Luke 6:27: ‘But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.’

I had intended to reflect on way more Scripture than this, but I couldn’t get past verse 27! What a seriously powerful message!!

Recently someone I hardly know was unbelievably rude to me, and my initial reaction was to get angry and upset, and try and work out a way of getting back at them. My reaction certainly wasn’t to love them and be nice to them – and this is why this reading is so tremendously challenging.

Enemies in the greek is those who are rude and hostile towards us, people who for whatever reason treat us badly. And rather than lash out Jesus challenges us to respond in a completely different way. The first word is Love which in the greek is agapao and literally means to have generous concern for, to value and esteem, to be faithful towards and delight in. And then there is good which in the greek is kalos and refers to speaking well of someone, praising and applauding them.

So if someone is rude to me or treats me badly Jesus is saying that I am to treat them with considerable respect like they are a close special friend or dear family member… wow. I read the Bible and God is forming me, smoothing out my rough edges.. and now I am ready to love my enemy and do good to them. This is nothing short of stunning.

Is it just me or does this Scripture challenge you?

God bless!

Rev Mark Brown

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‘Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.’ John 14:6

Yesterday I posted the following message on the Bible page :

‘Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.’ John 14:6 If you want to become a Christian message me, would love to share with you to reality of God’s love for you!! God bless, Rev Mark Brown

And in a short amount of time my inbox was filling up with responses! This awesome passage clearly outlines that to be in God’s presence I need to go through Jesus. The greek behind the word ‘through’ is dia which literally means, on account of, because of. So I come into God’s presence because Jesus died on the cross and rose again, which means I can be washed clean of my sin and therefore be in the presence of God. So when it reads that the only way to the Father is through Jesus, it is saying that the only way to the Father is through coming before Jesus and first admitting my sin.

And the first part of the John 14:6 reading provides some insight into what happens when we focus on Jesus, when I come to Jesus and admit my sin. The first part is Jesus is the ‘way’, which in the greek is hodos which means road, the path, the journey. So to get to heaven I need to be on the right highway! In focusing on Jesus I am travelling in the right direction, sin is getting distracted on side roads, the key is that I remain on the main road. So maybe my Bible is a GPS – Global Positioning System!

The second part is Jesus is the ‘truth’ which in the greek is alétheia and as well as meaning truth it can also mean certainly. Jesus has the truth and is the truth, and the key for me is that I know this with complete certainty. And I do!!

The third part is Jesus is the ‘life’ which is zóé and speaks of being alive! So in focusing on Jesus I come alive! And this is very much my experience! The more I focus on Jesus the more alive I feel! Energy and purpose as I seek after God through Jesus. Passion and clarity about what I am to do, in seeking after God through Jesus.

What a wonderful promise! I come to God by facing my sin and focusing on Jesus through staying on the main road, being certain about His reality in my life, and living a full life of purpose!

Praise God!

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

PS please pray for me as I respond to the messages in my inbox.

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He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.’ Isaiah 40:29,31

I am a very impatient, if I have an idea I like to get onto it immediately; I don’t like wasting time.  I work out plans, resourcing is sorted (who will do what and how?) and then I start hassling people till it’s done!   Which is why this amazing Isaiah reading is so challenging:  there are times when I need to wait for the Lord.   Nearly a year ago I was ordained as a Priest, which was a calling I received 16 years prior at the age of 20 – it took 16 years for the calling to be fulfilled!

I had it all worked out, theology training, ordination, and pastoring a church by 24.  But it all fell apart only 6 months prior to ordination.. I simply couldn’t handle the study load and the practical expectations, so I quit.  And I can now see that I needed those 16 years to build my strength and power and now these days I am more ready to fulfil God’s calling as a Priest.

And part of what God has revealed to me is that though my calling maybe to be a pastor, the outworking of my calling isn’t to pastor a local church.  Over the past 16 years God has been equipping me and strengthening me for a different environment completely.

And I can now see that God is calling me to be a pastor online, through my Journey Deeper into God’s Word blog and The Bible page on Facebook I am proclaiming the Word, through the Praying People page on Facebook and my interactions with people via chat and email I am able to care for people, and encourage them in their faith.

And several years ago I planted a church in the virtual world of Second Life, known as the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life (for info see:  http://slangcath.wordpress.com/) which though I have now retired from active involvement, offers several services each week within the virtual setting online.

So my calling to being a Priest is to the online setting.  And it was only through waiting in the Lord that this was made clear.  I praise God for the way He is working in my life and revealing His will for me through His Word!

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

PS  Zondervan have just published a book called SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World by Douglas Estes.  If you are interested in online church as an idea, this is a very cool book.  Plus I feature in it!!!

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To order a copy see:  http://www.amazon.com/SimChurch-Being-Church-Virtual-World/dp/0310287847

Psalm 119:33-41 : Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good.

How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness. May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise; then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in your word.

In undertaking this journey deeper into God’s Word I am seeking to keep His law and obey it with all my heart. I am striving to integrate God’s Word into the fabric of who I am and what I do.  I want the precepts, the wisdom and promises to constantly show up.  When I am struggling I want to refer to the promise that God is with me, especially those times when I am wading through mud with what feels like concrete shoes on.  When I am excited, I want to praise God as I should, shamelessly raising my hands in acknowledgment!!  At every moment I want to see the world through the lens of the Bible.

But key to this is that I seek after God, not my own selfish gain.  And this is easy to write and really hard to do!  To make God the focus not me.  Wow.

But in spending time reflecting on this passage something quite amazing occurred to me, I realised that I was relying on my strength to somehow bring God to me!   Which is a bit like standing on a beach and trying to drag the water towards me; actually I need to just stand still and allow the waves to come to me.

As the Psalm states:  ‘Give me understanding’ and ‘Turn my heart toward’ and ‘Turn my eyes away from’ and ‘Take away the..’ I seek God to act in my life, but it is God who actually acts, who gives me understanding, who turns my heart, my eyes. Wow.

Lord I invite you to be part of every aspect of my life.

Praise God!!

What are your thoughts about this amazing passage?

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

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Luke 6:20: And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

A huge part of my journey deeper into God’s Word has been getting behind the english translations and reading the greek or the Hebrew.  And quite often I am blown away by what I discover.  In this first part of the Beatitudes (which means blessed or happy) Jesus states that the poor are blessed as the kingdom of God is theirs.  And when I checked out the greek I discovered that ‘blessed’ (makarios) is not just about being happy, but about receiving God’s favour, getting special attention and treatment from God.  I found out that ‘poor’ (Ptochos) refers to not only being materially poor, or not having money, but also spiritually poor, so those struggling with their faith.  And then I discovered that ‘kingdom’ (basileia) is Kingly power and authority.

So Luke 6:20 is saying that those who are struggling with their faith and those who are without money or work will receive power and authority from Jesus to deal with the massive challenges in their life.

Wow.

Jesus power and authority are available to those who are struggling.  If you are struggling, pause now, and invite Jesus into your heart and request the power and authority that comes from God.  The promise is clear!

I praise you Jesus!  Wow!!

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

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Luke 6:17-19 :  Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

We are about to attempt to sell our house and to improve our chances we have been cleaning up the inside and the outside and removing many years of clutter.  It is starting to look amazing, just in time to move out!!  But the cleaning process is taking a while, it is tiring messy work that requires us to just keep sloggin away at it.  One job I had was water blasting our wooden deck in the back yard.  The jet was about an inch wide and so to remove the grime I had to carefully move the inch wide high powered jet of water back and forth.  It took several sessions and many hours, but the result is stunning – one clean deck!

As I immerse myself in Luke 6:17-19 what stands out is how many people seek after Jesus to be healed.  Some are healed of disease and others of ‘unclean spirits’.  Unclean in the greek is <i>akathartos</i> which means foul and impure, referring to the sin that keeps us from God.  When I began this journey deeper into God’s Word I was challenged to face my sin, all that is impure within me.  And now, many months later I can see how absolutely essential this process of facing my sin is.  It is central to drawing close to God, it is a major theme within the Bible (Jesus died on the cross so that I might be washed anew!) and it is key to my growth and development as a Christian.

My wooden deck is like my life, the grime being my sin, accumulated over many years. And the high powered water jet is the Word of God!  God is revealing practices and behaviours built up over many years that I need to face, confess and have removed!

This is a tough process, but I know that through it I am drawing closer to God and becoming more of what He intends of me.

And I praise God for that!

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

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Luke 6:12-16: One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names: Simon (whom he named Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James,  John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the zealot), Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

Recently on the Bible and Praying People pages on Facebook I invited people to submit their prayer requests, I offered to pray for people and also encouraged others to pray.  Literally thousands of prayers were expressed and even now, a day or so later, prayers are still being posted.  As I prayed the prayer requests I found myself deeply moved, sometimes to tears at how challenging life is for some.  I know God hears prayers as Mark 11: 24 states, ‘Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’.  It is a privilege and an honour to pray for people.

And then I read this amazing passage where Jesus heads out to a remote, quiet place up a mountain and prays all night.  All night!  No quick prayer on the way to wherever..  but Jesus finds a quiet place and forgoes sleep so He can spend time with His Father in prayer.  Jesus did this as He had a big decision to make, the appointment of the 12 apostles.

I have a big decision coming up: what to do when I finish as Chief Executive of Bible Society New Zealand in March?  And this passage really, really challenges me.  I now want to pray all night, to commit to prayer my future plans for I only seek to do God’s will, so it makes sense to seek after God in prayer then.  But as I think about this, I find myself asking practical questions like, how will I stay awake?  What will I pray about?  What will I do the next day??  But I feel very led by this passage and I am going to give it a go!

I will let you know what happens!

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

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Luke 6:1-11 : One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

On the Bible page I started on Facebook, there are lots of self proclaimed atheists who write comments hoping to get into a debate about Christianity.  Their world view is that God is make believe, and why would you bother with something that isn’t real.  As one person posted, ‘Santa isn’t real either.’  And in my life there are many people who see Christianity as something weird.  They have no idea about the Bible and many of them see Christians as pushy and silly.  And yet I am absolutely convinced that they need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  I was recently chatting to someone who wasn’t Christian and I asked them why they don’t go to church, they answered that it was on at a really inconvenient time, he shared that he liked to sleep in on Sundays and take it easy!  I thought about this a lot, what about putting church on at a time that really suits him?  And then I realised, looking at church as the answer is looking at the wrong thing.  This guy needs a personal encounter with Jesus Christ first.  Once this happens then he will make changes and adjustments to make sure he is fed, to meet with other Christians and worship as part of a church community.

Becoming a Christian may start as an intellectual exercise but at some point you have to open your heart, set aside your preconceived notions and trust.  When I became a Christian I made an intellectual decision to invite Jesus into my heart, and then handed the rest of the process over to God.  I trusted that God would act and He did and He does!

In this amazing reading above we see Jesus debating with the Pharisees and teachers of the Law and He does something really amazing.  He answers their accusations in their language, in a way that they would understand.  He moves into their neighbourhood and speaks almost as one of them, only He has a different spin:  that He is the ‘Son of Man’ – the Messiah (see Daniel 7:13-14).  So as I interact with non-Christians I also need to move into their neighbourhood and understand their world view, and then speak from within that in pointing them to Jesus.  Wow.

Lord, give me opportunities to talk about you!!

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

PS Thanks for your messages of support and care and for your prayers!  I am feeling much better after my low day yesterday.

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Luke 5:33-39 :They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ “

The Pharisees and teachers of the law who are questioning Jesus here, were full on and committed.  They saw the world in terms of rules and regulations, things that must be done and done well.  And they worked hard at maintaining those rules.  Whereas Jesus brought a new reality, a new authority, He introduced a new approach.

But key to this is that Jesus doesn’t say the old rules are wrong but that they have a time and a place alongside the new reality.  In reference to fasting Jesus says, ‘But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.’  So Jesus is saying that the disciples are observing the new reality of a personal relationship with Jesus, but one day they will fast.  This new reality that Jesus brings is a deep and personal relationship with God, that through Christ’s death on the cross we are able to come into the presence of God, to experience the Holy Spirit’s power.

Most days I feel this wonderful reality!  The Holy Spirit is with me, gently guiding and challenging, the ability to be forgiven gratefully received, the peace and assurance of being in God’s presence a reality!  And then I have a day like today.

I suspect I have some sort of virus as I feel drained and quite tired, unmotivated, low energy.  And this is when routine and rules are really important for me.  I make the decision to spend time immersed in the Word and to pray even though I don’t feel up to it.    There are times when the old way of rules is good, and today is one of them!

God I praise you for this amazing passage and for your awesome comfort and direction in the midst of a low day.

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

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Luke 5:27-32:  After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ’sinners’?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Early this morning I led a church service and my brief message was around how Jesus is interested in the poor and the destitute, and therefore so should we be.  As I drove to work after the service God got me thinking. I was thinking about how so many people, including me, are seeking significance.  We want to be something and someone. We want to look good, have an amazing job or meaningful occupation, be a brilliant parent or friend, and be respected by those around us.  And I am no different.  God is working on me.  I want to be significant and important, to have a meaningful life full of rewards and interesting experiences.

And then I arrive at work, and open the Bible to Luke 5:27-32 and I am immediately challenged.  My desire to be significant and important is actually a desire to be righteous and healthy.  And yet I read here that Jesus is seeking after me, calling me not because I am righteous, significant or important, but because I am a sinner.   I want to succeed, to live a significant life, but I realise now that my motivation is more about me and my needs rather than God’s needs.    If I am brutally honest, I am pursuing my own goals in life way too much.

So what am I to do?

Jesus approaches Levi, the tax collector, someone hated in his community.  His job was to take money off people, and many of the tax collectors could be particularly cruel in how they went about this.  No one liked a tax collector.  And who does Jesus spend time with?  The one person the community hated.  It was possible that even by associating with Levi, Jesus’ reputation could have been damaged.  But Jesus didn’t care, He went to this sinful man and said something quite amazing: “Follow me,”. In the greek ‘follow’ means to imitate.  So Jesus was saying, Levi, come with me and be like me.  And Jesus is saying to me, come with me and be like me.

So I can seek significance, be someone special, but only through being like Jesus. Wow. Be thinking about that one for quite a while.. wow.

God bless,

Rev Mark Brown

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