Author: Sodwana Bay

Everyone loves Jesus; it’s just the Church they can’t stand. Everyone loves the message of Jesus, if only the Church practised it. In this series so far I hope you can see how we have been gradually climbing the mountain towards greater enlightenment. We have examined the evidence gate, stepped up the science ladder, bounded along the Bible path, wrestled with the perceived Old Testament view of God, and waded through the quagmire of evil and suffering, until we have finally reached the summit of God’s self-revelation – his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the summit. This is the centre. From now on every path we take goes from Christ and returns to Christ. The teaching of Jesus, the message of Jesus, continues to fascinate. Consider this – Jesus Christ never wrote a book but thousand of books have been written about him. He never wrote a peer-reviewed research paper and yet he was wiser than any academic. He never blogged or tweeted and yet has more followers that Justin Bieber or Stephen Fry! People say, “I love the message of Jesus, but I don’t like the Bible,” – which then begs the question, how do they know what the message of Jesus is? How do we know Jesus’ teaching? Pope Benedict put it beautifully: “Jesus’ teaching is not the product of human learning, of whatever kind. It originates from immediate contact with the Father, from ‘face-to-face’ dialogue – from the vision of the one who rests close to the Father’s heart. It is the Son’s word.” The words that Jesus speaks come from the Father. He himself is the ultimate revelation and as such what he says, God says. Of course there are those who have real difficulty in accepting any concept of God being able to reveal himself, but that is an emotional difficulty rather than a logical one. It is deeply prejudiced. Does this mean that we should all be ‘red letter’ Christians? You know, the ones who have Bibles with the actual words of Jesus in red, with the implication that the rest, especially the Old Testament, can be sidelined? No, because to do so would be to go against the message of Christ. Jesus himself regarded the whole Bible as the Word of God, and as being about him. For example, after his resurrection Jesus met two of his disciples and rebuked them for their lack of faith. He said to them, “‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27) Jesus Taught. He not only explained the Old Testament (which we should always read through his eyes) but he brought new revelation and appointed apostles to record that revelation. In the first century, religious teachers were often boring, irrelevant and incomprehensible (not much has changed then?!), but he was different. “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” (Matthew 7:28-29) His authority was not the authority of the tyrant, the bully, or the show off. It was simply the authority of truth, the authority of God. It rang true to the people. And they were amazed. But does it apply today? How can we understand it? To answer that we need to do two things. First of all, get rid of our chronological snobbery – just because we are 21st century people does not necessarily mean that we are more intelligent, perceptive and wise than first century people, or that our essential needs are different. Secondly, we need to hear the message and to realise that there is no Bible code, no special mystical experience, no guru, and no theology degree needed. Of course, there are difficult parts and some things you will keep coming back to. But the great thing about the Bible is that reading it for the first time you can learn so much, just as you can if you’re reading it for the thousandth time. It is not simplistic. The amazing thing about the Bible is that there is incredible depth to it. I have been studying the Bible for more than 30 years and I am still amazed by it. Sometimes it is depressing for me to go to a church or watch a Christian TV programme and hear teaching that is shallow, superficial and as useful as a chocolate teapot. Somehow some of us in the modern Church have got it into our heads that the teaching of Jesus is not suitable for our age and that we need to make it more relevant. We don’t need to make the Bible relevant – it is relevant. It requires a special skill to make the Bible irrelevant and yet that is a skill that seems to be acquired quite easily! It is not easy and trite. The Bible is not full of Hallmark-style sound bites. The teachings of Christ are radical. FF Bruce has a wonderful book called The Hard Sayings of Jesus, one example of which is Jesus apparently telling people to hate their parents. “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.’” (Luke 14:25-27) The key to understanding difficult passages is to interpret Scripture with Scripture, and always in context. Jesus taught that those who follow him should honour their parents. So what did he mean? He was talking to large crowds that were following him because of his miracles. He wanted to warn…

Marriage remains a significant aspect of Christian life but the way that it is valued has undergone a shift in wider society. Higher numbers of couples are moving in together and cohabiting for years before even considering walking down the aisle, if they contemplate it at all. For the couples that do decide to make their union official, many of them become caught up in the superficial elements of the wedding day – the dress, the venue, the decorations, the entertainment – and risk these distracting them from the central and most important part of the whole event. I love attending weddings and witnessing two people in love make their union official in the eyes of God as much as the next girl but I can’t help but wonder about the impact that the pressure to make the day perfect can have. When we look beyond the excitement of the big day and past the intense and meticulous planning that’s often required to bring it all together, what is marriage really about? These verses will help you to build up a picture of how this special union is described and alluded to in the Bible. Proverbs 18:22 – He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the Lord. Proverbs:19:14 – Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Ecclesiastes 4:12 – Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Mark 10:6-9 – ‘But at the beginning of creation God “made them male and female”. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ Ephesians 4:2-3 – Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 5:25 – Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. 1 Peter 4:8 – Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Originally posted 2016-03-15 09:49:27.

Whether you’ve been a Christian for one day or for one decade, you would still be in a position where you struggle with sin. And this could lead you to ask the question: “Why can’t God just erase sin from the world?” Skeptics will, of course, blame God because many perceive Him to be bigoted, self-centred, blood-thirsty and power-hungry. If you’re of this mindset then God bless you, but here’s a perspective that you may choose to ignore but one that seems more plausible. We all know that God is a God of justice and He desires justice, but we also know that God is a God of love who finds enjoyment in seeing His own people turn to him fully. As a parent, I know for a fact how much more fulfilling it is to see my 3-year-old daughter choose to obey my rules without me having to impose them compared to having to put her on a leash every single day of her life. In the same way, God desires for us to turn to Him fully of our accord. This is what we call free will. The reason why God put the tree that bore the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden was because He didn’t want Adam and Eve to ever feel that they had no other choice except to follow God. If He did not put that tree there, then He would have only proven that He was only hungry for power and control, which He is not. God is instead loving in nature and chose to create man with a choice. Sadly, many times, man has chosen his own way, which will lead only to sin and death. God did not create sin. He merely gave man the opportunity to make a choice for himself whether He would follow God or not. Would Adam have not sinned if the tree wasn’t there? I believe that he would have probably found another way to reject God if he really wanted to. Lucifer didn’t have to eat of a God-made tree to fall into sin, but he still found a way. So why can’t God just take away sin? Because if He had to remove it, He would have to remove our rights to make our own choices and that goes against His loving nature. It’s not God’s fault that we’re still sinning. It’s ours alone. Also, to remove sin would mean God would most likely have to remove good things that He created that we have used for the wrong reasons. For instance, we could ask God to remove our sexual desires so we can flee sexual immorality, but that would mean we would also be disqualified from the great gift that is sex in the context of His plan and will of marriage. But God, always gracious and loving, found a way to set us free from the bondage of sin even if we still existed in sinful and selfish ways. That is by sending Jesus to die on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins and so that we can continue to choose a life lived with Him today. God’s love and grace will surmount our stupidity and wrong choices, and we are blessed to have this opportunity to build a relationship with a God who did not force Himself upon us, but instead gave us a choice. I hope today, you can make the right choice of choosing God above all else. Originally posted 2016-03-14 08:26:18.