barren forests and stumps, one stump bears fruit. There is a king from the root of Jesse who came in true humility. He was filled with the Spirit and lead with wisdom, counsel, strength, and the knowledge and fear of God. In a world of conflict, suffering, and despair, we need this message of hope: that the promised root of Jesse is Jesus Christ. In his baptism, we see that the Spirit rested on him. In his life, we see him as the perfect leader whom we long to be led by. He welcomed children and outcasts, judging hearts and not the superficial, in truth without favouritism. There is hope in no other name but in Jesus Christ. Yet, we must also remember that the ultimate picture of Isaiah 11, where prey and predators play with one another, is a picture of heaven, not earth. Here, we are creatures with corrupt desires who fight and destroy one another. In heaven the wolf and lamb will play together, the lion and calf will both eat grass, and children will play with snakes...
Israel once thought King Hezekiah was the answer to its hero problem. He was a descendant of King David, and he was a profoundly good king where his contemporaries failed. Where others - such as King Ahaz, had chosen badly, Hezekiah chose wisely, and seemed to be the prophesied child God's people had been waiting for. Yet, near the end of his reign, Hezekiah began to boast in his achievements, and all he had accomplished was eventually lost to Babylon. Hezekiah was not the promised child nor the hero of humanity. Jesus is. Jesus is the one who is truly profoundly wise, the one who secures wholeness and peace (shalom), who is the mighty God, and the ever-caring eternal Father in flesh. However, when he came, Jesus' people turned against him because he was not the hero they wanted. Israel wanted someone who would take down Rome, but Jesus came to rescue Israel from an even greater enemy: themselves, under the wrath of God for sin. Israel didn’t want to hear that the needed rescuing,...
Names carry meaning and reveal the mission of the child. Isaiah’s son is named Shear-jashab, meaning ‘a remnant will return’, conveying Israel's hope for its future. So too, does the promise of Immanuel convey hope for us as God's people. In times of crisis, we see a strong connection between faith and courage. Fear sucks as out, but faith can keep us firm in the chaos. Strength and safety is not merely found in the nature of our faith, rather it is found in the object of our faith. We ought to trust God in a way that is authentic and not just as external signal to an audience on the other side of the screen. Let us not test God, as Ahaz did, but have an authentic faith that will not weary ourselves or our Lord. God was with Israel in Isaiah's time, demonstrating his power through the destruction of Damascus and Samaria as prophesied, and God is with us now through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, God did all that was necessary to ensure that we could be with him and he with us - in a...
Against the backdrop of a depraved world and an invasion comes this unveiling of God’s majesty and glory. If there’s any time that we need a reminder of God’s bigness, it is now. 2020 has made us more aware of the futility of our plans, our visions, our health, and our lives. In this chapter, Isaiah received vision of how big God is - the hem of his robe filled the temple. The seraphim, six-winged courtiers, called God ‘holy, holy, holy’; his glory filling the earth. In Hebrew, there are no superlatives, so repetition is used instead. God is the most holy - the holiest - and his glory and power is beyond description. Is the God of Isaiah 6 the Jesus you know? We regularly make God to be small. The ‘all-matey’ when he is the almighty. Isaiah needed his unclean lips to be atoned for by a burning coal from the altar, we have a mediator and saviour in Jesus Christ, God with us, who has atoned for our sins and made us clean through his blood shed on the cross. Now, we are to take this...
In the midst of doom and gloom, Isaiah changes tone and shares a vision of hope. Though Israel had sought after idols and have tried to become objects of worship themselves, their sins will be washed away. Jerusalem will be clean, inside and out, pure and holy as God is pure and holy. However, it cannot be made clean by itself. God's people need to be purified by God, through Jesus, the glorious branch, who alone is worthy of worship. In a world where everyone worships something, we must choose to worship Jesus, the beautiful branch that makes us righteous, whose blood alone can wash our sins away and make us clean and holy. The imagery of the glorious branch reminds us of the beauty of God; the clean city reminds us of the holiness of God; and the mountain reminds us of the nearness of God. Let us fix our eyes on eternity, in the comfort of a bigger vision: Christ will return to completely purify and clean his holy city, and we will dwell with him forever.
Isaiah, writing in the 8th Century BC, begins with a 360 degree review which exposes darkness through a hurting father, a hurting children, and a hideous religion. God is a personal and intimate father who is not distant and uncaring toward what his children do, being broken over the depravity of his children who continually forget him and rebel against him. Estrangement from God through rebellion in sin has brought darkness, loneliness, emptiness, hurt, suffering, and death. Our sin has caused us hurt, and hurt the Father. Our religion, without relationship, is a hurt and broken religion. Our rituals, without restoring our relationship to the Father, is empty. Still, there is a hint of hope: scarlet sins will be made white as snow. Restoration will come. There’s hope of sins that will be washed away, a city that will be made righteous and learn justice, and a people who will walk in the light of the Lord. Through the murder of God’s son, Jesus Christ, the light of God has shone thr...