Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Mar 10 2019 - Psalm 24 – The earth is the Lord's

Today's psalm begins by reminding us that the whole world and everything in it belongs to the Lord. He created it all and it is his; we should count nothing we possess as our own. God is therefore worthy of the worship and devotion of our hearts and of our lives.

But the question is then asked, "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?" God is holy and righteous; how then can anyone stand in his presence?

This psalm gives us the beginning of an answer. The person who may come before God is, "The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god." This is all very well, but which of us can say we pass this test? We readily identify with the words of the general confession:

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done …

How can we "receive blessing from the Lord"? In the words of a wonderful hymn by Thomas Binney:

There is a way for man to rise
  To that sublime abode;
An offering and a sacrifice,
A Holy Spirit’s energies,
  An Advocate with God.

The "offering and a sacrifice" that the hymn speaks of is that of the Lord Jesus; he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. In him and through him all of our sins are forgiven and we are made fit to stand in the presence of the living God. Moreover, he is also risen from the dead and has entered heaven on our behalf. He is our Advocate with God and he intercedes for us.

The latter verses of this psalm have often been read in connection with the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. He is the King of glory who has defeated sin and death. Imagine the welcome the risen Christ received when he returned to the courts of heaven:

Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
    The LORD strong and mighty,
    the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.

Jesus is the one through whom and for whom all things were created; the earth is his and everything in it. He is the one who has redeemed us and has entered heaven on our behalf. It is through him that we also receive a ready welcome in the courts of heaven.

God of Jacob, we seek your face through the name and merits of your Son, Jesus Christ. He is the one with clean hands and a pure heart who has a right to stand in your presence. Coming in his name we are confident of our acceptance as we come before you in worship. Like Jacob of old, we lay hold of you in prayer and will not let you go until you bless us – and make us a blessing.

Mar 10 2020 - Acts 15:1-35 – What must I do to be saved?

In Acts 15 we read that some Jewish Christians travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch saying that if Gentile believers were not circumcised they could not be saved. This teaching was vehemently opposed by Paul and Barnabas who, with a number of others from the church at Antioch, were sent to Jerusalem to get some assurance from the apostles. This is a controversy that will henceforth dominate Paul's ministry.

It’s interesting to note that as Paul and his party made their way through Phoenicia and Samaria towards Jerusalem, “they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad” (15:3). In those days of slow travel, the party would have stayed each night with Christians in whatever village they had come to. So the news of what God was doing in Antioch was spread throughout the intervening Christian communities. We may value our ability to travel quickly across hundreds of miles by plane or by motorway, but perhaps we are missing out on face-to-face sharing of what God has been doing in our corner of the kingdom.

Peter reminded the leaders in Jerusalem of the way in which God had first sent him to preach to a Gentile. When Cornelius and his family believed the message Peter preached, God made no distinction between them and the Jewish believers: they also, through faith, received the Holy Spirit (15:8-9). Peter then underlines his point by turning the whole argument around: he reminds his listeners that they, as Jews, had to come to trust in Christ for salvation just as the Gentiles were now doing. Both Jew and Gentile are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus (15:11).

James, speaking on behalf of the church in Jerusalem, agreed with Peter. He recognised that what was happening in Antioch was the fulfilment of prophecy. It was God’s declared purpose that through the Messiah the Gentiles might seek the Lord and bear his name (15:16-18).

If we are asked what someone must do to be saved, we may well answer as Paul did to the Philippian jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." But we need to understand that for the early church the question was not simply, "What must I do to be saved?", but also, "What must someone do to be accepted into fellowship with other believers?" The two were not separate questions. And here we are often not nearly as clear in giving an answer. Are we not often guilty of insisting upon our own additional qualifications for acceptance into fellowship? And in doing so, are we not guilty of acting like the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem who troubled the church at Antioch?

These are hard questions, and I'm not sure that even the Jerusalem Council got this one right. In requiring abstention not only from idol-worship and immorality but also from things strangled and from blood, were not they also seeking to lay unnecessary burdens on Gentile Christians? Was this not the very lesson that Peter was being taught when the sheet full of animals was lowered from heaven and he was told, "Kill and eat"?

We need constantly to examine ourselves that we do not place unnecessary burdens on ourselves or others for acceptance with God and acceptance into the fellowship of his family. It is through Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you have done all that is needed to bring me into fellowship with the living God. May I always see that this is true concerning others as well as myself – they need nothing but you. Keep us from constructing additional barriers to Christian fellowship.

Peter Misselbrook