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Once you see how important the theme of waiting is in the Bible, you’ll have new motivation to exercise this neglected area of the Christian life. Here are five passages on waiting:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him. (Ps. 37:7)

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. (Ps. 130:5-6)

They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength. (Is. 40:31)

You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven. (1 Thes. 1:9-10)

Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Heb. 9:28)

Waiting seems to be a complete waste of time, so we often look for something to do while we’re waiting. That’s why there are magazines in the doctor’s waiting room. We try to fill up the time with something useful.

We think of waiting as something to endure in order to get what we want. But God speaks about waiting as the way we grow when we don’t have what we want. Waiting is not wasted time.

Waiting can be the greatest growth opportunity of your life.

What are you waiting for right now? Do you see this waiting as the greatest growth opportunity of your life, a waste of time, or something else?

In one of the books by American author, Garrison Keillor, about Lake Wobegon, he describes a rather awkward teenager growing up in a small town. The lad gives a speech at his high school graduation, and afterwards somebody comes up to him and says, “Nice speech!” But he can’t receive a compliment.

“Oh no,” he says, “I was just rambling. I didn’t know what I was talking about. I was just glad when it was all over.” He couldn’t receive a compliment because inside he was a monster starving for a compliment. He didn’t want somebody to say, “Nice speech.” What he really wanted was for someone to fall at his feet in worship.

That’s the problem with some of us. We are so consumed—either with our own pain or with our own perfectionism—that we’re unable to hear the Word of God. So, when God tells us that He loves us, we just brush it off.

When the apostle Paul prays for young believers, do you know what he asks God for? He asks that God would give them the power to grasp the “breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ (Eph. 3:18). That is a great way to pray. Ask God to give you the capacity to contain a greater sense of His love for you.

“We are so consumed—either with our own pain or with our own perfectionism—that we’re unable to hear the Word of God.” To what degree is this true of you?

Some time ago, a pastor from England went to India to deliver a series of evangelistic messages. When he arrived, there were posters hanging all over town advertising the evening meetings at which he would be speaking.

The posters were supposed to read: “The visiting pastor from England will bring the evening messages.” But instead, there was a typo, and the posters actually said: “The visiting pastor from England will bring the evening massages.”

The work of the preacher is to massage the Word of God into the soul until it changes what you think and feel. But some of us who have experienced very little love earlier on in life, or who are perfectionists by nature, tend to have great difficulty in feeling that we are truly loved by God.

If this is true of you, then you need this workout: Start to memorise and personalise Bible passages that speak directly of the love of God. Massage them into your mind until they begin to loosen up your heart: “God shows his love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me” (Rom. 5:8, author’s paraphrase).

Allow God to tell you that He loves you. This is the Word of God. This is what God is saying to you. Learn to listen to what He says.

Identify a Bible passage or two about God’s love that you’d like to personalise and memorise.

One way to work God’s love into your mind is through the Lord’s Supper. At the very centre of Christian worship, God has given us this exercise to keep us in spiritual shape.

We come to a table where we receive bread and wine. They direct our attention to the cross, where Christ’s body was broken, and His blood was shed for you.

God uses the supper to tell us that He loves us. Here is an old hymn that used to be sung at the Lord’s Table: “Give me a sight, O Saviour, of your wondrous love to me. The love that brought you down to earth to die at Calvary. O make me understand it, help me to take it in. What it meant to you, the Holy One, to bear away my sin.”

Come to the table with open eyes, open ears, and a believing heart. The body of Jesus was broken for you. The blood of Jesus was shed for you. Christ invites all His people to take the bread and eat it, to take the cup and drink it. This love that was poured out touches you.

You may go through days when you find it difficult to feel the love of God. Go back to the cross, and say with Paul, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).

How might you approach the Lord’s Supper differently in the future?

The Bible talks about the love of God in a number of ways:

1. Providential love is God’s kindness to His enemies as well as His friends. God’s enemies will come under His judgement, but right now they receive good gifts from His hand. Why do good things happen to bad people? Answer: God’s providential love.

2. Saving love is God reaching out to us: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Whoever believes is no longer God’s enemy, but His friend. That’s God’s saving love.

3. Covenant love is God’s unshakeable commitment to His own people. God bound Himself to Israel: “I will be your God, and you shall be my people” (Jer. 7:23). Then His people broke that covenant. But God will never let go of His own people. That’s God’s covenant love.

4. Disciplining love is how God forms the likeness of Christ in His children: “The Lord disciplines the one he loves” (Heb. 12:6). The wicked do not experience this love. God allows them to go their own way, but He intervenes with loving discipline when His children go astray.

5. Affirming love is the joyful affirmation the children of God experience when they’re walking with Him. There was no discipline in the garden, Adam and Eve simply enjoyed life under the smile of God. But when they sinned, they found themselves outside of God’s affirming love.

The love of God is free, unchangeable, unconditional, unmerited, and unearned. At the same time, Christ calls us to remain in His love, and we do that as we walk in obedience to Him.

What do you know about the love of God?

Another way to pray in the Spirit is by using the Lord’s Prayer (Mat. 6:9-13). Martin Luther structured his entire prayer life around the Lord’s Prayer:

1. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. (6:9)
Luther prayed that God would be honoured in his own life, and in the church, and in the nation where he lived.

2. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (6:10)
He prayed for the advancement of God’s kingdom, and he prayed for what is true, just, and right.

3. Give us this day our daily bread. (6:11)
He prayed about his own daily needs, and for the needs of others that he was aware of—money, energy, peace, direction, patience, and guidance.

4. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (6:12)
He prayed about his own sins, and he asked for God’s help in forgiving the wounds that were inflicted on him by others.

5. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (6:13)
He asked God to help him identify the activity of Satan, and then he called on God against all of it that he was able to see.

That covers the whole of life. You could pray these five headings every day for the next year, and you would always find something fresh, and you would be praying in the Spirit because you’re praying in line with Jesus Christ.

Take a few moments and try praying through the Lord’s Prayer yourself. Compare this with your normal routine for prayer.

The Bible contains some marvellous prayers that were breathed out by the Spirit of God. You will find many of them in the book of Psalms.

The whole Bible was written as men were carried along by the Holy Spirit, and as you fill your mind with God’s Word, you will begin to think God’s thoughts after Him.

If you learn to form your prayers from the Bible, you will be praying in a way that reflects the heart and mind of God. You might like to begin with the Psalms:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked…
Help me to recognise advice that is dishonouring to You today and not to follow it.

…nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. (Psa. 1:1)
Lord, keep me from cynicism today. Keep me from looking at any wrong path.

His delight is in the law of the LORD. (Psa. 1:2)
Lord, help me to love You and to love Your law. Help me to see the blessing of walking in Your way, and to have new joy in doing that.

Turning the Scriptures into prayers will help you keep your prayers fresh. Every day you will see something new. More than that, your mind will be guided into the thoughts of God.

This is the difference between eastern mysticism and Christian prayer. Mysticism says, “Empty your mind so you can pray.” God says, “Fill your mind so you can pray.”

Let an open Bible guide your praying, and you’ll find that you begin to think God’s thoughts after Him as you pray in the Spirit.

Does your prayer life tend more toward eastern mysticism or Christian prayer?

Imagine a teenage computer geek writing software in his basement: “How can I get this in the hands of the people at Microsoft?” He doesn’t know anyone there, and he has no idea how to introduce his ideas to them. Who knows how many requests they receive in a day.

One day there’s a knock at the door, and a man in his late sixties, with grey hair and glasses is standing there. “Hi, I’m Bill Gates…” The next thing this teenager knows, he’s sitting at his laptop with Bill Gates at his elbow.

“Let me tell you,” says Bill, “where Microsoft is headed. Move your work in that direction, and maybe we can be partners.”

When this young man eventually sends his proposal to Microsoft, he sends it with great confidence, because he knows that what Bill Gates has prompted, Bill Gates will receive.

God comes to every believer and teaches us what to pray. When that happens, we can pray with confidence, because what the Spirit has prompted, the Father will receive:

This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. (1 John 5:14)

Sometimes we’re like the geek working in the basement. But true prayer involves the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and you. There’s a profound sense in which you never pray alone.

Think about the geek’s confidence before and after he talked to Bill Gates. Does your confidence in prayer typically look more like one or the other?

Once you’ve grasped that there’s one God, and that He’s not whoever you want Him to be, the next question is “How do you come to Him?” That depends on what you want to receive.

The Bible uses the picture of a throne to help us understand. There is one God, but more than one throne. That’s easy for us to understand in the United Kingdom. There is one king in Britain, but he has several thrones, and each throne relates to a different function.

Likewise, there is one God, but He has more than one throne. There’s a “great white throne” (Rev. 20:11), where God administers justice. And there’s “the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16). You can come to the great white throne any way you want. But if you want to come to the throne of grace, you need to come through Jesus.

The Bible tells us to hold firmly to the faith we profess (Heb. 4:14) and to approach the throne of grace with confidence so we may receive grace to help us in our time of need (4:16). Access to the throne of grace comes through our great high priest, Jesus the Son of God.

So “in the name of Jesus Christ” isn’t a tagline at the end of our prayers. It’s foundational. We’re invited to come to the Father through the Son. So, if you’re looking for grace, there’s no other way to pray but in the name of Jesus, because God’s grace comes to us through Him.

When you pray, are you coming to God any way you want? Or through Jesus? What difference does it make?

Imagine meeting with your minister at church. The minister places a number of envelopes in front of you and says, “We can talk about anything you want. But here are some envelopes with questions written on them. Go ahead and pick one.”

The topics range from faith to spiritual growth to fellowship, but you choose the envelope on prayer. The question on the envelope reads: “How would you describe your prayer life?” and inside there are a number of cards with various words—some positive, some negative.

You choose two cards to describe your prayer life: “Irregular” and “Aimless.” Many Christians today would agree, and say, “I’m doing okay in the Christian life, but I’d have to admit—I’m out of shape when it comes to prayer.”

Sooner or later, you will come to a situation in which you will want to call on God to help you. The first question is “Which God?” If you say, “There is only one God,” who is He? And how can we know Him?

Until you’ve settled this matter, your praying will not get very far off the ground. Here’s the reason: If God is whoever you imagine Him to be, then when you go to pray, you are just talking to yourself, or to a figment of your imagination, and that’s not much help.

There is one God, and we can know Him and pray to Him, because He has made Himself known to us through Abraham, Moses, the prophets, the apostles, and supremely in Jesus Christ.

How would you describe your prayer life? (Aimless? Vibrant? Irregular? Consistent? Shallow? Growing? Other?)

Faith grows by looking at Jesus. Faith becomes strong as you fill your mind and soul with how trustworthy He is.

Imagine yourself as a younger child, attending a professional sporting event with your family. Your parents get tickets about twenty-five rows from the game. The people are packed in like sardines, and they’re standing in front of you, so you find it very difficult to see.

You eventually find a solution. Instead of sitting in your chair, you stand on it. It’s a bit shaky, but it’s the best way to get a glimpse of your favourite players in all their glory.

That’s how you must read the Scriptures and come to worship if you want your faith to grow. You must come looking for a glimpse of Jesus and asking the Holy Spirit to open up the Word to give a fresh glimpse of Him to your soul.

Some of us come to church, and to the Bible, like a little boy or girl standing behind a crowd of taller adults. We never see anything, and we no longer expect to see anything. Other people are catching a glimpse of Jesus, but we don’t see it.

If you will come to worship and to the Word with great expectation, you will move from reading about Jesus to knowing Him. You will find yourself feeding on Him, and your faith will grow.

On a scale of 1 (very low) to 10 (very high) what is your expectation of “catching a glimpse of Jesus” in worship? How about in your Bible reading?

Faith is like a muscle. It grows strong when it is used. If you want to develop a particular muscle, you pull or push against a weight. Faith grows when it has to push against a great burden.

That’s what happens when God allows trials in your life. You lose your job, a relationship ends, or the bottom line of your business is the wrong colour, and suddenly you’re in the gym. This is the moment. God is handing you the weights.

When God allows you to face difficulties, He is calling you to exercise faith. This is how faith grows, by being exercised under pressure. When you find yourself saying, “I don’t know how I’m going to get through this,” this is the moment to exercise your faith in God. This is the moment to walk by faith and not by sight.

You will not grow in faith if every time God puts you in the gym, you just sit there until the session is over. If you don’t pray and you don’t exercise the muscle of faith, when you come out of the trial your faith won’t be any stronger than when you went in. You went through the trial, but you missed the opportunity for growth.

When God puts you in the gym again, ask Him for eyes to see when it happens, and seize the moment. Come to God and say, “This time, I am going to trust you. Strengthen my faith and cause me to grow.”

When was the last time God put you in the gym? Did you exercise the muscle of faith? If so, how? Or do you feel as if you missed an opportunity for growth?

Jude is talking about the same faith here that he mentions in verse 3: “The faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” You can build up your faith by affirming what you believe. That’s why Christians throughout the centuries have recited creeds in their worship: “I believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth…”

C.H. Spurgeon preached to vast crowds in London over a hundred years ago. When the time came for him to enter the pulpit, he often felt completely overwhelmed. So, as he climbed the steps into his pulpit, he would say to himself, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

You might want to say that when you go into a job interview or another situation that you find overwhelming. Maybe Satan keeps reminding you of some failure in your life. You have confessed this. You have repented. But the enemy keeps bringing it to your memory. Affirm your faith: “The blood of Jesus cleanses me from every sin. I believe in the blood of Jesus.”

The Psalms are full of affirmations of faith in God. He has given us these affirmations to help us build ourselves up in the faith. The world, the flesh, and the devil are constantly assaulting our minds with lies, doubts, and questions.

So feed your mind with affirmations of what you believe: “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Ps. 107:1). Affirming your faith by confessing what God has revealed will cause your faith to grow. It is like fresh air to the soul.

What are some Bible passages that you keep going back to? Which verses have helped you over the years to affirm your faith?

There will be times when you seem to be making little progress, and you wonder, “What’s wrong with me? Am I a Christian at all?” Jude says, “You need to build up your faith.” How do you do that?

Satan loves to point out how puny, pathetic, and embarrassingly small your faith is. You should counter by recognising that the faith you have—however small—is a miracle, a gift from God, and by giving thanks for it.

When you begin to thank God for what He’s done and for what He’s doing, you’ll find that the cloud lifts and your faith begins to grow. If you cannot see anything God is doing—in your life or in the lives of other believers—the problem is not with God, the problem is with your eyesight: “My Father is working until now” (John 5:17).

Faith is like a bulb that is planted in the ground and then gets a pile of dirt dumped on it. You’d think that would be the end of its life, but the miracle is that it survives and grows. Think of everything arrayed against your faith. How did your faith survive all the unanswered questions, all the bitter disappointments, and all the exhausting struggles of your life?

The amazing thing about your faith is not that it is weak, but that it exists at all. There is only one explanation: The faith that you have, however weak, is the work of Almighty God. Thank God for that miracle. Recognise what God has done, and your faith will begin to grow.

What is God doing in your life? If you can’t see anything right now, try to identify a few unanswered questions, disappointments, or struggles your faith has survived.

Evangelicals often emphasise spiritual life and the importance of the new birth. We rejoice when people give testimonies of how they came to faith in Christ. But spiritual life is no guarantee of spiritual health. You may be spiritually alive, but are you spiritually fit?

We know what it’s like to be out of shape physically. What does it look like when we’re out of shape spiritually? Here are some symptoms:

• Loss of vigour and vision: Lethargy creeps in.
• Loss of enjoyment of God, the Word, and worship: Your experience of the nearness of God or of brokenness of soul is a memory, but it is no longer a living experience.
• Loss of gratitude: You worry about what God has not given you, rather than rejoicing in what He has given.
• Loss of spiritual hunger and thirst: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God” (Ps. 42:1). This is a soul that is in good shape.
• Loss of compassion: The needs of others are a burden to you; you become impatient with their faults, and you feel frustrated at their lack of progress.

These are some of the symptoms of a soul that is out of shape. There is only one way to deal with the problem and that is to get into God’s exercise room.

Rank these symptoms on a scale from 1 to 10: “1” means you see no signs, “5” means you see regular signs, “10” means you see signs of this symptom on a daily basis.

Jude’s message is very simple: Keep yourself in spiritual shape. It is also very practical, because Jude breaks this down into seven workouts for a healthy Christian life.

You may be committed to some kind of fitness programme. You may work out with a coach or a personal trainer who gives you an exercise routine to help you get in shape.

A good exercise routine will get you working on different muscle groups: “This one is for your abs. This one is for the quads,” etc. In any routine we’ll be drawn to some exercises, and we’ll be tempted to skip others that we don’t like doing. Remember, it’s usually the ones that you tend to skip that you most need to do.

As with any good coach, Jude’s instructions are simple. Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a field with Jude as your coach. He’s been telling us what we’re up against. Then he says to the team, “But you…”

1. Build yourself up in the faith.
2. Pray in the Holy Spirit.
3. Keep yourself in God’s love.
4. Learn to wait.
5. Reach out to others.
6. Watch yourself.
7. Rest in the triumph of God.

These verses are a gold mine of how to live the Christian life in a world of doctrinal confusion and moral compromise. Let’s work with this trainer, Jude, to get ourselves into spiritual shape.

Of the seven workouts Jude has for us, which one is your strongest area, and which one is your weakest area?

The book of Jude was written to a group of believers who were discouraged because of a growing number of church leaders who were marked by moral compromise and doctrinal error. Jude describes the quality of leadership (verse 12) in many churches:

• Shepherds who feed only themselves. These pastors were trusted to care for God’s flock, but they were more interested in their careers.
• Clouds without rain. These leaders seemed to be walking with God, but they were spiritually dry. A conversation with one of them would leave you with nothing for your thirsty soul.
• Blown along by the wind. These leaders took their direction from culture. Their minds were filled with marketing and management, but devoid of a living communion with Jesus Christ.
• Without fruit and uprooted. These pastors’ lives were filled with fruitless activity. The reason it was fruitless is that it was not deeply rooted in the work of God’s Spirit.

This is a powerful description of how ministry gets compromised. Jude is writing late in the first century. The first generation of Christians is almost gone. The torch is being passed to a new generation. Jude says: Even in “church world,” faith is being eroded, reshaped, and repackaged.

You are going to have to decide: Are you going to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3)? Or are you going to settle for a faith that is shaped to suit your lifestyle and culture?

What are some characteristics you would expect to find in the person who is “contending for the faith?” How about the person who is “settling for a faith?”

Pilate had so many voices ringing in his ears. He had the voice of his wife, who said to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream” (Mat. 27:19).

Much louder were the voices of the chief priests who had handed Jesus over to him. Pilate also had the voice of his own conscience. Three times he declared that Jesus was innocent (Jn. 18:38; 19:4, 6).

And then there was the voice of Jesus declaring to him, “I am a king, but My kingdom is not of this world. I came into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to Me.”

Whose voice are you listening to? Are you listening to the voice of past hurts? The voice of anger and frustration? The voice of unbelief? The voice of pride and ambition? The voice of shame and condemnation? The voice of fear? None of these voices will bring you help or hope or healing.

Listen to the voice of Jesus. He says, “My sheep hear my voice” (10:27). “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (18:37).

You listen to Jesus by hearing the words He speaks in the Bible. Get in the habit of opening your Bible and soaking in the truth that Jesus came to reveal. You will find strength, life, hope, and healing as you listen to Him.

Whose voice are you listening to?

Some suggest that this was a genuine question, but Pilate didn’t wait for an answer. It seems that he spoke these words as an exit line. Pilate asked, “What is truth?” And he said this as a judge charged with bringing justice.

Imagine yourself standing in a court of law on false charges, and your only hope is that the judge will uncover the truth.

The judge asks if you have anything to say. You reply, “Well, I have come to this court to bear witness to the truth.” But the judge snaps back, “What is truth?” How can you have justice if there is no such thing as truth?

Pilate miscarried justice because he did not believe in the truth
But Pilate was not the only judge in this conversation. Jesus said, “The Father... has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn. 5:22). Two judges stood face to face, one from earth and the other from heaven.

Jesus will bring justice because He knows the truth
He said, “I came into the world to bear witness to the truth” (18:37). There is a realm in which the whole truth is known, so there is a realm in which justice will be done.

Normally a judge hears evidence to discern the truth. But on the last day, Jesus will not be seeking the truth. Jesus will bring justice because He already knows the truth completely.

If you know your own heart at all, you know that you’re a long way from loving God with all your heart and from loving your neighbour as yourself. This is the reason we all need to humble ourselves and embrace Him, so that when the day of justice comes, we will have a defence.

Is your heart prepared for the day when Jesus will come to bring justice?

Jesus tells us here that there is a realm where all truth is known. It is not in this world. Jesus came into the world to “bear witness to the truth.”

The Bible tells us that in this world, we know “in part” (1 Cor. 13:12). That is why we often feel that we are only getting part of the story. Where on earth is the truth fully known?

Jesus tells us here that there is a place where truth is known. God knows the truth. He knows every thought, word, and deed of every person. God knows the truth about all that is, has been, and will be.

One of the most encouraging signs in our world is that there is a new hunger for truth in many hearts. We’ve been told for a generation that there is no such thing as “the truth.” There is only “your truth” and “my truth.” How can there be justice if there is no such thing as the truth?

If there is such a thing as “the truth,” there can be a conversation about what it might be. We can pursue the truth and seek after it together. We can disagree, we can debate.

But if there is only “your truth” and “my truth,” discussion becomes difficult. To question “your truth” feels like a personal attack. People are so deeply divided that it is hard to have a reasonable conversation.

If you long for the truth, you are not far from the Kingdom of God. If you hunger and thirst for the truth, you will be drawn to Jesus. He came to bear witness to the truth. The truth of who God is. The truth of who you are, of what life is, and of how your life can be blessed.

In what ways have you sensed that the world’s idea of “truth” is lacking?

This is the last statement of Jesus about why He came into the world. The chief priests have brought Jesus to Pilate’s house, and Pilate has to make a decision about Him.

The religious leaders “began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king’” (Lk. 23:2). So Pilate’s first question to Jesus is, “Are you a king?” Are you the king of the Jews?

Pilate is a secular ruler. To him, the word “king” means a monarch who rules over a particular country. If Jesus had said, “Yes, I am a king,” Pilate would have been misled into thinking that Jesus was a rival to Caesar.

So Jesus asks, “Do you say this of your own accord?”—that is, are you using the word “king” in the way that the Romans use it?—“Or did others say it to you about me?” (Jn. 18:34).

Jesus is challenging Pilate to make his own investigation into the truth. “People say many things about me. But here I am, right in front of you. Make your own investigation! Don’t simply echo what other people think. I am a king. I have a kingdom. But you cannot put a geographical limit on it. You cannot put a historical timeframe on it. It spans generations.”

“King,” as it is normally understood, is not a big enough word to describe Jesus. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ transcends all other kingdoms.

Have you made your own investigation into the truth of who Jesus is?

If you follow Jesus, you will never be in total darkness.

He may lead you through some dark places. One day, He will lead you through the darkest valley, the valley of the shadow of death. But even there, He will walk with you.

His light will shine in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. Follow Jesus, and you will be able to say with David, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Ps. 27:1).

What does the future hold for you? None of us knows.

Is it possible that you will face a serious illness? Yes, that’s possible. But if you do, you will have the light of life.

Is it possible that your children will face some great trial or trauma? Yes, that’s possible. But if they do, they will have the light of life.

Is it possible that our whole world could descend into chaos, greater than any of us have known before? Yes, that’s possible. But if it does, we will have the light of life.

If you are facing a time of great darkness, hear what the Lord Jesus Christ says to you today: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12).

Think of someone who is going through a difficult time. How could you encourage them with the reminder that Jesus is the light in the darkness?

There is a profound sense in which these words of Jesus speak to us today. The light of Jesus comes to us through the Scriptures, and each of us has it for “a little while.” What will you do with the light you have received?

Suppose that you and some friends decide to explore a cave. It is like a labyrinth. Every few yards there is a fork, and you have to decide, left, right, or straight. After a couple of hours, you and your friends are lost. Your torches grow dim and go out. Darkness has overtaken you.

Hours pass. You and your friends sit in silence. Then, someone sees a point of light. As it comes closer, you can see a person. A bright light shines from his helmet, but it’s as if his whole face is full of light. He says, “Follow me.”

As the man begins to move, the light around you becomes less, and if you want to have the light you need to follow Him. “Come on!” you say to your friends. “We have to follow the light!”

“But who knows where he will lead us?” one of them says. “I’d rather try and find my own way out.”

“But without Him you’ll be stumbling around in the darkness,” you say.

A shadow is coming over your friends, and soon it will be over you. You have to make a choice. What will you do? “Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you” (12:35).

What will you do with the light you have received?

The human story can be described in four eras. And in each of them, the light of Jesus shines in a different way.

Moonlight
“You search the Scriptures... and it is they that bear witness about me” (Jn. 5:39). In the Old Testament era, Jesus was there, but He was not seen directly, like the light of the sun reflected by the moon. The law shows us why we need Jesus. The sacrifices show what we needed Him to do. The promises show what He would accomplish when He came.

Floodlight
“I am the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12). The coming of Jesus Christ was like a burst of light in this dark world. But men loved darkness rather than light. Jesus was opposed at every stage of His ministry. It should not surprise us when we find that the world is a dark place.

Starlight
“Be blameless and innocent... in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights” (Phil. 2:15). Christian believers who hold fast to the Word of Life shine like lights in the world. God’s plan is that people will see the light of Christ through His people.

Sunlight
“The sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings” (Mal. 4:2). One day, we will see the full light of the sun. The Lord Jesus Christ will return in power and glory. “Night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light” (Rev. 22:5). We will live in the light of the presence of the Lord forever.

In what ways can you be starlight to the world around you?

What does a more abundant life look like? It is a life with:

More peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (14:27). Jesus can give more peace than any of us has yet received.

More love. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (15:13). Jesus has more love to give than any of us has yet known.

More joy. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (15:11). Jesus can give more joy than any of us have yet experienced.

More faith. “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). Jesus can give more faith than any of us has yet exercised.

More repentance. Repentance is the means by which we become more like Jesus, saying “no” to worldly passions and “yes” to upright, self-controlled, and godly lives. Jesus can give a deeper repentance than any of us has yet discovered.

More strength. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Jesus can give more strength than any of us has yet enjoyed.

More hope. “This I call to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:21-23). Jesus can give us the hope that we need.

Which of these blessings do you feel you need more of right now?

Jesus came so that you may have life. If you are in Christ, you have it. Life is in Christ, and if Christ is in you, life is in you.

But Jesus does not stop there. He adds these four marvellous words: “and have it abundantly.” What does this mean? It would be easy to say, “Jesus wants you to have a life of total fulfilment, health, wealth, and satisfaction. He came so that everything you want could be yours.”

But that would be a complete misunderstanding of this verse. Believers get sick, experience loss, and know disappointment. Most of all, if we follow Jesus we must be ready to deny ourselves and take up our cross every day (Mat. 16:24). So, what does “and have it abundantly” mean? It means that Jesus Christ has more to give than any of us has received.

This life that Jesus gives makes it possible for us to face loss, difficulties, and disappointment. If you have suffered loss from thieves, these words are especially for you. Jesus came so that you would have all you need, for all that you face.

Don’t be satisfied with a small measure of life—a little faith, a little peace, a little joy. Jesus Christ has more to give than any of us has received!

How do you get more? The same way you got what you have in the first place—by coming to Jesus. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Mat. 7:7-8).

What does it mean to you that Jesus came so that you would have all you need, for all you face?

Picture your life as a house. You are sitting in your living room, and there is a knock on the door. You pull back the curtain to see who is outside.

Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).

If you fear that Jesus may be a thief and that your life will be less if you let Him in, you will bolt the door. “If I let Him in, He will take away my freedom to do what I want. He will kill off what I enjoy.”

But if you were to see that Jesus came to give you life, you would pull back the bolt and open the door. So, hear these words of Jesus: “I came that they may have life” (Jn. 10:10).

Now someone may say, “Well, I have life already. I have good friends. I am content. I am happy, and I don’t need Jesus.”

But here’s the thing: God gives us life, but we don’t hold it in our possession. Life can be taken from us in any number of ways—cancer, an accident, or an act of violence.

But for Jesus, it is different. John says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn. 1:4). Life is in Jesus. He holds it as His own possession.

Jesus knocks on the door of your life. He is not a thief. He has come so that you may have life, and when you believe that, you will open the door.

Have you opened the door of your life to Jesus? When you see what He can give, you will freely and gladly open the door and welcome Him in.

Notice that alongside Jesus, who has come into the world to bring life, there is also a thief who comes to steal. The thief takes away what was yours and leaves you with less than you had.

The thief has also come to kill and destroy. Once you had faith and hope and joy, but your faith is now a flickering candle. Your hope has been crushed. Water has been poured on the flame of your joy. You find yourself saying, “Something within me has died.”

We live at a time when many people are moving away from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s always a story behind this, and if you have enough trust to ask, you may open the door to a fruitful conversation. “Who stole what you had?” This is a really important question, and by asking it, you may help a person who is losing faith.

How are we to deal with thieves? Jesus said, “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them” (Jn. 10:8). If you listen to thieves, they will take away everything of value.

If you’ve been robbed of faith, hope, love, or joy, you will likely find that you’ve been listening to the voice of a thief. Your recovery will begin when you listen to a different voice—the voice of Jesus—and the first thing He says is: “Learn to recognise those who steal, kill, and destroy.”

Have you been listening to the voice of a thief? Do you feel that something within you has died?

Someone might hear that Jesus has come into the world, and say, “So what? What difference is that to me?” Here are two reasons to rejoice:

1. Rejoice in the goodness of God
Suppose that this world was ruled by some dark power who sought our destruction. Suppose that this enemy sent his son to get his will done. There would be no Christmas. How could we celebrate the birth of one who came to destroy us?

Instead of “I have come down from heaven to do the will of him who sent me,” we would hear, “I have come up from hell, and this is the will of him who sent me: that I should save nothing of all that he has given me, but tear it down on the last day.”

However dark this world may seem, it is not ruled by some dark power. God in His abundant goodness offers eternal life to every person.

2. Rejoice in your security as a believer
You may wonder, “Is it possible that after all my believing I may finally be lost? Could it be that my faith was not strong enough? Could it be that my repentance was not deep enough? Could I come up short?”

No! It is the will of the Father that the Son should lose nothing of all He has been given. Your arrival in heaven does not depend on your feeble grip on Jesus but on His firm grip on you.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ came into the world not to condemn you but to save you? Do you believe that if you come to Him, He will never cast you out? Why would you run from a Saviour like this?

Maybe you are not sure if what God wills is really for you. Let’s consider the words of Jesus together:

“This is the will of my Father…”
Some of us could be described as strong-willed. Once you get hold of something, you won’t let it go. How strong is the will of almighty God? When He determines to do something, nothing will stop Him.

“Eternal Life”
Jesus tells us here what God has determined to do. God has a gift and He wants you to receive it—the gift of eternal life! This is more than life that never ends. Eternal life will be forever blessed, because it will be a life in the presence of God.

“Everyone…”
The Father’s will is that everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will have eternal life. Everyone! You can’t get more inclusive than that.

“Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him…”
God offers eternal life, but there is something for you to do: “everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him” (6:40). The first statement is explained by the second. To look on the Son means to believe in Him. To trust who He is, what He has done, and what He has promised.

“…should have eternal life”
You might say, “I used to believe, but I have wandered away. It’s too late to come back.” Listen, it is the will of the Father that everyone who believes in the Son should have eternal life.

You might say, “I have sinned in a dark and twisted way, and I don’t feel that there’s a way back to God.” Listen, it is the will of the Father that everyone who believes in the Son should have eternal life.

Everyone! There is no question about the will of the Father.

Is there something keeping you from God? Listen, it is the will of the Father that everyone who believes in the Son should have eternal life.

How did Jesus get the will of God done? Here are two ways:

Jesus came down from heaven
Notice Jesus tells us that He came “down from heaven.” His life did not begin in the manger. Before He lay in the arms of Mary, He was at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.

He says, “I have come down from heaven.” No prophet, no religious leader could ever say this. Heaven was and is His home. Why did He come down from heaven?

Jesus was ready to do whatever it took to get the Father’s will done
Jesus’ mission is to get the will of God done: “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mat. 6:10). Jesus is telling us, “This is why I came into the world. I came to do the will of Him who sent me. He gave certain people to Me. And His will is that nothing given to Me will be lost.”

Jesus went to the cross in order to get the Father’s will done. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Mat. 26:39).

Jesus went to the cross. He laid down His life as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all who would believe, and that is how the will of God to redeem the people He had given to His Son was accomplished.

Take in the wonder of Jesus willingly coming down from heaven to face the cross for us so that God’s will would be done.

Here is another reason Jesus came into the world: to do the will of the Father. Jesus gives us an inside look at God’s will for every believer.

1. All who come to the Son are gifts from God the Father
If you are a believer in Jesus, you are a gift from God the Father to His Son. Here’s how you can know that this is true: All who have been given by the Father come to the Son. So if you have come to the Son, you know that you were given by the Father.

2. No one who is given to the Son will ever be lost
Jesus says, “I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost” (Jn. 17:12). Not one of them has been lost! On the last day, Jesus will stand in the presence of His Father with all who believe around Him and say, “Here I am, and the children you have given me” (Heb. 2:13).

3. Everyone the Father gives to the Son will be raised on the last day
At death, the soul is separated from the body. For a believer, to be away from the body is to be with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). But that is not the end for the body. Jesus says He will “lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (Jn. 6:39).

Jesus came to bring you—body and soul—into His presence forever. Your body will be restored and raised to a new level modelled on the resurrection body of Jesus.

“And this,” says Jesus, “is the will of God.”

Thank God for the reassurance that if you come to Jesus, the Son, it is not simply your decision. It is also God’s will.

Why doesn’t everyone respond positively to Jesus’ call to follow Him? Here are three different ways people respond:

1. I am too good to need repentance
Let’s accept for a moment that you are living a good moral life. Are you sure that you have nothing to repent of? Does your conscience never trouble you? Have you loved God with all your heart and have you loved your neighbour as yourself?

Stop kidding yourself! “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). That’s why Jesus came: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Lk. 5:32). So, if you keep insisting on your own righteousness, Jesus has nothing to offer you.

2. I am too bad to find repentance
Aren’t you glad that Jesus did not come to call the righteous? None of us would be called. And if none of us were called, none of us would follow. And if no one followed, no one would ever be changed.

Jesus said, “I have come to call sinners to repentance.” You can put your finger on that word “sinners” and say, “This means that Jesus calls me!” Jesus came to bring grace for you. He came so that change would be possible for you. He came so that the joy of a new life could be yours.

3. I will follow Jesus and pursue repentance
Change happens in the company of Jesus, so follow Him. Trust yourself to Him, and you’ll have the joy of discovering what He can do with your life.

Which of these three would you say has been your response to Jesus?

What comes to mind when you hear the word repentance? Do you imagine humiliation, shame, and being hard on yourself?

Here are three things about repentance that people often find surprising:

1. Repentance brings joy, not regret
If repentance is being hard on yourself, why would Jesus say that there is joy in heaven whenever a sinner repents (Lk. 15:7)? Repentance is something to celebrate! That’s why Levi’s first act is to hold a feast.

Repentance is not a miserable journey of self-loathing and regret. Repentance brings joy in heaven, and if there is joy over repentance in heaven, there will be joy in repentance for you.

2. Repentance happens, not before, but as you follow Jesus
Some people have the idea that you have to clean up your life, get your act together, and get rid of your baggage before you can follow Jesus. That would be a barrier that none of us could ever get over. Repentance happens in the company of Jesus. The message is not “Repent so that you can follow Jesus.” It is “Follow Jesus and you will be able to repent.”

3. Repentance is not a one-time thing, it actually deepens over time
Here is a helpful definition of repentance from J. I. Packer: “Repentance is turning from as much as you know of your sin, to give as much as you know of yourself, to as much as you know of your God.”

Packer’s definition helps us to see that as you see more of yourself, more of your own sin, and more of God, your repentance will deepen. As your repentance deepens, you will become more like Jesus. And, as you become more like Jesus, your joy will increase.

What would keep you from beginning, or travelling further along the path of repentance today?

This was an irreversible decision. Peter, Andrew, James, and John had a trade to return to, but the Romans would not have welcomed back a man who left his tax booth.

Jesus called Levi to a completely different life—not to add believing in Jesus to his old way of life, but to leave his old life for something new. When you follow Jesus, here’s what you will have:

A new identity
This man was known as a tax collector. Now he would be known as a disciple. People would remember what he had been, but it would no longer define him.

A new community
When Levi held a party in Jesus’ honour, he had a long invitation list. But he became part of a new community. The other disciples would never have had anything to do with Levi before, but they became his brothers.

A new mission
Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. That became Levi’s mission too. Jesus came to do the will of the Father. Levi’s new mission was the same.

A new name
Levi is better known by another name—Matthew—and most likely it was Jesus who gave it to him. Matthew means “Gift of God.”

This brings us to something wonderful: Levi was used by God to compile the Gospel of Matthew. Who better to keep records of all that Jesus did?

Levi could never have known what Jesus would do with his life, and the only way to discover what Jesus can do with your life is to step out in faith and follow Him. Are you ready to become more than you are right now?

Which of these do you most long for: a new identity, a new community, a new mission, or a new name?

Notice that this command of Jesus is completely open-ended. “Follow me.” What will this mean for Levi? Jesus gives no specifics.

When students are looking around universities, the admissions department will say, “Here’s our course. And here are all the marvellous facilities we have on campus. And here’s what we can offer by way of bursary or future career options.”

If you are being recruited for a job, human resources will say, “Here is the mission of our company, and here is where you can contribute. And here are the salary and benefits. There is a great future for you here.”

But there’s nothing like that here. Just two open-ended words: “Follow me.” To follow Jesus is to share His life. It involves going where Jesus goes, doing what Jesus does, believing what Jesus says, suffering what Jesus suffers, and finding joy in who Jesus is.

It’s easy to see what following Jesus meant for the disciples during His ministry on earth. But the gospels make clear that following Jesus is to be the pattern of our lives now that Jesus has ascended into heaven.

The last words of Jesus that John records are His words to Peter, “Follow me!” (Jn. 21:22). The call of Jesus to us is the same as His call to these first disciples: “Follow me.”

How will you respond to Jesus? Are you willing to go where Jesus goes, do what Jesus does, believe what Jesus says, suffer what Jesus suffers, and find joy in who Jesus is?

Why would Jesus choose a man like Matthew the tax collector to be a disciple? Wasn’t it obvious that a man like this, known for his collaboration and corruption, would be a liability?

Luke tells us that the Pharisees “grumbled at his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” (5:30).

The disciples were probably asking the same question: “Jesus, why don’t you stick with fishermen? We may not have a fancy education like Levi, but we are known as hard-working people who earn an honest living.”

So why did Jesus call Levi? “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Lk. 5:32).

The call of Levi is a marvellous sample of grace. Jesus calls the least likely, the least deserving. To Levi, who had practised extortion, Jesus said, “Follow me.” To the thief on the cross, a violent man, He said, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43).

And who would have imagined that Jesus would call Saul of Tarsus, who hated Christians? He described himself as a blasphemer, persecutor, and violent person. “But I received mercy.” Why? Because “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:13, 15).

That’s grace! “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak... to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised... so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27–29).

If there is hope in Jesus for Levi, the thief on the cross, and Saul of Tarsus, there is hope in Jesus for you and for every person you will ever meet.

Reflect on Jesus’ choice to call the least likely and the least deserving.

Luke records the story of Levi, who became one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. His is a remarkable story. We are told that Jesus “went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth” (5:27).

The fact that Levi was a tax collector tells us two things about him. The first is that he was brilliant. He was likely an educated man who spoke three languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. He would have been a skilled accountant who kept meticulous records.

Second, Levi was part of a system riddled with corruption. Tax collectors were local people who worked for the Roman regime. They were hated because they collaborated with the oppression of Roman rule and because they were notorious for extortion.

Why would anyone collaborate with the oppressor? Well, there was a great deal of money to be made. Tax collectors could add a surcharge that they kept for themselves.

Levi had chosen a path for making a lot of money and enjoying a comfortable life. He had no conscience about adding to the burden on his neighbour to make life better for himself.

We are told that Jesus “saw” this man “sitting at the tax booth” (5:27). Jesus saw him in action. What the tax collectors did was a breach of the eighth commandment, “You shall not steal”; the ninth commandment, “You shall not give false witness”; and the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet what belongs to your neighbour” (Ex. 20:15–17).

Levi was actively engaged in breaking the commandments of God, as much as a man robbing a bank, lying in court, or taking another person’s life. But Jesus said to this man, “Follow me.”

How would you have reacted to this man taking advantage of poor and vulnerable people?

Jesus is speaking here about a family member who puts pressure on you to stop following Jesus. Will you listen to Jesus who says, “Follow Me”? Or to a loved one who says, “Give Him up”?

Jesus tells us how to make this decision. We must count the cost, and there are two sides to this calculation.

1. Count the cost of following Jesus
“Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mat. 10:38). A cross will always be present in your life. The cross may change, but in every season there will be some cost in following Jesus.

2. Count the cost of not following Jesus
“Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father... but whoever denies me... I also will deny” (Mat. 10:32). One day, Jesus will return as Judge on the Day of the Lord. To some He will say, “Enter into the joy of your master” (25:23). To others He will say, “I never knew you; depart from me” (7:23).

When you make your decision, make it in the light of the day of Christ’s return. When you ask, “Am I going to confess Him before men?” You must also ask, “Do I want Him to confess me before the Father?”

If you follow Him, He will say of you on that day, “He’s Mine! She’s Mine!” And you, by His grace, will enter into the world of peace and love that God has prepared for all who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9).

Have you counted the cost of following Jesus? And of not following Him?

Jesus never endorsed or promoted violence. The gospel can never advance by violence or conquest. So, what did Jesus mean when He said that He came to bring a sword? The meaning of any passage of Scripture will often become clearer when we look at the context.

What went before
Jesus said to His disciples, “Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake” (Mat. 10:17-18). The sword is in the hands of those who oppose Jesus, and it is raised against His disciples.

What comes after
Then Jesus told His disciples that those who oppose us will include some in our own families. “I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother… And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Mat. 10:35-36).

Perhaps you have a son or a daughter who has walked away from faith in Jesus. And now there is a tension between you. The effect of the coming of Jesus has been a distancing between you and someone you love!

Think about this in the life of Mary. At the temple, Simeon said to her, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also)” (Lk. 2:34-35).

How Mary must have grieved over the hatred of the world toward Jesus. The coming of Jesus brought a sword that pierced the soul of Mary. His coming will bring a sword for us too.

How have you experienced a “sword” against you because of Jesus?

Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace” (Mat. 10:34), but these words are really good news. Here’s why: God has promised that one day, there will be peace. Crime and violence will cease. A world of wars will give way to a world of love.

When will that day come? “He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples… nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Is. 2:4).

When will there be peace on earth? When God judges between the nations and decides disputes for many peoples. The Bible refers to this as “the Day of the Lord.”

When Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace,” He is saying, “The Day of the Lord has not yet come.” If Jesus had come to judge between nations, He would not have come as a baby. He would have appeared in a blaze of glory, with an army of angels.

So here is the most basic question of Christmas: Why was Jesus born as a baby? Because He did not come to “judge between the nations” or “decide disputes for many peoples.”

He did not come to judge the world, but to save it. He came to make a way in which sinners like us (who would never be qualified to enter the world of peace and righteousness that He will bring) might be saved.

He was born as a baby, He went to the cross, and He rose from the dead so that when He does come to judge and settle disputes, we may be saved.

Aren’t you glad that when Jesus came into the world the first time He came as a baby, instead of in power and glory?

Jesus, the master teacher, again anticipates a misunderstanding. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.” It would be entirely natural for those who believe in Jesus to think that was why He came.

God had promised a day when a Messiah would come, a child would be born, a son would be given. The government would be on His shoulders, and His name would be “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6).

When Jesus was born, angels said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace” (Lk. 2:14). So, it would be natural for believers then and now to think that the coming of Jesus should mean peace on earth. But Jesus says, “Don’t expect that. Do not think that I have come to bring peace.”

We need to hear these words of Jesus. Two thousand years have passed since He was born, years filled with wars and violence. When we sing Christmas carols and hear the angels’ song about peace on earth, we might reasonably think, These are nice sentiments, but they are a long way from the world in which we live today.

If Jesus came to bring peace, the last two thousand years have been a spectacular failure. But Jesus is clear: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.” If you thought that the birth of Jesus would lead to a world of peace, that would be a misunderstanding.

If you are honest, have you found yourself feeling disappointed that Jesus has not brought peace to the world?

This is good news. The reason Jesus came is that you may be able to live a new life that is pleasing to God. And this life is made possible for you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A man was serving time for theft. In prison, he heard the good news of Jesus Christ and was wonderfully converted.

When he was released, the man knew that he would face a great struggle. Most of his old friends were thieves, and it would not be easy to break the pattern of his old way of life.

On his first Sunday of freedom, he slipped into a church. The Ten Commandments were on a plaque at the front, and his eyes were drawn to the command that seemed to condemn him: “You shall not steal.”

That’s the last thing that I need, he thought. I know the battle I’m going to have. As he kept looking at the plaque, the words took on a new meaning.

He had read these words as a condemning command: “You shall not steal!” But now it seemed that God was speaking these same words as a liberating promise: “You shall not steal.” God was promising that the Holy Spirit would make it possible to overcome his old way of life.

When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God will give you His Holy Spirit so that you can live a life that is pleasing to Him. His power will make the difference between a struggle in which you are destined for defeat and a battle in which you will have ultimate victory.

In what area of your life do you need to believe God’s promise of victory through the power of the Holy Spirit?

It is a wonderful truth that Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law for us. But what Paul says here is that God sent His Son into the world so “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.”

How is that possible? How can you live the life to which God calls you? Perhaps the greatest misunderstanding of the gospel is that Jesus was simply a good moral teacher who told us how to live. And that if we want to please God, we must follow His teaching.

Maybe you are saying to yourself, “If I really focus and exercise self-discipline, I can live a life that’s pleasing to God.” That’s what the Pharisees did. But if you try this, you’ll soon find that it is unsustainable.

You are trying to be something that you are not, and sooner or later, you will say, “I can’t do this anymore. I have to do what I really want to do.”

The only way you can live the life to which Christ calls you is if righteousness becomes your deepest desire. That is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” You are trying to live a righteous life, but unless the Holy Spirit brings you to a new birth, you “cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3).

Christ calls you to pursue a life of love, a righteous life, and that is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Have you been trying to please God in your own power?

This is an astonishing statement. The scribes and the Pharisees devoted their entire lives to the pursuit of righteousness. How could our righteousness ever exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees?

Jesus was scathing in His critique of the Pharisees, first, because their righteousness was arrogant. The Pharisees liked to pray where they could be seen. Jesus said to His disciples, “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (6:6).

The Pharisees liked people to know what they were giving. Jesus said to His disciples, “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (6:3–4).

Then Jesus was critical of the Pharisees because their righteousness was external. “You clean the outside of the cup... but inside they are full of greed and self–indulgence” (23:25). Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

It would be easy to say, “This is why we need to trust Jesus as Saviour, so we will have His perfect righteousness, which is far better than that of the Pharisees.” This, of course, is true. But it’s not what Jesus is saying here.

Jesus is calling His disciples to the pursuit of a righteous life, a righteousness that is better than the Pharisees, a righteousness that is humble and that comes from the heart.

Can you see some ways in which the righteousness that you are pursuing may be arrogant or external?

Jesus came into the world to fulfil the law and the prophets, and He did so in His life and in His death.

1. In His Life
Isaiah said that a virgin would conceive and bear a son (Is. 7:14). And when Mary bore Jesus, that prophecy was fulfilled. Micah said that the One who would rule and shepherd God’s people would come out of Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2, 4). And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that prophecy was fulfilled.

Jesus fulfilled the prophets in His life. And Jesus fulfilled the law in His life. “He who sent me is with me… I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (Jn. 8:29).

By God’s grace, we can sometimes do the things that please the Father, but only Jesus could say, “I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” He fulfilled—lived out—all that the law requires in His life.

2. In His Death
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13). The prophets spoke about a suffering servant who would be “pierced for our transgressions” (Is. 53:5).

In Psalm 22, David depicts a man whose hands and feet are pierced, who is mocked, whose garments are divided by casting lots, and who cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus fulfilled the prophets in His death. And Jesus fulfilled the law in His death. The law prescribes blessings for obeying God’s law and curses for breaking it. We have an obligation to the law that we have not fulfilled. And that brings a curse.

But Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law in His life, and He paid the penalties of the law in His death.

What if Jesus hadn’t fulfilled the law or the prophets?

A good teacher always anticipates misunderstanding, and here, Jesus corrects a false assumption about why He came into the world.

Perhaps you have thought the message of the Bible is that we are all sinners, but Jesus paid the price of our sins, so now we can get on with our lives much as we did before. This would be a complete misunderstanding.

Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets.” Then He says, “Truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (5:18).

One day, heaven and earth will pass away, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth. This old planet will finally be released from its pain and its groaning.

When that day comes, the law will pass away because its work will be done. The righteous will be declared “not guilty,” and the wicked will be condemned.

When that day comes, the prophets will pass away because all that they predicted will be accomplished. Faith will be turned to sight: God will be with His people, and He will wipe away our tears (Rev. 21:3–4).

When “all is accomplished” (Mat. 5:18), the law and the prophets will pass away, but until that day, the law and the prophets remain. The law stands as God’s definition of righteousness. God tells us what a good life looks like, and it would be a complete misunderstanding to think that because Jesus came, we have no more duty towards the law of God.

How have you been thinking about the role of the law in your life?

At Christmas, we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. God came down from heaven and entered our world. Why did Jesus come? The entire New Testament answers that question.

Paul tells us that Jesus came to reconcile us to God. “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). John tells us that “the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 Jn. 4:14).

Hebrews tells us that He came to “destroy the one who has the power of death” and to bring “many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:10, 14). Revelation tells us that He came to ransom people for God “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9).

Does Jesus Himself ever speak directly about why He came into the world? Yes. Perhaps the best-known example is “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). What a marvellous promise!

On other occasions, Jesus speaks indirectly about why He came: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Lk. 19:10). “The Son of Man came... to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45).

But there are seven occasions where Jesus tells us directly and personally why He came into the world. Three of them are recorded in Matthew and Luke. Four of them are recorded in John. Over the next month, we are going to hear from Jesus’ own words about why He came into the world.

Of the many reasons mentioned today, which one sounds most important to you right now?

This man knows that Christ has the ability to make him clean, but does He want to? So the man comes to Jesus and asks. He begs Jesus—on his knees.

There’s humility here. This man is not saying, “Why did you let this happen to me? You owe me.” And he isn’t saying, “Jesus, if you do this for me, I’ll do something for you.” What does the Son of God need that you can give to Him?

Some people are so absorbed with themselves that they’re always asking, “Why should I be interested in Christ?” This man sees the real question: “Why should Jesus be interested in me?”

If you come to Jesus thinking that you are offering something to Him, you will never receive anything from Him. Come to Christ empty-handed. Ask Him to give you what you do not have. Then you will be in a position to receive.

Maybe you are thinking today, I need to be forgiven. I feel insecure. I lack purpose. I feel powerless. I wish someone would rescue me. I lack joy. I certainly don’t feel very glorious.

Get to the point with Jesus today. Many people do not receive from Him because they never get to the point of making the ask. Cut through the fog of a vague faith that makes little difference to your life. Bring Jesus to the point of your need. Then ask him!

Ask Jesus to give you what you do not have. And as you ask, believe in Him and trust Him to change you. And He will answer, “I am willing!”

Are you ready to ask Jesus to do for you all that He has promised to do? Come to Jesus today. His good and perfect will includes your good and His glory.

In every one of Jesus’ promises, He tells us something about our relationship with Him.

1. Yoke yourself to Christ: Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you (Mat. 11:28–29).
2. Come to Christ: All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out (John 6:37).
3. Follow Christ: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Mat. 4:19).
4. Obey Christ: If you love me you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever (John 14:15–16).
5. Confess Christ: Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven (Mat. 10:32).
6. Trust Christ: Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me (John 14:1).
7. See Christ: I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory (John 17:24).

You can build your life on the rock-solid promises of Jesus Christ.

Is there something about your relationship with Jesus that you’ve been avoiding or neglecting?