Come All Ye Unfaithful

Come All Ye Unfaithful

by | May 9, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“O come, all you unfaithful
Come, weak and unstable
Come, know you are not alone
O come, barren and waiting ones
Weary of praying, come
See what your God has done”

O Come All Ye Unfaithful, Sovereign Grace Music

“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Luke 15:1-2, NKJV

The word ‘prodigal’ is defined as being wasteful.

In Luke 15 the Pharisees and the scribes – the religious folk of the day – complain about Jesus receiving and eating with the undesirables of their society.

“This Man receives sinners and eats with them…”

Jesus responds with a series of three parables.

The first is the story of a shepherd who loses a sheep and leaves the 99 to go find the one. When he finds his lost sheep he calls his friends and family and they all rejoice together.

The second is the story of a woman who loses a gold coin. When she finds it she calls her friends and family and they rejoice together.

The third is probably one of the most misunderstood of the three stories that Jesus tells. We get distracted by the sin and shortcoming of the young man who squanders his inheritance – and ignore the purpose of the story altogether.

It is the story of a father who loses a son – and when the son returns the father calls his friends and family together so that they may rejoice, but the eldest brother, who had stayed behind is upset.

He says to his father: ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ (Luke 15:29-30, NKJV)

The first two stories end with a similar refrain – the thought that when a sinner comes home all of Heaven rejoices.

The story of the prodigal son does not have this refrain.

The eldest son in this case is just as ‘prodigal’ as the one who had left. He represents the Pharisees and the scribes.

Many in the church today are represented by the eldest son. There is no love for the sinner, the backslider, the addict, the prostitute…

But Jesus is married to the backslider (Jeremiah 3:14-15). He desires their return to the fold.

Shall we then, as the hands and the feet of the Father, refuse to seek them out? Shall we then, as the hands and feet of Jesus and agents of His grace, refuse to welcome them with open arms?

Are we perhaps the prodigal eldest son – wasting God’s grace by keeping it for ourselves, stashed away somewhere on a shelf – or are we sharing the joy unspeakable and full of glory, the hope of a restored life and eternal communion with Christ with our struggling brothers and sisters?

The church squanders its inheritance by receiving the grace that saves but refusing to become conformed to the image of Christ.

Both sons are the ‘prodigal son’, but only one ever gets restored in the parable. The one who had left and come back broken, empty, weary and burdened. The son who had been in his father’s house had absolutely no idea how far he had fallen and how wasteful he was being.

And so it is with the church. The parable of the prodigal son is a call to introspection. Is our judgement of others preventing us from seeking them out, welcoming them and loving them as Christ would have us do?

The father answers the eldest son with these words: ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ (Luke 15:31-31, NKJV)

Let us go then and receive the sinner, break bread with them, welcome them home. Even if they fall a thousand times, let us be there, willing like our Father in Heaven, to forgive, to love and to help them back up – as many times as it might take.

If you are perhaps more like the younger son today – the one who left and devoured his livelihood with harlots – consumed by the idolatry of sin and carnality – weak, unstable, barren, unfaithful – Jesus is calling you home!

Addicted, tired, bitter, guilty, fearful – Jesus is calling you!

And you don’t have to do it alone. No matter where you are in the world, reach out. Send me a message or an email (andre@adlabuschagne.co.za). We want to journey with you. You are not alone.

Prayer: Lord, help me be more like You. Break my heart for what breaks Yours and open my eyes so that I can see what You see. Help me love my neighbor. Help me love the sinner. Help me love the backslider. Give me the desire to see them saved. Equip me, Lord, through Your Spirit to reach out and call them back home. Equip me through Your Spirit, Lord, with the necessary grace to guide them, to make disciples and above all to help them back up when the slip, slide or fall. Help me stay true to Your Word and Your Will as I strive to be more like You. In Jesus Mighty Name. Amen.

Manna For Today

Manna For Today

by | May 2, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“There’s mercy in the waiting
Manna for today
And when it’s gone I know you’re not
You are my hope and stay
When the sea is raging
Your Spirit is my help
He’ll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ
And I’ll say that is well
Oh I know that it is well”

You’ve Already Won, Shane and Shane

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”

Deuteronomy 8:3, NIV

In Exodus 16 the Lord sends bread from the sky – the Manna which we have so often heard about as a symbol of God’s provision – these frosted flakes reminiscent of coriander seed, white and tasting of wafers with honey that fed the camp of Israel.

An interesting aside is the direct translation from the Hebrew. The Hebrew word ‘Manna’ is not so much a description of the thing itself, but rather a description of the feeling it elicited in those who saw it – the word Manna, or Mahn, translates as “what is it?!

So baffling was the provision of God in the desert that the people walked around, wondering loudly, “what is it?!”

The Israelites took, day by day, whatever they needed for their homes and nothing more – processing it into bread to eat.

Numbers 11:8: “And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. (KJV)”

The fear of tomorrow, at first, did cause some of the people in the camp to hoard more than was necessary – but it would spoil overnight and breed worms.

The Manna was for today. It was an exercise in trust.

If we really think about it, our needs are always temporal – we are hungry until we get fed, thirsty until we drink, and so forth.

Jesus makes a very important point when He tells us to consider the lilies and the birds. Are you not worth more?

The truth is this, God had better in store for them. This whole exercise in trust was to get them to the Jordan River where they would ‘write their final faith exam’. 

Yes, today you might be waiting and praying for that  increase or promotion, but you are missing the manna in the situation – the opportunity to prove yourself. The manna needs to be processed into bread.

Yes, today you are waiting for ministry doors to open – for a platform or a pulpit – but you are missing the manna in the situation – study to show yourself approved, getting down on your knees and seeking His presence. The manna needs to be processed into bread.

Today you are waiting for your family relationships to be restored but you are missing the manna in the situation – the opportunity for fellowship and communion with your loved ones, the opportunity to build a relationship right now. The opportunity to reach out and plant the seeds of reconciliation is there  – now! The manna needs to be processed into bread if you are to make it to your Jordan.

But often we get discouraged, not being mindful of God’s timing and process, waiting for the big things and missing out on the miracles of our daily lives.

There is a point in their wandering where the people grew tired of the Manna that God was providing. They craved other food – forgetting the goodness of the Lord and how He had seen them through. Even though they were getting meat in the evenings, they craved more.

Numbers 11:31-34:31 Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. 32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers.Then they spread them out all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. 34 Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

Kibroth Hattaavah translates as the “graves of craving’.

God is giving you the ingredients for your daily bread – the bread that will sustain you all the way to your own Jordan. Let us not look to the left or to the right – but let us trust that the Lord knows what He is doing. This is the secret to contentment.

Let us eat with gratitude that which God prepares for us. Let us trust in Him knowing that His ways are higher than our own.

If we desire more, let that more be more of Him – and not the temporary satisfactions of this world.

God knows what we need. Keep waiting. Keep trusting – the land of His promise awaits those who are faithful and do not get sidetracked by the lusts and cravings of the carnal mind.

He will see to every need on your way to the banquet spread out for you.

Prayer:Lord, in the waiting, let my eyes be set on You. As those who have come before me in the faith have prayed, if You provide the bread and water, that will be enough. Help me bring my own desires into submission to Your perfect will, trusting fully that You know what You are doing. Help me see that Your plans for my life will always be better than the plans I have for myself, and do not let my small ambitions get in the way of what You want to do for me, in me and through me, in Jesus name. Let me run this race with endurance and stay true to my faith in You. In Jesus Name. Amen. 

 

Thank You Jesus For The Blood

Thank You Jesus For The Blood

by | May 1, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Thank you Jesus for the blood applied
Thank you Jesus, it has washed me white
Thank you Jesus, You have saved my life
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light”

Thank You Jesus for the Blood, Charity Gayle

“9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

1 Peter 2:9-10, NKJV

Fruit grows in the valley.

I heard a while ago – although I can’t remember where – that fruit grows in the valley and not on the mountain top.

As Christians we often equate success with being on the mountain, where God is. Like Moses, we are always climbing Mount Sinai in the hopes of an encounter with God. 

Unlike Moses, very few of us want to go back down to share what God gives on the mountain.

In just a few chapters in Exodus (from 19-34) Moses makes his way up and down the mountain 7 times.

Each time God gives him something to share with the Israelites down in the valley.

How tempting it must have been during those 40 days with God in Exodus 34 to just pitch a tent and stay there in the glory and the presence of the Lord – but Moses knew and felt the burden of his people and knew that there was work to be done.

In Exodus 34, after a particularly glorious encounter with God, Moses’ face radiated with the Glory of God – so much so that he had to wear a veil and cover it up – as the people were filled with awe and fear.

For many of them, coming out of a place of idolatry, seeing God upon this man’s face must have been a thing of awe-inspiring beauty – as Moses brought the light from God’s Kingdom down to the valley of the idols.

And in time this would yield much fruit – his exercise of running up and down that mountain would sow the seeds of a mighty ministry.

Fruit trees need light to grow. In the valley of ‘civilization’ we find that there are idols, ideals and ideas that have often grown to overshadow what the Lord would want as a plantation for Himself.

Just like Moses – we cannot pitch a tent in the Mountain of  the Glory of the Lord and stay there – there is work to be done in the valley. 

I find it too often in churches, especially those run by ‘prophets’ and ‘apostles’, or other silly charismatic titles – that their congregations get a taste of the mountain life and start believing that they have made it, that they are somehow better off than those in the valley below. Growing fat on the bread instead of distributing it freely.

It is important to understand that if you fall into this category you will bear very little fruit for the Kingdom.  

In this current age we find ourselves in we don’t think much about mountains and valleys. I don’t have to climb a mountain to encounter God. The most I need to climb are some stairs. And we climb those stairs often. Some of us even have our own dedicated seats based on how dedicated or important we might be. 

We go to our churches – such beautiful mountains – and we hear from God, and perhaps even enjoy a cup of tea afterwards. We have made it…

But what are we taking out of that meeting – what are we taking back into the streets – the valley’s of our neighborhoods? What light do we bring to the valleys of addiction and unemployment, homelessness and abuse? What radiance? What joy? What love? What hope?

Where are we producing our fruit? When our neighbor is yet to see His glory, is it clear upon your face? Or are we too busy arguing about the karaoke that went a little loud last night? Or a parking space? 

We were called out of darkness into His light – to be transformed, ignited and lit up as torches – to go back into the darkness and make a difference.

Moses went up the mountain to be transformed, ignited and lit up as a torch so that he could go back down and make a difference.

God gives us each a garden to tend – a personal mission field – and one of the responsibilities given to us is to make sure that the garden gets enough light.

Are you helping your garden grow? Are you showing it enough light? Or are you leaving it in the sanctuary, in a box under your reserved seat.

It is time we take our testimonies back into the world.

Prayer: Oh, Lord, let us not be selfish with the grace you have poured out upon us. Let it be our desire to go back to the ‘undesirables’ still stuck in the darkness of our past – carrying your light with us so that they might catch a glimpse of who You are. Let us tend, diligently and ardently, the garden given to us. In Jesus Name. Amen