Lifeway CRC Church

Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 16:33 brought both warnings and encouragement. The same words apply to us today. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus spoke these words before going to the cross. So what did it look like in reality to already declare that He had “overcome” when suffering awaited and would be part of all their journey? 

As we look through scripture and the life of Jesus and the disciples we see the importance of the Holy Spirit, the written Word and prayer in helping us not only to go through these times, but to come out victorious. 

Jude urges us to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s Holy people” (Jude verse 3). Many today need breakthroughs and hope. As the body of Christ, we can no longer be passive or apathetic in our christian walk, the world is getting darker and more evil, people need Jesus. God is calling HIs people into a deeper life of prayer and is imparting a hunger to get to know Him more through the Word and the Spirit. He is inviting us to come into the Upper Room, to WAIT for and upon the Holy Spirit, so we can go out in the anointing and power of the Spirit to do what He asks us to do. Let’s heed the invitation while it remains, for we can do nothing without Him but all things through Him as we remain in Him. 

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Jesus confronted the corruptions that had crept into the temple in his day. He quoted Isaiah’s prophetic declaration that the temple was to be a place of prayer for all nations. God doesn’t want people to treat His “house” (the church) as a hotel or museum, or like a club or restaurant. It a house – a home to be honoured and respected – of prayer, of communion with God. Jesus’ church is intended to be for encountering Him, a place of communication and spiritual communion with God.

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When Jesus begins preaching, he picks up the message of John the Baptist, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2, 4:17). But before he begins teaching the many stories (parables) of what the Kingdom of heaven is like, he offers a somewhat confusing reflection of how the gospel message has been received so far. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence*, and violent people have been raiding it.” (Matthew 11:12). The phrase “subjected to violence” (NIV) is sometimes translated as “forcefully advancing” (e.g NLT). So which is it? Is the kingdom pressing forward forcefully, or is it on the receiving end of violence? Are people laying hold of it or attacking it? Or is it both?

The post The Kingdom of Heaven: Force and Violence first appeared on Lifeway Church.

Jesus told many stories (parables) as illustrations that reveal aspects of the Kingdom of God. One of the shortest parables is a simple one-sentence description of a woman mixing yeast into a huge quantity of flour to make dough. This simple image offers some profound insights into the way the Kingdom of God permeates and influences,

“He told them still another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.’”

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In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a story about seed being sown that lands on all different kinds of soil – a hardened path, rocky shallow soil, soil that is choked by weeds and thorns, and good soil that helps a healthy harvest grow. It is tempting to simplify the story down to those who accept the gospel of God’s kingdom and those who reject it. But the story is more subtle than that – it talks about the heart condition that promotes receptivity towards God, and the kinds of things that can prevent us from having fruitful lives in Him.

The post Seed, soil and fruitfulness – are we receptive to God’s word for us? first appeared on Lifeway Church.

A message for fathers (and men in general) on Father’s Day. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:5, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” This is probably a difficult command for many of us, or at least something we might struggle to live out. We are so conditioned to so many forms of aggression, both subtle and obvious. Our culture is in so many ways two-faced when it comes to violence. On the one hand violence is deplored, outlawed, shunned and criminalised, but on the other, our movies, books and entertainment are dominated by stories and images of violence, murder and bloodshed. Our heroes are those who even in fighting against evil do so with expressions of power and force that are violent. We legitimise violence to overcome the powers of evil, matching “good force” against “bad force”. It seems that violence is the inescapable response to chaos and conflict.

But Jesus came to change all that… He shows us a way that is both gentle and humble, yet strong enough to conquer world empires.

The post Gentleness and Christ-like Strength first appeared on Lifeway Church.

First century Jews respected and revered the group of religious leaders known as the Pharisees. Their devotion and meticulous observance of the law was seen as the way to achieve holiness and good standing with God. To them, Jesus’ words would have been confronting, “But I warn you — unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 5:20).

Jesus was not saying, “Do better, be better.” On the contrary, he was exposing how that kind of religion that can never lead to true holiness and cannot bring us into right relationship with God. A fear-based ‘holiness’ leads to pride and comparison, isolation and control. It blinds us, causing justification of behaviours that are not in alignment with Jesus’ heart for His people. 

The post Am I a Pharisee? first appeared on Lifeway Church.

There are a lot of people who do life on the road, exploring our amazing country and living a minimalist lifestyle, enjoying the freedom and adventure that comes with #vanlife. Doing van-life is low maintenance, low-cost, low-needs and low-commitment. But it is also has severe limitations.

God honours faith wherever he finds it. In Romans 10:9-15, Paul describes how faith is at the centre of the salvation message – “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame” (Rom. 10:11). God’s mercy and grace is available to anyone who puts their hope in Christ. That same faith also calls us to a life of sharing this Good News with our own mouths and actions. The question that follows is how will people hear this Good News unless someone is sent and goes in obedience to God’s call? Perhaps you could be the answer to someone’s prayer to God!

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Still on the topic of Kingdom, this message looks at two passages Matthew 7:15-23 and Matthew 25:31-46. In their own way, both describe the future reality of Jesus Christ, crowned in glory, judging his people. Both passages demonstrate that kingdom actions absent from intimacy with God and carrying his heart is religion and is met with harsh outcomes.

The message invites us to consider what it looks like to prioritise relationships with Jesus so that we have more than self to offer a hurting world. 

The post The king will say, ‘You did it for me.’ first appeared on Lifeway Church.