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Tag: Femi Aribisala

  • Why wives must submit to their husbands (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Why wives must submit to their husbands (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    “Marriage has a heavenly template and an earthly duplicate”.

    There has been a longstanding marriage in the godhead from eternity past. That marriage is between God the Father and Jesus the Son. God is two persons united in their love.

    This divine relationship provides the blueprint for the human family. Therefore, marriage on earth must be a sacred reflection of the family of God in heaven. Its identity, life, and power must come come from the heavenly pattern. 

    Paul says: “I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” (Ephesians 3:14-15).

    This means the relationship between God and Jesus is the Christian model for marriage. It gives us the exemplary insight of how husbands and wives should relate to one another. 

    Heavenly duplicate

    In effect, marriage has a heavenly template and an earthly duplicate. The purpose of God is to duplicate heavenly things on earth. So doing, the things on earth: “serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For (God) said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” (Hebrews 8:5).

    Jesus says we should pray to God: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10). This is further confirmation that the will of God is to establish the heavenly pattern of marriage on earth.

    Love imperative

    God is love. For God’s love to be functional, it must have an object. Therefore, because God is love, God must be more than one person. Because God is love, God must have someone to love. The person that God loves from eternity to eternity is Jesus.

    Jesus confirms this. He says to God the Father: “You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:4). Jesus also tells His disciples: “The Father loves the Son.” (John 5:20). 

    As the Father loves the Son, so must the husband love his wife. This love must be fully expressed publicly. Jesus says: “The world must learn that I love the Father.” (John 14:31). Similarly, the love of the husband and the wife must not be hidden but openly displayed.

    Creation of marriage

    The new practice in the Western world where men marry men and women marry women is devilish and ungodly. In the beginning it was not so. God, not man, created marriage. Therefore, God owns the copyright.

    This means marriage cannot be subject to earthly redesign. The marriage that is of God is between a man and a woman, and not between a man and a man, or a woman and a woman.

    Marriage’s heavenly design is founded in oneness. The mystery of marriage is that two become one. That is the divine character of God. The Bible records that: “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1).

    Similarly, in the beginning of creation was Adam, and Adam was with Eve, and Adam was Eve.

    Jesus says: “I and My Father are One.” (John 10:30). Husband and wife must also become one, according to the heavenly template of marriage: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24).

    Unity of faith

    Jesus prays that the union between Him and God the Father should also be duplicated in the Church of God and in the Christian marriage. He says to God:

    “I pray that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in us.  That they may be one just as We are One: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:20-26).

    This concept of oneness is a spiritual version of physical sexual intercourse that takes place in marriage. Jesus says: “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.” (John 14:11).

    This is the same way that Eve was in Adam and Adam was in Eve. It is the most profound expression of intimacy possible, and it results in the birth of a child that has the combined attributes of both the father and the mother. The child represents the physical manifestation of the union between the husband and the wife.

    Offspring of righteousness

    The birth of a child from the marriage of the husband and the wife is also present in the marriage of the believer to Christ. Jesus says to His disciples: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

    This presents the branch (the believer) as married to the vine (Christ). As a result of this marriage and sexual congress, the branch bears fruit. In other words, the branch gives birth to a child. This child or offspring is righteousness.

    Accordingly, Paul prays that believers may be: “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:10-11).

    Jesus says furthermore: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” (John 6:56). If we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we become married to Him. We become “the body of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:27).

    “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:15-17).

    James presents the antithesis of the Christ-centered marriage in the marriage most people contract unknowingly with the devil by living in disobedience to God:

    “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15).

    In the Christ-less marriage of disobedience with the devil, the offspring is sin. When the child called sin grows up, it kills its parents: “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23).

    Joint heirs

    Jesus says to God: “All I have is Yours, and all You have is mine.” (John 17:10). This is the same between believers and God. We are: “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17). Paul tells us: “All are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” (1 Corinthians 3:22-23).

    Therefore, there can be no private property between husband and wife. No more should one say: “My salary is mine, but your salary is ours.” But even more fundamentally, all that the believer has now belongs to Christ. Jesus says: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33).

    Husband’s authority

    In the heavenly marriage, God is the husband of Jesus the Son. As the eternal partner of God, the Father, Jesus is subordinate to God. Indeed, God calls Jesus His servant: “Here is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight; I will put My Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations.” (Isaiah 42:3).

    We can confirm that this is referring to Jesus because it is repeated and addressed to Him in Matthew 12:18.

    Jesus does not contest His subordinate position to God. He acknowledges it, saying: “My Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28). Paul also affirms this: “The head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3).

    Wives’ submission

    Similarly, the husband is the head of the wife. Paul says: “I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man.” (1 Corinthians 11:3-4).

    This subordinate position of the woman does not come from Paul. It comes from God. God passed a sentence on the woman (Eve) for being deceived by the devil to eat the forbidden fruit, and for also giving it to Her husband (Adam) to eat:

    “Then (God) said to the woman, ‘I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.’” (Genesis 3:16).

    Indeed, wives often seek to control their husbands, but the will of God is that it is the wife that must be subject to her husband.

    This provides the foundation for Paul’s insistence that a woman must not be in authority over a man in church:

    “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.” (1 Timothy 2:11-15).

    Although God’s sentence says the woman will give birth to children in pain and sorrow, the reprieve here is that she will not die in childbearing.

    It is also according to God’s verdict in Genesis that Paul says: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24).

    However, husbands should not get carried away by this injunction. In the first place, the husband is subject to Christ, so he takes all his directives from Christ. Moreover, according to Jesus, the Christian head must be a servant of those over whom he has authority:

    “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28).

  • Why wives must submit to their husbands (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    Why wives must submit to their husbands (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    “Adam was supposed to be single but married to God”.

    God says in the Bible: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24).

    Wives must submit to their husbands because God is the husband of Jesus, and Jesus submits to God. Wives must submit to their husbands because Jesus is the husband of the believer, and the believer must submit to Jesus as the bride of Christ. These spiritual relationships provide the templates for the relationship between wives and husbands.

    Marriage is not man-made; neither is it subject to human design. God is the author of marriage. Marriage was made in heaven. The greatest marriage of all is that between God the Father and Jesus the Son. Theirs is the supreme love story; one that is eternal and everlasting.

    The relationship between God and Christ is like the relationship between husband and wife. God is two persons (the Father and the Son) united in their love and marriage.

    Creation of marriage

    Since the godhead is a marriage between God the Father and God the Son, God created man also as a marriage of two people, male and female. Accordingly, the Bible records that the Father says to His beloved Jesus: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27).

    Thereby, when God created man in His own image, He created marriage. He also created a family relationship. Like God who is two in One, Father and Son, Adam was created as a human hermaphrodite. Adam was two-in-one. He was male and female combined.

    As a result, Adam and Eve were married at creation. Eve was in Adam and Adam was in Eve: “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them ‘man.’” (Genesis 5:1).

    “God created them male and female; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” (Genesis 5:2).

    He called their name Adam means Adam and Eve were called Adam. They were two people in one body, married to God.

    From Good to Bad

    Six times at the beginning of creation, God surveyed His works and declared it was good. After God created man, His positive assessment went up another notch: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31).

    But soon thereafter came a seeming contradiction: “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” (Genesis 2:18). 

    How did something God said was “very good” become “not good?” Did God suddenly realise as an afterthought that it is not good for man to be alone? Did God only discover belatedly that Adam needed a wife?

    The truth is that Adam was not supposed to have a wife. God was with Adam, so he was not alone. Adam was supposed to be single but married to God. All the companionship Adam required was supposed to come from God, the intended “husband” of Adam: “For your maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is His name.” (Isaiah 54:5). 

    Failure of Adam

    God is man’s first love. But Adam was carnal and not spiritually minded. Adam did not understand that he who has God is never alone. God is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24). The everlasting promise of God to man is: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5). Jesus repeats this. He says to His disciples on His resurrection: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).

    Thus, Pope John Paul 2 said: “When God-Yahweh speaks the words about solitude, it is in reference to the solitude of “man” as such, and not just to that of the male.”  Adam’s solitude or loneliness was not caused by lack of woman.  It was caused by his carnality.  Like Israel who rejected God and insisted on having a king, Adam sought companionship in flesh and not in spirit.  He desired someone that is bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. (Genesis 2:23).

    God’s answer to Adam’s loneliness was to bring different animals to Adam: “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.” (Genesis 2:19-20).

    Finally, God separated Eve from Adam, literally pulling her out of his ribs. This satisfied Adam, who declared ecstatically: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:23).

    Human marriage is therefore an attempt to unite Adam and Eve back together through the sexual congress. But even after such partial reunion, both husband and wife together mustbe re-married to God.

    Adam’s blunder

    God gave specific instructions to Adam about life in the Garden of Eden: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). 

    But instead of listening to God, Adam listened to Eve, his wife, and ate the forbidden fruit. In effect, Adam forgot that God is his first love. He preferred Eve to God. This preference proved to be disastrous, and it led Adam astray. 

    Once Adam allowed another relationship to take pre-eminence over his relationship with God, leading him to disobey God, his intimacy with God was lost. Once he ate the forbidden fruit, he sinned, and he became a sinner by nature. As such he died. He died spiritually immediately, and he began to die physically. Because of Adam’s sin, death entered the human race. 

    Like begets like. Adam was a son of God. But since he became a sinner before Eve conceived a child, every human being descended from Adam became sons of men instead of sons of God. Thus, Adam was created in the image and likeness of God. But Adam’s offspring was born in the image and likeness of Adam:

    “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man.” When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.” (Genesis 5:1-3).

    CONTINUED

  • Jesus is a slave trader (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Jesus is a slave trader (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    “When a man is made free from sin, he becomes a slave of righteousness”.

    The psalmist prophesied about Jesus’ resurrection: “You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive.” (Psalm 68:18). However, Jesus does not lead unbelievers or demons. He only leads believers. Therefore, believers are the captivity that the psalmist prophesied Jesus would lead captive. Jesus rescues us from the captivity of sin and then puts us in the captivity of righteousness.

    This is how Paul expresses this kingdom dynamic:

    “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Roman 6:16-23).

    Chained but free

    Significantly, Paul, the chief exponent of the New Testament, was often a prisoner in chains. Indeed, he referred to himself as “an ambassador in chains.” (Ephesians 6:20).Paul was often in chains by God’s design to demonstrate that a man can be physically chained but spiritually free. At the same time, many people that are physically free do not know that they are spiritually chained. This means a physical slave might be spiritually free, while a physically free man might be spiritually enslaved.

    The power of the gospel is that it opens the eyes of the blind to see their true spiritual condition. Thus, “Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” (John 8:31-32).

    Mystery of iniquity

    The word of God reveals that a sinner is in bondage. He is a slave of sin. When we are slaves of sin, we are controlled by our passions and lusts. This is the mystery of iniquity, or the mystery of lawlessness. It is a secret power that is not known to the sinner but becomes self-evident to the saint: “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

    Freedom in slavery

    Jesus is the Saviour who frees us from the stranglehold of sin. He says: “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36).

    This freedom is the freedom of the spirit. A man who is spiritually free is free indeed, even though he might be in physical chains as was the case of Paul. A man who is spiritually bound however is bound indeed, even though he is free to go from bar to bar, and to hop from bed to bed.

    It is only the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that can make a man spiritually free. This is because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every man who believes.

    A man who is in bondage to sin regards himself as free. He feels he can do whatever he likes. He can sleep with whomever he likes. He can drink as much as he likes whenever he likes. He is answerable to no one.

    But what he does not realise is that his presumed freedom is a sign of bondage to sin. Sin makes a man free from God. Sin makes a man free from righteousness. Sin makes a man lawless and reckless.

    When somebody annoys you, you just feel the urge to slap the person and you do so. Your passions commanded you to slap him and you did. You gave him a dirty slap. You taught him a lesson. It commanded you to abuse him, so you did. Afterward you felt good and even boasted about it.

    Your passions commanded you to sleep with that woman. You obeyed, and thoroughly enjoyed it. But without knowing it, you were a man under the authority of sin.

    Slavery in freedom

    When a man is a slave of sin, he is free from righteousness. But when he is made free from sin, he becomes a slave of righteousness.

    A man made free from sin often does not realise he is now a slave of righteousness. He feels he is now free to do what he likes. This is not the case. Precisely because he is now free, he cannot do what he likes.

    His freedom is for a reason and with an objective: to serve the Lord Christ. Accordingly, Jesus spoke to Moses saying: “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” (Exodus 8:1).

    Righteousness makes a man bound to Christ. Righteousness makes a man free from sin. Righteousness makes a man lawful. A man freed from sin does not wilfully return to bondage. Paul says: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

    A man who is made free by Christ needs to serve Christ with the same wholeheartedness with which he served sin. When we were under the bondage of sin, we were completely free from righteousness. Now that we are bound to righteousness, we must be completely free from sin.

    There is just one residual problem. Sin still resides in our mortal bodies. Paul says:

    “When I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.” (Romans 7:21-23).

  • Jesus is a slave trader (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    Jesus is a slave trader (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    “Believers are slaves of Jesus”.

    I write in my new book: “Kingdom Dynamics: The Day of My Death,” that Jesus saved my life and then took my life. He saved me because He wanted to kill me. As a result, my Saviour became my adversary and killer. That is kingdom dynamics.

    Similarly, Jesus frees slaves from bondage and then enslaves them Himself. Indeed, the greatest slave trader of all is Jesus Christ. If Jesus enslaves you and you try to escape, you are going to get in trouble. 

    Enslaved Jews

    When the king who did not know Joseph became Pharaoh in Egypt, the Jews became the slaves of the Egyptians. Later, God sent Moses to rescue them, and he did this by a strong hand.

    When Jesus, the Messiah came, He also declared that He came to proclaim liberty to captives and to set free those who are oppressed. (Luke 4:18). As a result, many reached the conclusion that God is against slavery. Liberation theology” maintains slavery must be resisted by the righteous.

    The general conclusion is that slavery is evil. The British, who were the chief slave traders, maintained that they would never be slaves. They sang an anthem saying: “Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves. Britons never, never, never will be slaves.

    Righteous men, like William Wilberforce in England and Frederick Douglas in the USA, fought to get slavery abolished. The American civil war was fought over slavery. Today, slavery is proscribed in modern society.

    God and slavery

    But God’s attitude to slavery is ambivalent. Slavery was legitimised under the Law of Moses. Under the law, you could own a slave, but after 6 years you must let him go free. When he is set free, he must not go empty-handed. A six-year slave can then elect to be a permanent slave.

    Women could also be sold into slavery under the law. But female slaves were given special protection. They could not be sold into prostitution. Owners of female slaves had to marry them or give them as wives to their sons. Therefore, fathers could sell their daughters into slavery as a means of securing their future.

    Although God liberated Israel from slavery in Egypt, He later sent them back into slavery in Babylon when they offended Him. Thereafter, they looked forward to a Messiah who would liberate them once again.

    Disinterested Jesus

    But when Jesus came, He was completely disinterested in liberating the Jews from Roman oppression. Many hoped His powerful anointing could be used politically, even militarily. They wanted to make Him a king to lead a liberation movement. But Jesus did not accede to their wishes. (John 6:15).

    When He rose from the dead, His disciples became convinced that it was time for Israel’s liberation. And so, they asked Him: “Lord, are You going to free Israel [from Rome] now and restore us as an independent nation?” (Acts 1:6). But Jesus simply fobbed them off.

    Slavery in Christianity

    Paul enjoins slaves to obey their masters:

    “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.” (Ephesians 6:5-8).

    Peter also expressed a similar viewpoint:

    “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.” (1 Peter 2:18-19).

    When the slave Onesimus escaped from Philemon, his owner, Paul sent him back, showing that Christianity does not put any premium on the freeing of slaves. Instead, Paul says:

    “Usually, a person should keep on with the work he was doing when God called him. Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you- but of course, if you get a chance to be free, take it. If the Lord calls you, and you are a slave, remember that Christ has set you free from the awful power of sin; and if He has called you and you are free, remember that you are now a slave of Christ. You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to Him- be free now from all these earthly prides and fears. So, dear brothers, whatever situation a person is in when he becomes a Christian, let him stay there, for now the Lord is there to help him.” (1 Corinthians 7:20-24).

    Jesus’ slavery

    Jesus calls believers to slavery. He says:

    “Whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave-  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:27-28).

    Many Christians fail to recognise is that Jesus Himself is a slave trader. The gospel says Jesus purchased slaves from slave-owners and then established His own slavery. As a result, Paul tells believers: “You are not your own. For you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

    The Lord says in Isaiah: “You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” (Isaiah 52:3). As foretold, Jesus bought us back “with His own blood.” (Act 20”:28).  

    Believers are now the slaves of Jesus. The only difference in God’s slavery from other forms of slavery is that, in the case of Jesus, the slave must agree to be a slave.

    Jesus says: “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).

    The disciple of Jesus is required to take the yoke of Jesus and put it on himself by himself. In that way, he agrees to be Jesus’ slave and to do all His bidding.

    However, if He refuses to be Jesus’ slave, there will be trouble. Those who rebel against Jesus’ enslavement are in for difficult times. The psalmist warns:

    “What fools the nations are to rage against the Lord! How strange that men should try to outwit God! For a summit conference of the nations has been called to plot against the Lord and His Messiah, Christ the King. ‘Come, let us break His chains,’ they say, ‘and free ourselves from all this slavery to God.’ But God in heaven merely laughs! He is amused by all their puny plans. And then in fierce fury He rebukes them and fills them with fear.” (Psalm 2:1-5).

    So, Jesus chains people down and makes us His slaves. If we rebel, we get into trouble. Jesus says: “Those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and kill them in front of me.” (Luke 19:27).

    CONTINUED…

  • The good and the perfect gift – By Femi Aribisala

    The good and the perfect gift – By Femi Aribisala

    “Instead of giving us good things, God first promises us good things”.

    Jesus asks: “What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:9-11).

    According to Jesus, evil earthly fathers give good gifts to their children, and the heavenly Father also does likewise. However, the good gifts that men give are fundamentally different from the good and the perfect gifts of God.

    While God can give, and sometimes gives, what men give, men cannot give what God gives. The earthly father gives bread and fish, which God also gives. But only the heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit.

    This critical distinction between the gifts of men and those of God is revealed in Luke. There, Jesus says: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13).

    God’s gift

    There is one vital thing that God gives exclusively, and it is the only thing that is truly good. That one good thing is God Himself. God is so gracious and loving; He gives Himself to us. Jesus says: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

    Since God the Father and Jesus the Son are one, in giving Jesus to us God gives Himself to us. So, when Jesus says: Ask, and it will be given to you; (Matthew 7:7), He is telling us to ask for God and not for bread and fish.

    But virtually all our prayers are for bread and fish. Our prayers are disproportionately for temporal things. We pray for our children’s school fees, for our house rent, for the money to buy groceries. We pray to buy cars, to build houses, to have children, and to get married.

    Our problem is that, like Peter, we are mindful of the things of men and not of the things of God. (Matthew 16:23). That is why James says: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:3).

    Jesus fed the people with bread and fish, the good things of men. So, they concluded He was the person they had been looking for all their lives. But when they went to great lengths to come after Him, He said to them: “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” (John t6:27).

    What food could Jesus be talking about here, they wondered. He told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood. As a result, they lost all interest in Him and departed from Him. They were not interested in the blessings of goodness. (Psalms 21:3). Their god was their belly. (Philippians 3:19).

    Goodness only comes from God. It is the fruit of His Spirit. If God were to give anything good, it can only be Himself for only God is good. Goodness does not exist outside of God.

    Perfect gift

    God does not only give good gifts, but He also gives the perfect gift. James says: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17).

    That perfect gift is God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ. This means God Himself is our glorious possession. We are heirs of God and not just of what belongs to Him. (Romans 8:17).

    In Canaan, God gave most of the Israelites the good gift of lands. But He reserved the perfect gift for the Levites. He did not give them any land. Instead, He gave them Himself. The Bible records that: “To the tribe of Levi Moses had given no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as He had said to them.” (Joshua 13:33).

    In effect, those who got lands obtained the good things of men. But those who received God obtained the perfect thing of God. Moreover, those who got God insist they got the better deal. The psalmist says:

    “O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.” (Psalm 16:5-6).

    God’s perfect gift is Himself. For this reason, God’s good gifts are simply appetisers and inducements for His perfect gift. God knows we are carnal, and that, in ignorance, we have little or no appreciation for the perfect. We are sold out on the good. Therefore, instead of giving us good things, He first promises us good things. 

    He will tell us He is going to do something good for us. Then He will make us wait for it. While we are waiting for the good gift, He will reveal to us the perfect gift of Himself. Indeed, by the time He finally gives you the good gift He promised, we might no longer be interested, having discovered while waiting the perfect gift of God Himself.

    Abram’s gift

    God offered Himself to Abram. He told him: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (Genesis 15:1).  

    But Abram did not want God. What he wanted was a child. When God finally gave Abram a son, He asked him to sacrifice his son. But by then God had become Abram’s portion. He said to Isaac: “God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” (Genesis 22:8).

    “Therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto (us), and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon us: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him.” (Isaiah 30:18).

    When we receive a gift, we can leave the giver immediately. But when we receive a promise, we stay. We get to know the promiser. We discover that the perfect gift of God is God Himself. God only uses the good things of this world to bring us to Himself.

    These good gifts are temporal, while the perfect gift of God is eternal.

    The Lord came to me once and asked me a characteristically loaded question.  He said: “Femi, what do you own?”

    While I was pondering what he meant exactly and how to answer, He decided to help me out. He said to me: “If what you have can be lost, then it does not belong to you. If it can be stolen, then it has no value. If it can be burnt or destroyed, then it is illusory.”

    Then He asked me: “So what do you have left?” The Holy Spirit helped me out. He said: “The only ‘thing’ you have left is Jesus.”

  • There is nothing we can do for God – By Femi Aribisala

    There is nothing we can do for God – By Femi Aribisala

    “Man cannot please God. Only God pleases God”.

    The Bible implies that those endowed with the Holy Spirit can please God. (Romans 8:8).Paul says: “As we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).

    How do we please men? We please men by doing things for men. However, we do not please God by doing things for Him. Those who presume to do things for God provoke the wrath of God.

    God killed Uzzah because he presumed to do something for God. The Ark of God was about to fall as it was being carried into Jerusalem. Out of the goodness of his heart, Uzzah reached out to steady the ark and God killed him on the spot. (2 Samuel 6:5-7).

    A god that needs our help cannot be God. God must have been asleep when the ark was falling. Or he must have been distracted. If so, he cannot be the Lord God Almighty. But God Himself toppled the Ark because it was not being carried according to His instructions. (1 Chronicles 15:12-14).

    Elijah derided the blind, deaf, and dumb gods of the Baal worshippers: “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” (1 Kings 18:27).

    Therefore, we must not make the mistake of presuming how to please God”: “Find out what pleases the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:10). Paul says: “Brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

    Pleasing God

    We do not please God by doing things for Him. We glorify God by needing Him to do things for us. God does not want us to do anything for Him. He is God. He wants to do everything for us.

    Jesus says we should lay down our lives for Him: “He who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39). But then He seemingly contradicts this by maintaining we cannot lay down our lives for His sake:

    “Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.’” (John 13:37-38).

    The reason is simple: without Jesus, we can do nothing. (John 15:5).

    Faith determines works

    Works do not determine faith. Faith determines works. Jesus says we will know true believers by their fruits. (Matthew 7:20). John the Baptists says the same thing: “Every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:9).

    But John the Baptist is stomped when they ask him what they should do. He offers ineffective prescriptions:

    “So the people asked him, saying, ‘What shall we do then?’ He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.’ Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than what is appointed for you.’” (Luke 3:10-13).

    All this is balderdash! It does not work. The works of man does not commend the righteousness of God. The works of men do not please God. “All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6).

    Moses prays to God in the psalms: “Establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.” (Psalm 90:17).

    God does not establish the work of men’s hands. He only establishes the work of His own hands. Indeed, man cannot please God. Only God pleases God.

    Man is not good, and he cannot be good. Jesus says: “No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Matthew 19:17). “When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants.’” (Luke 17:10).

    How can a perfect God be satisfied with the works of an imperfect man? God cannot be pleased with anybody outside of Himself because nobody, but God is perfect. God cannot be pleased with imperfect. To be pleased with a man is to give glory to a man. But all the glory must belong to God and to God alone.

    God is only pleased with the works of Jesus. He says of Jesus: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17).

    But even the works of Jesus are not the works of Jesus. They are the works of God the Father. Jesus says to His disciples: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” (John 14:10).

    The Bible says: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38).

    Jesus only did good works because He was anointed by the Holy Spirit. The principle should be clear: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6). Jesus tells us: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” (Acts 1:8).

    Division of labour

    What work then are we supposed to do that can be pleasing to God? The work God wants us to do is no work at all. The work God wants is for us to believe in Him.

    “Then they said to (Jesus), ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’” (John 6:28-29).

    God is only pleased with what God Himself has wrought in a man. God equips us not by giving us the tools to do the work, but by taking up residence in us to do the work.

    “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13). The work that pleases God is the work that He does in us. So, “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16).

    If a man does what God asks Him to do, it is still God that does the work, and it is only God that gets the glory. So, if God gives you an assignment, do not do it before receiving the power to do it from God.

    “May the God of peace make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21).

  • Controlling anger (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Controlling anger (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    “Anger is wrong when it is against the person and not the offence”.

    Causeless anger often relates to deep-seated sin, such as envy or pride. Malice refers to deep-seated anger that makes a man inclined to interpret the actions of another negatively.

    David has come to give his brothers some supplies, yet Eliab attacks him for coming to the warfront. David says: “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17:29).

    “But David, don’t you know that your brother bears malice against you? Have you forgotten that although you are the baby of the family, it was you that the high priest anointed as the future king of Israel?”

    Joseph’s brothers

    The brothers of Joseph hated him because he was Daddy’s favourite: “‘Here comes that dreamer!’ they said to each other. ‘Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.’” (Genesis 37:19-20).

    Malice has many causes, but its effect is a general feeling of ill will towards somebody.

    One of the most distressing things in contemporary Christianity is the prevalence of maliciousness among Christians. Some are malicious because somebody is rich, beautiful, or articulate, or can sing. Others are malicious because of inferiority complexes. They are insecure and cannot stand those who do not seem to have the problems they have.

    “Why don’t you like Jones?” “I love him with the love of God.” “Of course, you don’t, but you cannot answer that question because to answer it is to reveal a part of you that you don’t want to admit, or a part of you that you have suppressed.”

    “Do you have feelings of malice against Fred?” “No, God knows that I have forgiven him.”

    Well, pull this other leg. When you see Fred, what happens? He just suddenly comes into a room and your stomach turns. Suddenly you notice that his ears are quite big and that his teeth are like cutlasses.

    Pastor Jonah

    The bible talks about an evangelist who went to preach the gospel and was angry that the members of his congregation gave their lives to Christ. Jonah was angry that the people of Nineveh repented, and God was merciful to them.

    Is it not strange that a preacher should be angry that members of his congregation responded positively to his message?

    God asks Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ He replies, ‘It is right for me to be angry, even to death!’” (Jonah 4:9).

    Jesus asks the Jews: “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?” (Matthew 20:15).

    Is it right for you to be angry at someone else’s good fortune? Is it right for you to be angry that something good happened to someone? I know you don’t believe this refers to you, but if you search your heart by the help of the Holy Spirit you will discover that you are often angry at people because they are physically “blessed.” Or you are often angry at God (like Jonah) because He seems to be good to someone who you feel is not deserving of God’s goodness.

    As if you yourself were deserving of it.

    Anger without cause

    Anger is wrong when it transcends the cause. It is wrong when it goes beyond the necessity of immediate self-protection.

    “When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honour, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead, Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.” (Esther 3:5-6).

    Imagine that! Because Haman was angry at Mordecai, he wanted to destroy not only him but all the Jews in Persia.

    Ungodly anger

    Anger is wrong when it is against the person and not the offence. The object of anger should not be to injure but self-protection.

    Anger is wrong when the desire is for revenge. Amnon raped Tamar, Absalom’s sister. So, Absalom is out to get Amnon. On a fateful date:

    “Absalom ordered his men, ‘Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Have not I given you this order? Be strong and brave.’ So, Absalom’s men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered.” (2 Samuel 13:28-29).

    But God says: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” (Romans 12:19).

    Anger is wrong when it is cherished and heightened by reflection. When you have had time to dwell upon the wrong done to you, and in the process, you have had the opportunity to embellish and enlarge it. And then you remember that the head of the offender is very big and thereby abuse his Creator: “Look at that stupid head of his.”

    The devil will always try to influence your mind and irritate your spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would bring to our remembrance the word of God. Our adversary, the devil, brings to remembrance every wrong done in the past, the better to agitate and aggravate the wounded spirit.

    Anger is wrong when an unforgiving spirit accompanies it. This leads to the determination to exact the utmost satisfaction for the injury that has been done. Malice and hatred are the offspring of anger.

    Overlooking insults

    “A wise man restrains his anger and overlooks insults. This is to his credit.” (Proverbs 19:11).

    The wise man says there is wisdom in overlooking insults and in restraining anger. David concurs. He agrees to leave everything to God:

    “I, like a deaf man, do not hear; and I am like a mute who does not open his mouth. Thus, I am like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth is no response. For in You, O LORD, I hope; you will hear, O Lord my God.” (Psalm 38:13-15).

    “Do you know that Ngozi does not like you?” “Good for her.”

    No one is blameless

    Make no mistake about it; in any quarrel, no one is blameless. You are only blameless if you do not quarrel. We need to be reminded of this time and time again. As someone has offended you, so have you offended others.

    Anger is often born of self-righteousness. But what we want is Christ’s righteousness and not self-righteousness.

    When told a parable of a man’s transgression, David pronounced unwittingly a death sentence on himself. When Nathan told him about a rich man who stole a poor man’s lamb:

    “David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!’” (2 Samuel 12:5).

    We are often especially angry at those things we ourselves are guilty of. David was very angry that someone whom God had blessed should be so selfish and wicked. But he failed to recognise he was the man. He failed to recognise he was guilty of that very sin.

    When we do something wrong, there is a good excuse for the infraction. But when someone else does it, it is inexcusable and unacceptable.

  • Controlling anger (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    Controlling anger (1) – By Femi Aribisala

    “Things done and said in anger are often regretted”.

    Anger is the feeling of displeasure because of something evil or unpleasant. It is produced by the reception of real or imagined injury. It is also an expression of displeasure, often resulting in the chiding, rebuking, or punishing of the offender.

    Anger is natural. Everybody gets angry at one time or the other. God does not deliver men from anger. Neither does he hinder the natural expression of our emotions.

    Natural feelings are not wrong when directed at their legitimate objects and when they are not allowed to exceed righteous bounds.

    The problem arises if, and when, there is a perversion of God’s original design. What we need is the wisdom to know how to deal with our emotions and to control them in a way and a manner consistent with the word of God. 

    Looking unto Jesus

    There were times when Jesus was very angry. He was angry when the religious orthodoxy of the Pharisees led them to object to the alleviation of the suffering of a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. (Mark 3:5).

    He was angry when He saw the moneychangers and the buying and selling in the temple court. (John 2:13-16).

    Jesus was an emotional person. He felt sorrow, grief, frustration, anger, love, and compassion. The Holy Spirit often chooses our emotions as a means of expressing Himself in our lives.

    Sometimes the Holy Spirit himself prompts a man to righteous indignation: “Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused.” (1 Samuel 11:6).

    In some cases, anger is the duty of man. It is not enough that God’s people should love righteousness, they must also be angry at sin. A man who is incapable of being angry at sin cannot love righteousness.

    Be angry

    Expect to be angry. Don’t let anger catch you unawares. Don’t be surprised if you express anger. Where the spirit of God is there is liberty. Go ahead and be angry. “Be angry, and do not sin.” (Psalm 4:4).

    Anger is natural. Anger that is the sudden or immediate reaction to injury is legitimate. A driver pushed you into a ditch and you were angry. Your anger is natural and legitimate. It does not compromise or negate your faith.

    A man tries to slap you and you are angry. You dash your foot against a stone and you are angry. This kind of reaction is natural, involuntary, legitimate, and healthy.

    It is a self-defence mechanism instituted by God in our nature. But there its legitimate office ends. Taken further, it leads to wrath, bitterness, malice, and revenge. If anger is persevered in, it almost always leads to sin.

    When we are angry, there is danger we may get beside ourselves. We may not be able to respond with sensitivity to the needs of others. We may lose in the moment of anger our ability to feel compassion. We may cause estrangement with others.  

    We may create strife and enmity in our relationships. We may cease to give generously. We may require unrealistically high standards of behavior from others to compensate for the way we feel we have been injured or attacked. We may become highly judgmental.

    Acting in anger

    Things done and said in anger are often regretted. This is because anger is a mild form of madness. You say what you don’t want to say and do what you would not have wanted to do.

    Anger is the cause of so many regrets. You can build a relationship for ten years and destroy it in one outburst of anger. 

    Anger and lust are like fire which, if quickly put out, they die. But if you allow them to burn for long, they can destroy and consume everyone, including you yourself. Therefore the bible enjoins us to deal with it immediately. 

    “Don’t let the sun go down with you still angry-get over it quickly; for when you are angry, you give a mighty foothold to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27).

    Unresolved malice soon leads to bitterness. You simply resent everything that the other person does. He cannot do anything right as far as you are concerned. This bitterness towards someone easily leads to outbursts of temper, which is called wrath.

    Wrath becomes anger, which is a permanent state of emotional agitation. Anger can easily lead to clamour, which is quarrelling. And quarrelling leads to habitual evil speaking about the person you are quarrelling with.

    “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

    Devil’s promptings

    Many of our feelings are not our own but are there as auto-suggestions of the evil one. The devil will use every opportunity to get you to cherish and harbour ill-feelings towards others. He is always busy when we are angry, trying to embellish the wrong and to provoke us into sinful reactions.

    Don’t fall for it. No man sins by restraining his anger. No man is certain that he will not sin if he indulges his anger even for a moment.

    The devil in this case may be a talebearer or a gossip or a slanderer. These are human devils or human agents of devils. If you give place to him or her, he might plant anger and malice in your heart.

    “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).

    Slow to anger

    A believer is a fool for Christ, but he should not be a fool. However, a believer who is prone to anger is a fool.

    “Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).

    A wise man does not keep malice. He does not let the sun go down on his wrath. Don’t let anger sleep in your heart, it will wake up when you least expect it.

    An angry man is easily manipulated. He is easily provoked. He is like a city without walls, all kinds of riff-raff can come in. It is easily subject to attack.

    “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.” (Proverbs 25:28).

    This makes him open to temptation and to traps. You can be deceived and you flare up and might have compromised your job, your marriage, or your future before you know the truth.

    If we are in the wrong, we must pray to God to give us the grace to admit our wrongdoing. If we are in the right, we must equally ask for the grace not to be self-righteous.

    Without cause

    Anger is wrong when it is excited without sufficient cause or justification. Jesus is not against anger, but against anger without a cause.

    “I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:22).

     

    CONTINUED

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  • Salvation from life (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Salvation from life (2) – By Femi Aribisala

    Are you saved from life or death? Would you like to be saved from happiness? Would you like to be saved from riches? Would you like to be saved from the pride of life?

    Have you ever seen a man who was saved from happiness before? Men are usually saved from adversity. But in his case they said please save him because happiness is going to kill him.

    What exactly does he need? He needs a little bit of suffering. He needs a little bit of affliction. And so, many are the afflictions of the righteous. (Psalm 34:19).

    Solomon says: Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.” (Ecclesiastes 7:3-4).

    If we want to live, we first must die.

    Life of death

    Jesus asks the man at the pool of Bethesda: “Do you want to be made whole?” (John 5:6). This is tantamount to asking: “Do you want to stop lusting?” “Do you want to stop fighting? Stop quarreling? Stop promoting yourself? Stop defending yourself? Stop justifying yourself?”

    In Christ, you no longer exist. You are one with Him.

    Something terrible happened to Mr. Job. Something happened that made him despair for life. Most people celebrate their birthdays, but Job cursed the day of his birth.

    He wished he had never been born. Job longed for the peace of death. He said: “Let the day of my birth be cursed,” he said, “and the night when I was conceived. Let that day be forever forgotten. Let it be lost even to God, shrouded in eternal darkness.” (Job 3:2).

    How did Job come to this predicament?

    Endangered life

    Life happened to Job. The life Jesus came to deliver us from happened to him. The life that many people cling to tenaciously and rapaciously happened to him.

    Imagine you are suffering from a terminal sickness and when you consult your doctor, he simply tells you: “You are suffering from life.” How can you be cured of life?

    Jesus is in that business. He is in the business of delivering men from counterfeit life to eternal life.

    Life became deadly to Job. Life became a sickness to him. Solomon, in his wisdom, reached the same conclusion. He lamented: “I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 2:17).

    Job too hated life. At that stage, Job was ready for Christ. Job was a prime candidate for death, and for the resurrection to the newness of life by Jesus Christ.

    Job is everyman and he is every believer. But the dynamics of the kingdom of God indicate that God needs to take us to that place where we despair for life. He needs to take us to that place where we are convinced that it is better to die than to live. Only when He does this are we likely to relinquish counterfeit life.

    Sudden adversity

    Have you ever reached a point where you despaired for life? That is what life does. Life suddenly comes up with a problem for which you have no solution. Life suddenly throws you a curve.

    Everything was smooth sailing, and you were blessing God and giving Him thanks and then, “straightaway,” a major crisis of insoluble proportions shows up unannounced out of nowhere, and it completely changes your theology.

    Suddenly somebody close and dear dies. It might be a husband, it might be a wife, it might be a child, it might be a relative, and it might be a friend. Suddenly, there is a catastrophic accident, and somebody is hospitalized. Suddenly, there is a business failure, a failed bank, or an armed robbery. Suddenly you lose your job.

    It has nothing to do with how righteous you are. It has nothing to do with how faithful to God you are. God himself testified that Job was righteous. And yet in one day, Job lost all his children, lost all his business, and all his wealth, and then he lost his health.

    Then we are faced with the million-dollar question: will Job lose his faith as well?

    Why does this happen?

    Good and evil

    It happens because we live in a fallen world. We live in a world that God was determined to shield man from. It is a world built with knowledge from the tree of good and evil. It ensures that everything man-made combines the good with the bad.

    We live in a world under the sway of the evil one where the good, the bad, and the ugly are intertwined. All are exposed to calamity.  It is only in the future world that the good will be happy and the wicked will be punished. In the world to come, all that is irregular on earth will be regularized.

    Then: “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low.” (Isaiah 40:4). But here on earth, the sun shines on the good and the evil. The wind blows, the rain falls, and the storms come on the good and the evil.

    Appointed to suffer

    The righteous obtain fewer blessings from God than the wicked in this world. The wicked are happier and more prosperous:

    “The truth is that the wicked live on to a good old age and become great and powerful. They live to see their children grow to maturity around them, and their grandchildren too. Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them… They are prosperous to the end.” (Job 21:7-12).

    The psalmist concurs: “Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.” (Psalm 73:12).

    Killing to make alive

    God called Moses to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. But on the way, the same God met him and wanted to kill him: “It came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him.” (Exodus 4:24).

    Does God want you dead? Do not ask me. Ask David.

    He was promised a kingdom and anointed as king. But instead of going straight to the throne, he spent years running for his life. I know you thought he was running from Saul, but David was in no doubt it was God he was running from. He knew Saul could not succeed unless God allowed him. He knew only God could take his life.

    Therefore, David pleaded: “What will you gain, O Lord, from killing me? How can I praise You then to all my friends? How can my dust in the grave speak out and tell the world about Your faithfulness? Hear me, Lord; oh, have pity and help me.” (Psalm 30:9-10).

    The Lord wants us dead. He wants us to surrender and, like Jesus, lay down our life. Then, and only then, can we receive the abundant life he has in store for us. Protestations will not change God’s will.

    If we want to live, we first must die. God kills before He makes alive. (1 Samuel 2:6).

  • Salvation from life – By Femi Aribisala

    Salvation from life – By Femi Aribisala

    “We must relinquish every right to ourselves”.

    A Good Samaritan rushed a friend suffering from appendicitis to the hospital. They got there in the nick of time. His appendix had already ruptured. The doctor said that they had to operate right away, and they promptly wheeled him into the theatre.

    Quickly, his appendix was surgically removed. It was a successful operation. But there was a crisis when the man was revived. He kicked up a fuss. What exactly was the matter? He wanted his appendix back. “I never authorised you to remove it,” he insisted.

    What can be done in a case such as this? He said: “I cannot live without my appendix.”

    Can he live without a ruptured appendix? Or would he rather die with it?

    “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him.” (Hebrews 2:3).

    The man insisted: “I want my appendix back.”  “If we put it back, you might not even survive the operation.”  “Just put it back. I never asked you to remove it.”

    This relates to the contradictions we experience as Christians. How can we be redeemed without surrendering our lives? We were saved from Egypt, but we now want to go back to Egypt. What is the reality of Egypt? Was Egypt a nice place to be? Did we want to be saved from Egypt? Was salvation against our will? Can we be saved from our desires? Is Egypt heaven or hell? If it is heaven, why would we want to be saved from it? If it is hell, why would we want to return to it?

    The redeemed must surrender Egypt and all that is in Egypt. Egypt is another word for the world.

    John says: “Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God; for all these worldly things, these evil desires– the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance– these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself.” (1 John 2:15-16).

    To be redeemed, we must surrender every right to our lives because our lives were lives of sin and death. Remember Lot’s wife. She was rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah. But her heart remained in Sodom and Gomorrah. And so, against the Lord’s injunction, she looked back at the smouldering city and became a pillar of salt. She became a monument of God’s displeasure.

    “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6:4-6).

    The redeemed have been saved from the world. We must not return to the world.

    Surrender all
    I always wanted to own a Lexus. So, for years, I saved to be able to buy one and finally did. I adored the car. It was everything I longed for. I spent hours polishing it and admiring it.

    Then one day my wife asked me if I love her. I said, “Of course, I do.” She said: “I want you to give me your Lexus.”  I was flabbergasted. “But we own it together,” I protested. “No,” she said, “I want you to give it to me so that it belongs exclusively to me.” I resisted and she sulked: “You don’t love me.” “I love you,” I said. “Okay, I’ll buy you another car.” “No,” she replied. “I don’t want another car. I want the Lexus.”

    After one year of nagging, sulking, and complaining, I finally relented and gave her the car. She said: “Are you sure?”  “Yes, I am sure.”  “You mean it is mine.”  “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

    The next day she called me outside to see the car. I thought she was washing it; it was all wet. You would not believe what happened. She struck a match and set fire to the car.

    How was I to know that she had poured petrol all over it? “What in God’s name are you doing?” I protested. Her response was a classic: “You gave me the car. Since it is mine, I can do whatever I want with it. And what I want to do is to set it on fire.”

    Are we prepared to relinquish every right to ourselves? Are we prepared to relinquish every plan, purpose, and consideration that has its origin in us? Are we prepared to relinquish our hold on our affections?

    Crucified with Christ

    Paul says: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).

    Paul does not say that he has decided to obey Jesus. Neither does he say he will venerate Jesus. Such resolutions are based upon human initiative and effort. Instead, Paul affirms an abiding reality. “I am crucified.”

    Paul says he died when Christ died on the cross. He then rose from the dead when Christ rose from the dead. But he did not rise from the dead as Paul. He rose as Christ. In effect, all that Christ has wrought for him on the cross is now wrought in him.

    Although he still exists as an individual and separate entity, his mainspring and ruling disposition has been radically altered. He relinquished all rights to himself and became a slave of Christ.

    God delivers us from sin, but we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality.

    Dying to live

    Hannah says: “The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.” (1 Samuel 2:6).

    If He does not kill before imparting life, the old life would pollute the new. Therefore, the Lord kills so that we may be dead to sin and to the world. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is designed to get us to a point where we have no regard for the things of the world.

    God is determined that we become immune to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. A body in the grave is unaffected by pomp and vanity, gaiety and revelry, and ambition and splendour.

    “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

    The reality of our redemption should lead us to a posture where we no longer bother about ourselves. Our goal is God Himself, not joy, or peace, not even blessings, but God. Our concern is to realise Jesus Chris.