Today’s blog is the last in the current series.
Continuing through John. In 4:44 Jesus states that a prophet is without honour in their own home. He certainly found that to be so, and any of his followers who have tried to give His message and been rejected can agree with that. The sad fact is, your own church is unlikely to heed the messages from God that you give. The good news is, other people probably will heed the messages.
5:31-47 contains a warning to people to hear and believe Jesus’ words. Our primary concern should not be our church, our denomination, or our religion. Our primary concern should be our relationship with God through Jesus. If we don’t have that, everything else is worthless.
Jesus is the bread of life (6:35-40). He is the staple ingredient in our existence and our survival.
In chapter 7, Jesus goes to the feast of the tabernacles. He speaks powerfully and with authority and people believe Him. Rather than joyfully embrace His God given message, the leaders feel threatened and plot to kill Him. How low is that, to feel threatened by God? How many people in today’s church behave in the same way?
I finish my observations on John with 14:23-31. In this passage Jesus says that those who love Him will obey His teaching and He will send the Holy Spirit to teach and remind them. He does not say “you have to be in a church to love me’. He stresses that our relationship with Him is one on one. This answers my question about church membership perfectly. Jesus tells us, and demonstrated in his own life, that a personal relationship with God is our greatest priority. He could see the benefits in people meeting to encourage one another. Even in the early church, however, there were divisions that had more to do with non-worship of God than worship. Belonging to a church can be helpful. It can give you access to fellow Christians. You can learn and grow in your faith. Sadly, good churches are hard to come by. The last time I belonged to a church where I experienced spiritual growth was 1995. I have attended many churches since then and my family and I have recently made a decision to take a sabbatical from church. Why? Because we realised that attending a Sunday social club was not a benefit to us. It was obscuring our personal relationship with God. I am not averse to the idea of one day belonging to another church, but I am also quite content if that never happens.

I finish this blog series with the following words from Jesus:
John 3:10-15
“... I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ..."
Moses lifted up the snake in the desert.
Jesus, the Son of Man was lifted up on a cross.
The symbolism! I pray that this may bring you to your knees!
God’s plan from the creation of the universe was to prepare the way for our salvation leaving symbols that we might understand. So why didn’t the Jews understand? How many in the modern church understand?
My prayer for you is that these verses from John will floor you and bring you to your knees in an overwhelming understanding of God’s greatness.
Praise the Lord!

Finally we reach the gospel of John. I have loved my chance to revisit this book so much I plan to write a blog series on it at some stage in the future. For now I will just look at a few passages.
I wanted to start my discussion of John by mentioning John 16:33 where Jesus tells us we have been told these things so that we may have peace. He tells us that in this world we will have trouble but He has overcome the world.
Starting from the early verses of John, I found 2:13-16. Here Jesus objected to His father’s house being used as a market. So many churches have adopted extremely commercial practices, especially those that people like to visit, and often approach their church services with a very commercial attitude. I wonder sometimes if Jesus likes the way we use His ‘bride’ and His father’s house. Of course, for the Jews, the Temple did represent the place to come to see God. Because we now have the Holy Spirit, we have God with us always. John 4, especially verses 21-24 talks about how people now worship in spirit and truth. We are not bounded by any building or place. Whereas the Jews were bound to come to God at the temple in Jerusalem, we can come to God at any time. God is spirit and we worship Him in spirit and truth. If we don’t do that, we do not worship Him.
In 2:19 Jesus refers to his own body as His father’s temple. Then in 3:29, Jesus described those who believed in Him as his bride.
In 4:39-42 it is interesting to note that the Jews, to whom Jesus came, were reluctant to believe his teaching, yet the Samaritans, the outsiders, believed. It makes we wonder if those who culturally are ‘christians’ have a similar lack of ability to heed Jesus’ messages. So many church goers have sent out incorrect messages about God. A lot of the time it is because they lacked the personal relationship with God to be able to represent Him properly. So who benefits from their misinformation? I guess the answer to that is satan. So who are we to serve satan when we should be serving God? It is vital we have our relationship with God right. When we know God, we can represent Him to the world. I would love a day to come when people don’t say to me, ‘you are not like other Christians I know’. When I ask them why they always say it they reply it is because I am loving, and accepting and not harsh and judgemental. How sad. I seek to represent Jesus. I am delighted that people can see Jesus in my behaviour. Sad that this is not what they believe Jesus is about. Is our worship of ‘religion’ and the ‘church’ we attend blocking us from hearing God and revealing Him to those we meet?
As you go through the next few days, think about who you serve in your actions. Check yourself. Do you exhibit the fruit of the spirit or the fruit of unbelief? How much does God occupy your thoughts? How often do you talk to your heavenly father? God is calling you to get closer to Him. He loves you and wants you to enjoy a better relationship with Him.

Now I will look at Mark:
One of the first passages we read in Mark (1:35) is of Jesus waking before dawn and going to a solitary place to pray. If Jesus spent time praying, how much more do we need to spend that time? Over the years I have read a lot of things about prayer. The one that struck me the most was prayer being described as a conversation with God. The friends we spend time talking with are our closest friends. The relationships where communication breaks down usually end. In our relationship with God we need to communicate. This is two way communication. We need to talk to God by praying, and we need to be silent so that He can talk back. This means we need to occasionally find a quiet place so that we can hear God’s voice.
2:1-12 relates Jesus’ visit to Capernaum when friends lower a paralytic friend through the roof so that he can reach Jesus. Jesus tells the man his sins are forgiven. When the teachers of the law react by thinking that He was blaspheming, Jesus responded by asking them which was easier, to forgive sins or heal? To prove that Jesus had authority to forgive sins, he healed the paralytic man. In this, as in other references in Mark, Jesus describes “the kingdom of God” He never mentions churches.
7:6-13 refers to a passage from Isaiah 29:13 about people honouring God with their lips but not their hearts. In this He is referring to the Pharisees and teachers of the law. He contends that their teachings are rules taught by men because they have put human traditions above God’s commandments.
10:41-15 describes Jesus teaching that whoever wants to be great must be a servant. They must not be like the rulers who exercise authority over others.
12:38-40 Jesus warns the people to watch out for the teachers of the law who walk around in flowing robes with greetings and the important seats and places of honour. He describes how they devour widow’s houses (a breach of God’s commands from the earliest pages of the Bible such as Exodus 22:22, Deuteronomy 10:18). They make lengthy prayers for show. I find that interesting. When I first learnt to pray in public, I was taught by others who loved to use the buzz words of prayer. They did loads of ‘binding and loosing’, they hedged, the undergirded, they claimed. I could go on. This didn’t sit well with me and I spent time in prayer and reading books on the subject of prayer. God revealed and the books confirmed that God is not interested in this type of prayer. As is written here in 12, the teachers of the law make lengthy prayers for show. Pray in your own words. In Mathew 5:34-37 Jesus admonishes us to let our yes be yes and our no, no. It is the same with our prayers. Forget the fancy words, they don’t impress God and it is God we are praying to. The aim of our prayers is not to impress others. If that is your aim, don’t bother praying, because God will not hear your prayer.
To continue with this section, Jesus stated that the teachers of the law would be punished most severely. Jesus continued to speak against the synagogue rules throughout his ministry, and this was continued through the apostles. Many in the church have spoken and continue to speak in God’s name. The churches frequently reject the messenger and their message. As God has told me many times, do not be downhearted, it is me, God, they reject and they will be judged for that. When someone gives God’s message, who is right? God or the churches who reject the message?
Nowhere in the gospel of Mark could I find any evidence of Jesus telling his disciples that they must make a church. Maybe it was because He assumed they would always meet together, after all, He did name Simon “Peter”, the rock on which he would build his church. Maybe Jesus did not mention forming a church because, as has always been the case throughout the Bible, our individual relationship with God is what is important.

I want to see Jesus teaching about how He wants us to relate to him, so I will now look at Matthew, Mark and John.
First Matthew. 3:8 Jesus exhorts us to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. What do you think that involves?
5:13-16Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. He reminds us that people see our good deeds and praise our Father in Heaven. Sadly, many see our bad deeds and reject our Father in Heaven.
In 6:24 we are reminded that no one can serve two masters. They will love one and hate the other. In the context of that verse, Jesus was referring to love of money, but anything, even our church, can become our master.
In 7:1-6 we are asked not to judge others or we will be judged by the same measure. (Don’t remove the sawdust from your brother’s eye when there is a plank in your own!) How easy it is to judge others and adopt a virtuous attitude! How hard it is to be humble, see our sin as well as that of others and refuse to judge.
In 16:6 we are reminded to be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The yeast is the same legalism that occurs in many churches today.
16:18 and 18:17 contain the only two references to ‘church’ in the gospels. The first is when Jesus, meeting Simon, tells him he will be Cephas (Peter) on whom He will build His church. The second refers to dealing with a person who sins, who must be approached and asked to stop. If they do not then this is to be passed on to the church.
In 19:19 Jesus tells a young man who wants to enter heaven that he must obey His commands. Which are that he should not murder, commit adultery, steal, give false testimony, should honour his parents and love his neighbour as himself. The young man replies that he has done all this, so Jesus instructs him to sell all he has and give it to the poor. The young man can’t do that. He loves Jesus, but he loves money more.
21:33-44 relates the Parable of the Tenants. This is good to read and consider whether you are one of those tenants. We can individually or collectively as a church congregation become those tenants. Guard against that.
The Teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23) are very legalistic and tell others how they should live. They judge people harshly, yet they do not live this way themselves. They burden people with legalism, but do nothing to help them lift these burdens. Consider this. What does this look like in today’s church, amongst today’s Christians? How can you do it differently?
I encourage you to read the entire chapter and consider it. It carries important messages for us, both in our behaviour, and in the behaviour of any church we would wish to be associated with. Note that these leaders are accused of shutting the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. They won’t enter and won’t allow anyone else to enter.They are also accused of going to great lengths to gain converts and then so corrupting them with their legalism that the person is further from heaven then they were before.
Their values are wrong. They place more importance on the wealth of the church than on Jesus. They are accused of choosing which aspects of the law to obey and ignoring other, more important requirements, that is justice, mercy and faithfulness. They also worry about outward appearances and show no concern for what is inside, which is more important. Jesus loves them and longs to gather them to Him but knows they will face judgement. Make sure you are not one of these.
Finally, the parable of the ten virgins (25:1-4) speaks of those who wait for the bridegroom with spare oil so that when he comes they are ready. This is in contrast to the ones who did not come prepared and missed out. Jesus admonishes us to have our relationship with Him right so that when he comes we will be ready. If you wait, thinking you will have plenty of time later, you will run out of time.

Today I will start talking about what Revelation says about churches. There are seven churches mentioned in Revelation.
The first is Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7). The people of Ephesus are commended for being hard working and full of perseverance as well as morally upright. Yet despite all those wonderful, commendable actions - those we see so often in churches of today – they have forsaken their first love.
What does that mean? It means they have forgotten how much they love God. They have moved on from those early days of faith, when they worshipped God and thought only of Him. Now they are more concerned about being seen to do good works. They delight in selflessly persevering despite opposition. They place great importance on being morally upright. All these are commendable but without Love (1 Corinthians 13) they are nothing. God is not interested in the outward trappings of their faith, he is only interested in the faithful and worshipful heart.
In 2:8-11 the church of Smyrna is addressed. They are poor and endure great persecution. They are encouraged to remain faithful, even to the point of death.
2:12-17 is addressed to Pergamum. They are commended on past faithfulness in face of persecution. Yet now they are being accused of allowing those speaking false doctrines to remain in their midst. Perhaps they are beginning to be seduced by these teachings. Whatever they are doing, they are exhorted to repent and turn back to Jesus.
Thyatira gets a stern warning in 2:18-29. This church is addressed by one whose eyes are like blazing fire. He knows about their love, faith, perseverance and service and that they are doing more now than ever. So if they are so wonderful, why are His eyes like blazing fire? They harbour a sexually immoral woman who has led many astray. They must resist and hold on to their faith.
Sardis (3:1-6) has a reputation for being alive but is actually dead. They are instructed to wake up. Those around may think they are wonderful, but this opinion is not shared by God. They are told to repent of their spiritual death. In modern terms they would be told to stop the hallelujah’s, and the hand raising and the beautifully presented songs that are all show and no heart. Their hearts are dead.
Philadelphia’s (3:7-13) are commended for keeping Jesus’ word and enduring patiently. They are encouraged to keep up the good work and hold on to what they have.
The last church is Laodicea (3:14-22). They are neither hot or cold. They are criticised for their fat complacency. They think they are rich and don’t need anything. Modern Laodicean churches also think they have all the friends they need, so they don’t need to reach out to others. Life is good, why do anything to upset that? Being lukewarm is not good and will bring condemnation. Instead repent, hear God knocking at the door of your heart and let Him in.
There are a lot of messages here for the churches. Only Smyrna and Philadelphia get any commendation, being exhorted to be faithful and keep up the good work. The rest are condemned for failing to maintain their intimate relationship with God. Ephesus have forgotten their first love, Pergamum are falling for the novelty of false doctrine, Thyatira are being tempted by the excitement of sexual immorality, Sardis are all about the wonderful show on Sunday but are spiritually dead and Laodicea are lukewarm in their fat complacency.