Baptism of fire

John said that the one who came after him would baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16). Jesus mentioned baptism and fire in the same breath on his last journey to Jerusalem. He was preparing his followers on what to expect after he had departed (Luke 12:49-53).

The fire he was speaking of would be brought by the Holy Spirit who could only come after Jesus had been glorified (John 7:39). On the day of Pentecost tongues of fire appeared on the heads of his followers (Acts 2:3). Peter attributed the pouring out of the Holy Spirit to the fact that Jesus had ascended to heaven (Acts 2:33). On that day about 3000 people were separated from their fellow Israelites by getting baptised in water (Acts 2:40-41).

At the time when Jesus predicted the division the Holy Spirit would bring, he warned the crowds to choose life. If they ignored his invitation the consequences would be disastrous. He spoke in a parable, the meaning of which was that they needed to make peace with him or else be delivered over to the wrath of the Roman army (Luke 12:57-59). Those who persisted in their unbelief did suffer that fate. Jesus prophesied it more than 40 years before the event (Luke 21:20) and the historian Josephus recorded it.

Relationship and law

When first meeting someone new it is normal for most of us to avoid offending the stranger. As we get to know him we discover the person's likes and dislikes. If we want the relationship to continue we try to please the one who has now become a friend.

For various reasons relationships deteriorate and love grows cold over time. Some of our friend's habits, which we tolerated in the beginning, now irritate us. We know his preferences but were never in full agreement with all of them. Nevertheless we don't usually sever the connection. Instead, we avoid any form of conflict. We act in ways we believe he will find acceptable. If he does not approve we are surprised since we did our best and it was not good enough. It is natural at this stage to become negative towards him and lose interest in him as a person.

Children seem to have an inborn instinct to notice what parents are keen on. They generally want to please them. Maybe that is why Jesus has such harsh words for anyone who causes little ones to stumble (Mark 9:42). Inconsistency from a parent's side will cause the child to conform to what is expected, but not from the heart. The child becomes hypocritical towards the parent. The Greek word "hypokrites" means an actor. When a relationship declines to such an extent that it becomes role playing it is hardly worth keeping up.

Before we get to know Jesus we hear from God through our conscience and his commandments. The connection can be quite noisy. We don't always get the intended message, due to external and internal interference. Externally God's laws come to us via teachers, who are imperfect instruments; and internally our "flesh" does not like to be told how to behave. When we invite Jesus into our lives he gives us his Spirit to make his will known. Due to our sinful human nature the communication is still not flawless but it is direct; Jesus' followers interact with him personally.

Our friendship with Jesus can also stagnate to the extent that we act out his laws in a mechanistic way. I can ignore the whispers of his Spirit but keep his laws, or rather my interpretation of his laws. Then I behave in exactly the same way as those who never knew him but only lived by a list of "do's and don'ts". My opinion of him is likely to decline as I should expect when I become the centre of my universe and Jesus is relegated to a lesser role.

Every long term relationship requires work. Couples who have been married for a reasonable time will agree with this statement. The same applies to our relationship with Jesus. It needs to be maintained and not consigned to autopilot.

God's laws are still there to guide us but Jesus expects his followers to talk to him and hear from him daily. For this reason he gave us his Spirit, his Bible and his church.

The new man

Jesus Christ is the prototype of the new man. God's purpose is that people should be changed to be like his Son (Romans 8:29). We are not supposed to be clones of Jesus. Just like children of the same father are not identical, Christians all carry "Jesus' genes", yet each is unique.

Originally man was made in God's image. This image was marred when Adam and Eve decided to know better than their Creator (Genesis 3:5). An evil influence entered the very core of our ancestors. It gets passed on from generation to generation. To be recreated in God's image requires our cooperation with him (Colossians 3:5, 12).

Jesus lived the life of an average Jew till he was about 30 years old (Mark 6:3). Then he started preaching about the new life intended for all who were willing to live as he prescribed. He spoke about life in the kingdom of God. Since Jesus claimed to be one with God (John 10:33), he was obviously the sovereign of this realm.

As representative of the human race Jesus had the task of conquering death. He had raised a few dead people but the final triumph was when he came back from the grave himself (John 10:17-18). Those who are "in Christ" will have the same experience, though our resurrection does not happen 3 days after death.

Emulating the lifestyle of Jesus is only possible with the help of his Holy Spirit. This help is freely available to anyone who asks (Luke 11:13).

God's love

Paul wrote a whole chapter on love. His motivation for writing this timeless portion of literature can be inferred from where he placed it in his letter to the Corinthians. The chapter before and the one after it both deal with spiritual gifts. He wanted to make the point that good works without love have neither meaning nor value.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 can have a rather depressing effect on the reader. It seems remote from the human experience and impossible to attain to. I used to lump it together with "be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" and "love your neighbour as yourself" (Matthew 5:48; 22:39).

Lately I have come to see these four verses in another light. God is personified by love. His love for me is therefore demonstrated by 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. That is a thought worth meditating on.

The power of peer pressure

Propaganda has a power similar to mob mentality. One wants to agree with the prevailing direction the mob is moving in. To oppose the crowd is uncomfortable, even dangerous, and therefore generally avoided. That is why the “average German” did not oppose Hitler and the “average Afrikaner” supported apartheid. It is also the reason why the “average Jew” rejects the notion that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah and the “average Muslim” refuses to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

Only the brave dare to investigate the claims of their opponents with an open mind. Most people are completely unwilling to listen to those whose opinions are radically opposed to their own. This is not altogether bad. I would rather accept the opinion of a friend whom I know and respect than that of a complete stranger. Nevertheless, I would do myself a disservice if I refused to listen to the arguments of those who are “obviously wrong” in my eyes.

My father, whom I regarded as my best friend, was extremely upset when I chose to “join the opposition”. I was brought up Afrikaans and was a nominal member of the predominant Afrikaans church. When I decided to get baptised as a believer, my father was quite beside himself. Fortunately I was not living in 15^th century Europe or Britain where it was a capital offence to be “re-baptised”. To crown it all I married someone who had never learnt a word of Afrikaans. Since my father refused to speak English to her, I taught my wife Afrikaans and today she speaks it fluently.

The story has a good ending. My father and I got reconciled after he rediscovered the faith he had had as a child but had lost. When he died I was pleasantly surprised to find he had made me a co-executor of his will and administrator of his trust.

PS I was inspired to write the above as a response to the article: Muslim, Zionist and proud which can be read at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4220976,00.html

Stretched

One of the mantras of motivational speakers is: "No pain, no gain". Listeners are encouraged to move out of comfort zones in order to grow. This advice is definitely needed by people who thrive on external motivation and pressure.

However, not everybody grows by this method and it does have some disadvantages. It is a known fact that memory recall is impeded by stress hormones. That is part of the the body's fight or flight response to danger. Another drawback of putting oneself under pressure is the negative effect it can have on one's "environment". My family and close associates tend to avoid me when I'm "on the warpath" or "in a quandary". I am one of those who do best when intrinsically motivated.

Jesus was gentle with his disciples. He told them at least 3 times that he was going to die and rise from the dead (Matthew 16:21; 17:22; 20:19). Still his death came as a horrendous shock to them. Furthermore, they did not believe those who said he had risen (Mark 16:11-13; Luke 24:11). Being in charge of the new church was also a tremendous stretch for them.

Paul seems to have been a person who constantly put himself under pressure. At times even he found it hard to bear (2 Corinthians 1:8). It was certainly too much for the young John Mark who accompanied him and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:13). Barnabas was OK with Mark leaving them halfway but Paul refused to take him on their second missionary journey. This caused Barnabas and Paul to part company (Acts 15:36-39).

By deserting Paul and Barnabas Mark saved himself from quite an ordeal (Acts 14:19). He was spared more trauma by Paul's decision not to take him on his second expedition (Acts 16:22-24). Mark did not lose his faith and was one of the very few who were useful to Paul at the end of his life (2 Timothy 4:11).

Leaders' opinions

Leaders of organisations are regularly polled regarding their opinions on matters of public interest. The questions posed to them are often of the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind. Jesus was peppered with these types of questions. Christians should therefore not regard such interviews as something strange.

Thirty years ago pastors of churches were pressured into answering questions such as: "Is it sinful to dance, smoke, gamble or enjoy alcohol in measure?" There were those who answered in the affirmative and went further to add wearing lipstick or "slacks" or going to the cinema to the list of things a Christian should avoid. There were also some who left the decision to the individual and trusted the Holy Spirit to convict believers of what was sinful.

In those days some questions were much easier to answer with the backing of the Bible. Abortions and same sex unions were forbidden by law and God requires us to abide by the law of the land, provided that the law does not clash with our Christian convictions. And no Christian leader had the conviction that abortions or same sex marriages should be encouraged.

This does not mean that all Christian leaders were in favour of legislation which outlawed abortions or homosexual unions. Some asked: "Who are we to impose our morality on a whole nation?" Anyone reasoning with a clear mind should come to the conclusion that life starts at conception. Moses and Jesus and their followers were also quite adamant about God's plan for sexual intercourse. He sanctions only monogamous heterosexual marriage relationships.

From the questions posed to Jesus pastors can learn that it is OK to be evasive. There is also the likely possibility that the Holy Spirit will aid them in their answers when put on the spot. To embarrass and marginalise Christians is on satan's agenda. The Good News to the world is not embodied a list of do's and don'ts. The process of growing as a believer includes recognising what is morally right and wrong.

Who killed Jesus?

God breathed his spirit into man. (In both Hebrew and Greek the words for 'spirit' are respectively the same as the words these languages use for 'breath'.) We were made to be "like God". If we were any more like him, we would be gods ourselves. This is exactly the temptation Eve fell for but instead of becoming more like God, she fell under the influence of another spirit.

The Hebrew word "satan" can be translated "opposer". After Adam and Eve both sinned, the opposer somehow got an ally in the form of our "flesh". The natural tendency of man is to oppose God. That is one of the themes of the Bible which will be abundantly clear to anyone who is willing to read it without prejudice. The Israelites had to be saved again and again from the sticky situations they got themselves into when they drifted into what came naturally, namely immorality, sacrificing children, oppressing the poor etc.

When Jesus was born it was as if there was a conspiracy to kill him. The Jewish nation had a king of whom the Roman emperor said: "I would rather be his pig than his son". Augustus based this on the fact that Herod would not eat pork but he had killed his son. The spirit of the opposer caused Herod to feel threatened by anyone who had the slightest chance of becoming king in his place.

Finally a human being was born who was more "like God" than anyone who had lived before. But the rulers of this world would not let him live. The religious leaders condemned him because he upset their hypocritical lifestyle and broke their silly rules. The secular state did not care enough to do the right thing which would be to protect him. They rather caved in and did what was politically correct. Many of Jesus' followers suffered the same fate. They were condemned by the murderers who had become leaders in the Church and executed by the state. Among them were Jan Huss and William Tyndale.

Throughout the last 2000 years true believers in Jesus were persecuted by the same people who persecuted the Jews. By observing the news media an unbiased observer will notice that today this tendency is becoming even more pronounced than before.

God warned the Jewish religious leaders that he was going to find other custodians of his people. Judaism was no longer going to be the religion by which his people would be identified. That is the meaning of the fig tree which Jesus cursed. He made it abundantly clear that those who reject him can in no way expect to be accepted by his Father. In this way the prophesy in Isaiah 49:6 was fulfilled as well as Psalm 118:22.

It follows that not all religion is good. In fact, satan uses religion and there is probably more bad religion out there than good. But Jesus said: "I will build my church". His true church is the only institution of which the mission is completely altruistic. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Late night videos

After a day of stressful interactions one is likely to rehash the discussions before falling asleep:

What did she mean by ...? Did I overreact? When he said ... I should have said ... .

Maybe more words are exchanged soon afterwards, clarifying or obfuscating the issue. Communicating with someone from a different upbringing/cultural background often leads to misunderstandings.

One can only understand WITH the innate and acquired knowledge in one's head. And thoughts are NOT unconnected from feelings. Suppose most of the feelings I experience while "playing the video" of my day's communications are negative. Then there is the tendency to "photoshop" the video to make me "look better".

If it really hurts, I can edit the video so that I play the role of a hero. That implies, of course, that whoever opposes me is a villain. This may sound far-fetched but I believe we all do it to some extent to cope with our feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness.

This routine really becomes toxic if I "broadcast" my video. When someone asks "How did your talk with so-and-so go?", I give them the edited version. After that it becomes difficult to "delete".

Once the edited "video" has become part of the matrix I use to understand WITH, my conversations with the "villains" will be distorted. This will cause further alienation and a breakdown in relationships.

Jesus warned his followers to be careful about how they observe events to make sure they "walk in the light". (Luke 11:15-20; 11:33-36)