Are you the kind of person who would be acceptable to Jesus?

In Luke chapter 7, we read about a dinner that Jesus attended at the house of some very religious people.

While they’re having dinner, a woman comes into the room, and starts washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, kissing his feet, and pouring perfume over his feet.

But there was something even stranger about it, and that was the kind of woman this woman was.

One religious man said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

This woman was a public sinner, maybe a prostitute, and this religious guy thought that Jesus must have been clueless to have anything to do with him.

Because if Jesus was really a prophet of God, then he wouldn’t have had anything to do with such a godless woman, and what’s more, he’d have the supernatural powers to know that she’s the kind of woman who religious people stay right away from.

But Jesus is more than a prophet: he is God, himself, and he knows everything, including how sinful she really was.

And yet, she came to Jesus, showed her love and adoration to him, and he totally forgave her.

And so Jesus said to the religious man:

“I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven… Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus didn’t just know that her sins were forgiven, he did the forgiving himself.

All she did was come to Jesus and seek his forgiveness.

And so, if Jesus will forgive this sinful woman, he offers to forgive anyone like you and me.

Jodie McNeill

CREDIT: Untitled, Nicki Mannix via Flickr.

How would you calculate what you’re worth?

It’s not something that we normally need to work out, except if we’re organising insurance or preparing a will, or maybe answering questions from Centrelink.

But assuming you calculated a dollar figure for all your assets, then would this provide the real answer to the question, “what is your worth?”

Our materialistic world naturally looks to the things we own as a measure of our worth.

Yet these possessions have no, ultimate, eternal value.

But even in this life, our possessions don’t really contribute to our value, nor our pleasure.

In the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, we read this wisdom about life and wealth:

“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income… And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?” (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11)

If we find our value in our possessions, then we’re never going to be truly happy.

The words of a modern hymn summarise this perfectly:

My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love at the cross
My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed at the cross

Our true value in life can only be measured by how God views us.

This is all that ultimately matters.

And so, if you trust in Jesus, not in your possessions, you can join us as we sing the chorus of his song:

I rejoice in my Redeemer
Greatest treasure
Wellspring of my soul
I will trust in Him no other
My soul is satisfied in Him alone
(‘My worth is not in what I own’, Kendrick & Getty)

Jodie McNeill

The opening ceremony of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games was a spectacular piece of stadium art, filled with all the light, colour, sound and dance that you would expect.

Opening ceremonies have definitely carved out for themselves their own genre – it is a chance to tell the narrative of a nation and the distinctives of their city.

The opening scene was the dawn of time, where our world was united as one land. A traditional dance showed that from the birth of our continent, our land has been looked after by the indigenous people.

The shift was then made to the distinctives of the Gold Coast – the stadium was turned into a spectacular scene of our fun-filled beach culture.

It certainly captured aspects of out past and current culture. However, was it a true narrative of Australia?

Imagine if we put God in the picture, how would that change things? It’s hard to imagine that in secular Australia.

Romans 1:18-19 says “what can be known about God is plain to us” but “we suppress the truth.”

When we deny the truth of our maker for long enough we can then no longer even remember him at all.

Imagine an opening ceremony where God was on display – where it was his hand that formed our world, our continent, our beaches – where we remembered that God created us all in his own image, so that all people should be treated with care and dignity.

Indeed, it was these very Christian beliefs that helped form the social and justice systems of Australia that have allowed us the freedom to enjoy our beautiful country.

At the end of the opening ceremony, without God in the picture there’s not much response to make. But with God in the picture, as the creator of all those wonderful things the response is one of thankfulness to Him.

Why don’t you take a moment this week, to notice what God has given us and give thanks to him.

Simon Chaplin.

There has been a lot happening this week as our church and the churches in our region have partnered with Moore College students to run many Jesus is___. events.

Hundreds of people have attended the public sessions at the Civic Centre, over 1000 students have been at special SRE assemblies, and 2000 high-schoolers were at the Free To Be event.

At the heart of all this flurry of activity is one simple message: Jesus is the great exchange.

There were lots of events this week, but there is only one event that really matters: it is the moment where this great exchange takes place in your life.

No-one else will see this moment, for it takes place in your heart, and yet at the same time it is a cosmic event.

1 Peter 3:18 says “For Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God”.

The great exchange is this: Jesus stands in our place; he swaps his life for ours and he does it so that he might brings us back home to God.

Ben Pfahlert, the speaker at the public sessions, put it like this: He took our place that we might reconnect with our spiritual old man.

This is the great exchange of love divine, as a recent song puts it:

Oh great exchange
Of love divine
My greatest gain
I leave behind

So turn my heart
And calm my fears
For you will bring
Me home again*

In this great exchange we are solely the receivers. We offer nothing as part of of the deal.

God himself, out of only love, offers us it all. Nothing can rival this offer, so we can leave all gain behind.

And nothing can take it away, so our heart is assured and our fears are calmed. His life for ours, that he might give take us home.

Simon Chaplin.

* Love Returns : Luke Woodhouse and Gav Perkins.  Voyagesongs.com

CREDIT: Photo anieto2k, via Flickr.

There are so many things that make us weary and burdened.

Maybe you’re weighed down by poor health, difficult relationships, or financial stress.

Maybe your biggest burden is spiritual?

Perhaps you’re worried that when God judges you after you die that you might not have done enough to please him.

The great news is that Jesus offers relief from that burden because Jesus is rest.

Before Jesus came, God promised his people rest from all their enemies so that they would live in safety.

Then, after Jesus came, God’s people realised that this ‘rest’ was actually talking about Heaven.

But many people thought it was only possible to gain this heavenly rest through hard work.

They were told that they needed to do all sorts of religious acts and good works in order to get into heaven and enjoy a hard-earned rest.

But Jesus turned that upside down when he told them that he is the only one who can give someone that rest.

He told them, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Then he told them how to take hold of that rest: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

Jesus offers to swap his light and easy load for our heavy burden, and in turn, give us true rest.

It all is possible because when Jesus died, he swapped our sin for his perfection, and he became guilty so that we might become innocent in God’s sight.

Wouldn’t you love to have rest for your soul, now and in eternity?

Jodie McNeill.