I Thank God

I Thank God

by | Jul 17, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Wandering into the night
Wanting a place to hide
This weary soul, this bag of bones
And I tried with all my mind
And I just can’t win the fight
I’m slowly drifting, oh vagabond
And just when I ran out of road
I met a man I didn’t know
And he told me
That I was not alone”

I Thank God, Maverick City Worship

““I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.”

Luke 12:8, NIV

Jesus came to show us The Way. He came to show us the model life, to give us an example according to which we can pattern our lives.

In Luke 12, in a passage where Jesus shares warnings and encouragements with those who would hear, He makes it clear that it is required of us to share the good news of His Gospel with others.

Jesus placed great emphasis on sharing the Gospel. Even in Luke 12 He admonished us not to fear those who can kill the body and after that do no more, but to rather fear God – for He has the authority over life, death and everything in between and beyond.

Jesus tells us to acknowledge Him publicly.

The Greek word here is ‘homologeó’ which most properly means to ‘speak the same, to agree.’

Jesus tells us to be like Him.

The confession here then is not one made merely by the lips – our public acknowledgement is not done through mere and mortal words – but is a practical manifestation of the belief in our hearts.

We share the good news of His Gospel primarily through presence.

I overcame drug addiction – not through preaching, teaching or even prayer – but through the presence of dear friends who had gone through the same.

We often overlook the power of being present in the life of another. We always want to talk, but very few of us want to walk with the downcast and downtrodden.

We all want to share our insights, but very few of us know how to just sit with the sad and defeated.

Many people sit in our churches week after week – they listen to the sermons, they participate in the worship, they read the word, the attend the prayer meetings – they do their disciplines at home – yet they see no change in their lives. This does not make them ungodly or lacking in spiritual wisdom – but it does show us where we are lacking in discernment when we look past them and neglect to reach out. How many invisible brothers and sisters are in our church?

By the same token I have seen, many times, the real world difference it makes when we as people connect – when we go and sit next to that person and community starts to form.

When, instead of competing for status or esteem we start complimenting and completing one another.

Man was not meant to be alone. Christianity wasn’t meant to be a club, it was supposed to be a community.

One of the main reasons Jesus healed so many people in His ministry here on Earth was to restore community. Disease, illness and infirmity were seen as a sign of present or inherited sin and affected your standing in the community. If you were sick, cripple or disabled you were an outcast – ostracised and pushed aside.

Jesus’ main objective in healing these people wasn’t simply to restore them to health, but to restore them to community.

So that they would no longer walk alone.

But it is not enough for us to only reach out to the loner sitting in the back of the church.

The main point of Jesus’ ministry was that the sinner is just as much our brother as the pharisee. The fact that they are far away does not diminish the love the Father has for His errant and lost children. God is married to the backslider. He loves all His children – but a lot of the time we don’t.

Are we the love of Christ to the loner, the loser, the lost and the blind? Do we care for the unseen, the unheard and even the unknown as Christ cared for them?

Or do we push them aside because of their sin sickness? Ostracize and cast out those who are unchurched and unwashed?

The song ‘I Thank God’ by Maverick City starts with a testimony – the story of a lost and lonely vagabond who encounters a man of flesh and bone, one who says: “You’re not alone!”

Maybe if we start thinking more like Jesus, living the testimony of His love by showing His love to the world we will see more testimonies being written in our midst. We will see our churches growing instead of shrinking. We will see people healed of their sin and shame as they realize that they don’t have to live that way anymore.

But how will they know if we don’t live out the truth of God’s Word among them?

What will we show them today?

How will we acknowledge Christ – not just through preaching – but through our presence in the world today?

Prayer: Lord, help me be a beacon of light in a dark and dying world. Help me show and not just tell them of Your love, mercy and grace. Help me Lord to see past the sin and shame of others and to love them like You loved me. Give me a heart that longs to journey with the backslider, patience that surpasses understanding – a heart and mind like Yours, oh Lord. Help me be present in the lives of others, and may my presence be Your presence in the midst of an unbelieving generation – so that we may see a great awakening in our community, our country and even the world. In Jesus Name. Amen.

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.