Be Still And Know

Colossians 1:9 We have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Recently, I heard someone say that the situation they were facing was so desperate that all they could do was pray about it. They made it sound as if their circumstances were so hopeless that they were willing to grasp at any option, however daft. We need to be clear that the apostle Paul saw prayer in a completely different way. For him, prayer was not the last resort but the first. He prayed for the people in Colossae because, even though he didn’t know them, he cared about them and longed that they would thrive as Christians in a tough environment. Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Christians was that they would know God’s will. That always needs to be at the heart of our prayers. Prayer is never our opportunity to tell God what we think is best, or to ask him to implement the decisions we have made. Because God is all

Colossians 1:6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace. Following Christ always involves radical change. James and John had to leave their boats and their fishing nets and follow Jesus. Zacchaeus, the tax collector, had to make things right with all the people he had defrauded. And Saul, the devout Jew who was determined to stamp out the Church, changed his name and his whole direction of life, becoming Jesus’ most passionate ambassador. Christ meets us as individuals, so the changes that take place in our lives will be unique. As a teenager, I heard many amazing testimonies from people who had been dramatically changed by Christ. I heard about people who had been on hard drugs for years and who had found new life and liberty in their newfound faith. I listened to people who had pursued a life of crime and then met C

Colossians 1:4-5 We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. Having hope is incredibly important. Dostoevsky, the famous writer, said: “To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness.” Above the entrance to Dante’s hell was the inscription: “Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.” The Colossian church were so confident of the future that God had for them that they were full of hope, and that inspired both their faith in Christ and their love for their Christian brothers and sisters. It was like an engine inside them producing nothing but blessing. Human life is often characterised by hopelessness. In 1850, Bishop Wilberforce said: “I dare not marry for the future is so dark and unsettled.” In 1851, the Duke of Wellington said: “I thank God I shall be spared from seeing the consummation of ruin that is gathering about us.” And, the following year, the Conservative polit

Matthew 28:8-9 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. The women who found the empty tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning must have experienced a riot of emotions. They had got up early to anoint the body of Jesus because this was the first opportunity to do so after the sabbath. Their astonishment that the stone of the tomb had been rolled away was compounded by meeting an angel whose face shone like lightning and whose clothing was as white as snow. The angel informed them that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he had promised, and told them to go and tell the disciples. As they ran off, Matthew records that they were very frightened but also filled with great joy. Then, amid this tumult of emotions, they suddenly met Jesus himself. The women could not keep the amazing news of

Matthew 27:57-60 As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. We know very little about Joseph of Arimathea. The Gospel of Mark tells us that he was an honoured member of the high council of the Jews, and that he was waiting for the kingdom of God to come. The Gospel of Luke comments that he was a good and righteous man, and the Gospel of John informs us that he was a secret disciple of Jesus because he feared the Jewish leaders. That’s all we know. However, this brief account of him going to Pilate asking for the body of Jesus reveals that he was a man of exceptional courage. This initiative could easily have exposed him to enormous risk both from the Romans and the

Matthew 27:54 The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!” When Jesus died, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom and there was a great earthquake. It’s no wonder that the soldiers, tough as they were, were terrified. We need to be very grateful to the Gospel writers for recording so much of what took place, but there is so much more that we would love to know. I find it fascinating that the Gospel writers tell us nothing of the response of the religious people. We know that some of the Jewish leaders were very sympathetic to Jesus. I wonder what Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea thought. And what about the disciples? Wouldn’t it be fascinating to know what their reactions were on this most traumatic of days? Matthew only tells us about the reaction of one group of people. We would hardly have expected to hear any comment from them, because they w

Matthew 26:26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” The Old Testament prophets frequently communicated through actions, proclaiming their messages both clearly and unforgettably. They are often called acted parables. In the Gospels, we see Jesus doing exactly the same thing. On Palm Sunday, his entry into Jerusalem on a donkey powerfully declared that he was both a king and a man of peace. Then, on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples and declared while breaking bread that it represents his broken body. The Passover meal is an annual opportunity for Jews to revisit the people of Israel’s miraculous liberation from Egypt. That historic event proved that God is a God of salvation. He is able to do things which are humanly impossible. During the Last Supper, Jesus stood before his disciples as the Saviour of the World. The disciples h

Matthew 26:7 While [Jesus] was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. Things were hotting up. Jesus had launched a tirade against the religious leaders and they were now absolutely committed to seeing him put to death. We learn that they had a secret meeting at the home of the High Priest, Caiaphas, in order to plan this. Amid all of this ferment, we go to a home in the village of Bethany and meet a woman performing the most amazing act of devotion to Jesus. At the time, it was quite usual for a Jewish woman to carry a little alabaster jar of precious perfume around her neck. This perfume could be incredibly valuable, and in the Gospels of Mark and John, we are told that it was worth 300 denarii. That would be about a year’s earnings! It was a phenomenal act of devotion, and it is unsurprising that the disciples were shocked by what she did. They saw it as a terrible waste and reflected that the money could have been used to help the poor. B

Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” The battle of words between Jesus and the Jewish leaders had got to fever pitch. They had challenged him about his authority, and the Sadducees had just come up with a really awkward question about the resurrection. Now the Pharisees got together to push Jesus to the limit. They asked him a question they often discussed among themselves: “What is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” If Jesus tripped up on this question, they could label him as a blasphemer. But Jesus gave them the classic Jewish answer: loving God with everything you’ve got is the first commandment, and the second is loving your neighbour as yourself. Loving God should still be our absolute priority, and we

Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” The joyful celebration of Palm Sunday is followed by something completely different. Jesus walked into Jerusalem and was angered by the sight of the Temple precinct crowded with traders. This was nothing new. In order for worshippers to make their sacrifices, there was a rule that they had to purchase their birds or animals in the coinage of Tyre. They therefore needed the money changers to convert their Roman and Greek coins into that currency. This system was developed over many years, but Jesus’ concern was that it totally obscured the real purpose of the Temple. Instead of it being a house of prayer, it had been turned into a noisy shopping mall within which unsc

Matthew 21:8-9 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the centre of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting: “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Praise God in highest heaven!” At the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, we read about the Magi. They were important people from the East who visited Jesus after seeing a star, which showed them that a king had been born. At the time, their belief couldn’t have seemed further from the truth. Born to poor parents in a cattle shed, nothing suggested that Jesus was a king. But now, towards the end of his life, we see him being greeted as royalty. Spreading garments on the road and cutting down tree branches was the way they would welcome a king. The crowd was acknowledging that Jesus stood in the line of King David. But he was no ordinary king. Jesus surprised people throughout his ministry,

Colossians 1:3-4 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. It is unlikely that Paul and Timothy had ever visited the church in Colossae, but Paul and Timothy had heard all about the Colossians and they were constantly in their prayers. They knew they had not only a strong faith in Jesus but also a love for other Christians. This is the calling of every follower of Christ because loving him immediately brings us into relationship with other Christians. When we start following Christ, we are not cured of our natural selfishness, so it is sadly possible for Christians to be extremely self-centred in their discipleship. It is possible for us to focus on our own spiritual life and development and to neglect our responsibility to other Christians. This is deeply sad because we need the enrichment of spending time with our Christian brothers and sisters. We need to be challenged an

Colossians 1:2 [Paul and Timothy wrote:] “We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.” Colossae was not a particularly important town and was overshadowed by its rich and much more illustrious neighbours, Laodicea and Hierapolis. It is unlikely that Paul had ever visited the Colossians. However, in this important letter, he wanted them to know how significant they were. He calls them saints, God’s holy people. What mattered was not how they viewed themselves, or how other people saw them, but their relationship with God. He saw them as a special people, set apart for him. Many people are convinced that they are of no importance, and that it’s the people with gifts, money and influence who really matter in this life, but God would disagree with that. His view is that everyone is important because all of us have been made in his image, and if you have given your life to Christ, then you are a saint

Matthew 20:32-34 When Jesus heard [the blind men], he stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” they said, “we want to see!” Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him. Jesus had just informed his disciples that he was on the way to Jerusalem, where he would be handed over to the Romans to be crucified. You would understand if he became preoccupied with these great matters and avoided any distractions. But, as he and his disciples passed through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem, they heard two blind men crying out for attention. Most people would have hurried by, but not Jesus. He stopped and gave them his full attention. This reminds us of how Jesus had time for the little children, even though the disciples assumed that he wouldn’t want to be bothered by them. It’s easy to get so busy that we leave no time to stop and see the needs around us. We are so preoccupied with our own agenda that we have no space for the needs of

Matthew 20:26-28 [Jesus said:] “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Parents always want the best for their children, so we shouldn’t be too surprised that James and John’s mother came to Jesus and asked for them to have the best seats in the new kingdom. Jesus pointed out that she had got it all wrong. In the kingdom of God, the goal is to be the last not the first, and to be a servant rather than a master. And, incredibly, Jesus himself, who had every right to be generously served, came to be a servant. Let’s be honest. We all love to be served. We enjoy the thought of being in a beautiful hotel where our needs are perfectly met and where we have absolutely no work to do. Such experiences are good, but the way of life to which Jesus calls us is the exact opposite. He calls us to pour out our lives for others

Matthew 20:1-2 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.” All of Jesus’ parables are deeply challenging and surprising, and this particular parable is bound to offend anyone who has a natural sense of justice. A landowner hired workers for his vineyard at various times of the day. Some were hired early morning, and then others at 9am, 3pm and 5pm. So far so good. The problem is that the landowner decided to pay them all the full day’s wage. The people who had sweated through the whole day felt that this was profoundly unfair, and I think any trades union official would heartily agree. However, the landowner pointed out that he had every right to do whatever he wanted with his own money. Jesus was saying that everyone was welcome into his kingdom on exactly the same basis. Those who crept in at the last minute were just as welcome as those who had served him all their li

Matthew 19:23-24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were deeply shocked by Jesus’ words. Jews saw wealth as a sign of God’s blessing, so they were confused by the thought that riches could make it more difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven. They would have assumed that money made it easier to gain God’s favour. We meet a number of wealthy followers of Jesus. Nicodemus is a good example, along with Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the tomb after Jesus’ burial. It’s also interesting to note that the first convert in Europe was Lydia, a businesswoman. Jesus wasn’t saying that it was impossible for a wealthy person to enter his kingdom, but it would be extremely difficult. The problem with wealth is that it draws so much attention to itself. Possessions need to be looked after.

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” We are probably all very familiar with this story of Jesus welcoming children. For some reason, the disciples had tried to stop parents from bringing their children to Jesus to be blessed. We are not told why, but it may have been because they felt that Jesus was far too important to be troubled by little children. However, look at the verses which precede this story. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus by asking him some awkward legal questions. In the Old Testament, Moses had allowed for the possibility of divorce for unfaithfulness, but there had been much dispute about this through the centuries. By the time of Jesus, the Rabbinic School of Hillel taught that a husband could divorce his wife for matters as trivial as burning his supper. This was such an area of controversy that the Pharisees felt sure they could trip Jesus up, but they failed miserabl

Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied: “but seventy times seven!” When Peter asked his question, he thought he was being incredibly generous. Tradition told him that you should be ready to forgive another person three times, and then you could unleash your full fury on them. He suggested that the limit should be raised to seven times, but Jesus wasn’t impressed. He told Peter that he should be ready to forgive other people on 70 times seven occasions, effectively saying: “Stop the counting game and just keep on forgiving.” Jesus was introducing Peter to the idea that forgiveness should be a way of life. There should be no limit to it. This is both an incredibly tough and totally liberating teaching. It’s tough because forgiving someone when they have wronged you seems totally unjust. If you have ever been attacked, robbed or violated by another person every instinct in your body

Matthew 18:19-20 [Jesus said:] “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” The Church is not just a gathering of people who respect Jesus. It is infinitely more than that because, when his followers come together, Jesus is actually present. This means that incredibly powerful things can happen when we meet. The key to our meetings is unity. The Greek word that is used here for agreeing ([itals]sumphonesosin[end itals]) gives us the English word ‘symphony’, which means to agree in sound or to be in harmony with one another. God longs to bless us powerfully, but that can only happen when our thinking is in line with one another and with his will. Unity is always of importance to the people of God. By unity we don’t mean uniformity in which everyone thinks and acts in the same way. Uniformity actually militates against true unity, which depends upon