Take this cup

Ever found it perplexing why Jesus prayed in Luke 22:42 “Father, if it isYour will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done?

 At the Lord’s Supper we often emphasize the terrible physical aspect of the cup of Jesus’ sufferings (the brutal cup) – the floggings, the crown of thorns, the nails through Jesus’ hands and feet, and the excruciating pain of hanging on the cross.  The word we use today to describe the worst kind of pain is the word excruciating. It’s very interesting how the word excruciating has a link with the word crucifixion. Charles Spurgeon writes:

We know that the greatest … pain that the body can endure, is that arising from a bone out of its place … Now when the Lord was raised up upon the cross, and his sacred body hung in the air from the nails, all the joints began to give, so that the bones were parted one from the other so visibly that, in very truth (as David had prophesied) they might tell all his bones, and thus, throughout his whole body, he endured acute torture. (The Treasury of David, Vol. 1, Hendrickson Publishers, p. 343).

Maybe we can’t be 100% sure why Jesus prayed for the cup to be removed when the cross was always His destiny, but if we turn our eyes also toward the non-physical aspects of the cup we might better understand the horrible extent of the agony Jesus was experiencing. For example, the cup was also:

. an undeserved cup. Jesus suffered as an innocent man for others.

. a treacherous cup of rejection. Peter, Judas, all the disciples, His own nation, and His creation deserted and disowned Him.

. a cup of spiritual warfare. The cup involved Jesus fighting the forces of darkness arrayed against Him. See Luke 22:53, Colossians 2:15.

. a sin filled cup (2 Corinthians 5:21). Imagine the agony for the Holy Christ of taking the sins of the world on Himself.

. a cup of God’s wrath and of a curse against Him. See Isaiah 53:4 and Galatians 3:13.

. the cup of the forsaken. Compare Jesus’ cry of being forsaken with the martyrs who were singing as they burned at the stake. They had the comfort of God and the love of God shed abroad in their hearts. Jesus had the wrath of God abiding on Him.

Glory be to our Lord who never wavered in His willingness to do His Father’s will.

Putting an end to all suffering

When we’re feeling upset about the terrible suffering in the world and God’s patience towards it, it’s useful to contemplate God’s options for ending it. Here are four possible options.

He could step in every time we were about to do something that could cause harm. How many of us would complain about Him being a terrible ‘Big Brother’ figure?

Secondly, He could destroy all sinners, since greed, lying, stealing, adultery, murder, and all manner of self-centered attitudes and actions are by far the main reasons for suffering. We probably wouldn’t like this option. Who would be left?

Thirdly, God could turn us all into robots with no free will who always behave exactly as programmed. I’m sure this option’s not very appealing either.

The remaining option, as I see it, is to try and turn our hearts away from doing the wrong thing by loving us so much we would never wish to hurt Him or others again. That’s the approach God took through the Cross. Millions have been turned away from lives dangerous to themselves and society by giving their lives to their loving Saviour. Love changes hearts better than anything.

Sadly, however, because most aren’t responding to His love, God will have to bring this world to a close, and apply the second option to those who refuse to accept His gracious free gift of eternal life through trusting in His Son. For now, we can just praise God for His free-will-respecting plan for ours and the world’s salvation.

Reflections on the way of salvation in Christianity

Someone not knowing much about Christianity might assume being a ‘good person’ would qualify a person for heaven. However, salvation, according to scripture, is a free gift we can’t earn by our own goodness or good works. Trying to attain God’s free gift by working or paying for it, would be insulting, just as it would be very offensive for a wife to offer to pay for flowers from her romantic husband.

Here are my meditations on why the way of salvation in Christianity is so wonderful:

. As Christians, we have great security and confidence in our salvation. We don’t have to reach a certain level of goodness to be accepted by God. God counts as our righteousness the righteousness of Christ, who we trust in alone for our salvation.

. We can be certain God won’t change His mind given the great sacrifice and suffering of His only begotten Son on our behalf.

. Our way of salvation truly demonstrates God‘s unconditional love toward us.

. It is God who saves us, not we ourselves. This is very comforting and reassuring as we all have many faults.

.   We have God living in us through the Holy Spirit strengthening us to continue in faith to the end.

. We have a demonstration, strongly supported by many witnesses, of how the dead can be raised – namely, Jesus.

. Even a mass murderer can be forgiven by God. That’s great news if we feel the things we have done in our life are unforgivable.

May these wonderful meditations encourage you!

The Greatest sign of the true God of Love

The greatest sign of the true God of love

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the greatest sign of all of the true God of love. 

Jesus’ sacrifice, however, may not meet our expectations of God. We would never have imagined God doing such a thing. Perhaps a story about King Solomon’s wisdom will help us understand why Jesus’ crucifixion shows the love of the true God in a very special way.

You might remember the Bible story in 1 Kings 3:16 where two prostitutes sleeping in the same house each had a baby. One awoke to find her baby dead because she had laid on him. She craftily swapped her dead baby with the other woman’s living baby. An argument over the living baby arose and the women wanted King Solomon to decide who the true mother was.

King Solomon knew how he would handle this sad case. He called for a sword and said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other. Of course, the true mother loved her child more deeply than the other woman, and to save her child’s life she immediately urged the King to give the child to the other woman. King Solomon thus immediately discerned who the child’s true mother was.

Just as King Solomon was able to know who the true mother was by her willingness to sacrifice to save her child’s life, we may know who the true God is by His willingness to suffer and sacrifice to save His creation.

One Love Concert/festival Tauranga

The popular 'One Love' reggae festival was in Tauranga this weekend.

I didn't go. Even my Jamaican wife didn't go. 

I am sure there would have been some enjoyable music and some 'conscious' music, as Jamaicans call it. By this they mean music that brings a good message. Tarrus Riley, who appeared this year, has been called a 'conscious' artist.

A very important question for each of us is, if we only had one love what would it be?

I pray it will be loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. If we have any love greater than this we can have no real expectation of the heavenly city's eternal joys. God truly deserves first place in our hearts for creating us and sending His Son to pay the price to save us from our sins so that we won't perish if we believe in Jesus.

Will you make God your first love?

At Church of God's Love, Tauranga, we declare the praises of God and the glories of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so you can abound in the love of God.