Relationships // You've Got a Friend in Yahweh

What is a friend?
Someone you trust, someone you can go to when in need?
According to my phone, a friend is a person who is not an enemy or opponent and they are someone on equal standing with you. This basically means that the friend is no better or no worse than you are.

John 15: 15 - 17:

"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learnt from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other."

Those of you familiar with the Gospel of John will know that this is Jesus talking. How great is this.

Jesus chose you.

He could have chosen someone taller, someone better looking, someone smarter but he didn't. He chose you! (And I don't know about you but I'd rather be a friend of Jesus than a few inches taller or a few grades smarter...)

He chose you, so that...

• You may 'bear fruit'.
• Whatever you ask for in the name of the Father he will give to you.

To 'bear fruit' is a strange phrase (bear fruit) but what does it really mean?

Basically it means to gain or to increase. And since we're talking about the bible and being Holy, Christ - like people this probably doesn't mean financial gain or financial increase (although, this in turn doesn't mean we all have to be poor and live of cold tin beans from Lidl). 

In regards to this verse to bear fruit could mean a wide range of things but it will most probably include spiritual gain or spiritual increase. (Which is better than money both in the long and short term anyway).

Whatever you ask for in the name of the Father he will give to you is a tricky one to try and explain. If you ask God for a bike or an iPad, you probably wont find yourself looking at Apple's latest product floating down from the sky right in front of your eyes. 

However having said that, God will provide all the things necessary for you to live, be happy and of course tell others about God. Another important thing to mention is that God lives in an eternal state, there is no 'present' for God - He is everywhere at every time (crazy, right). So if God has put you in a situation that you don't think is maybe fair or right for you remember: God could see the outcome of whatever it is your going through before it even started.

Going back to the verse we started with, where Jesus says 'I no longer call you servants', that word servant originally was slaves. That's a BIG jump. We've gone from slave to friend. Why? Well, it's not because of anything we've done. As Jesus describes in these verses it's because Jesus has made known to us (slaves) everything he learnt from God. And Jesus says because a slave doesn't know his master's business, we are now friends of Jesus. 

That's all that Christianity is, a friendship.
And that's flipping awesome.

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God // The Image of Awesome

My main text for this post is Genisis 1:26-31. Check it out in your bible or click the link!

What's the earliest reference in The Bible of Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Verse 26.

"Let us make make mankind in our image, in our likeness."

Either God was talking in the third person to himself or, more likely, this was the first ever conversation ever recorded and it's between God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit, and that's pretty cool.

So, we were made in the image of God! This is extreme! 

When God made the animals he didn't give them any responsibilities. They just had to live. But when it comes to humans God gave them all the responsibilities for his creation - in this respect God really did save the best till last. This is why we are made in the image of God.

Have you ever thought about that? 

When your having a bad day, your being bullied, having to work late or just feeling down - God made you in his image!

What does that mean?

Well, so far on page 1 of The Bible God has created every single thing in the entire universe.

• Those trees outside? He created them.
• The sun in the sky? He created that.
• The birds that wake you up way too early in the morning? He created them.
• Every animal you've ever seen? He created them.
• All the billions of stars and galaxies that we can't even see, some that we don't even know about? He created them.

This means, in the words of Todd White,

God is awesome and you are made in the image of awesome.

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The Bread of Life // You Are What You Eat (Part 1)

John 6:25-59 is the main text for this blog post - I know it's a long passage, but it's a good one!

The passage starts with Jesus arriving on shore at Capernaum just after he has walked on water to find a group of people waiting for him. - The same group of people who at the start of John chapter 6 Jesus fed with 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread!
Jesus greets this crowd of people by saying 'Very truly I tell you' - There's a lot of 'Very truly I tell yous' in this passage from Jesus, it just means that the next thing he's going to say is (guess what) very true.

"Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill."

Jesus greets these people by basically saying 'You only came to find me becuase I gave you food, not because you were amazed at my miracle.' Harsh? Maybe. True? Definitely.

Then, straight after Jesus says this, in his next breath he goes on to teach them about Heaven and eternal life. He says; 

"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

Jesus tells these people not to work for food that spoils. Whats food that spoils? Every food. Bread gets mouldy, potatoes grow white bits, leftover Chinese gives you food poisoning and milk turns green. But then Jesus talks about working for food that 'endures to eternal life'. What Jesus meant here was don't work for stuff that will spoil, stuff that will rust, stuff that could get stolen from you. But work for God. Live out a life worthy enough for the plan God has created for you. - This will endure to eternal life. 

The crowd of people understand this and then want to know what they need to do to fulfil the work God requires them to do. Jesus answers with 

"The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

Wow, pretty easy right? All I have to do to fulfil the work God requires me to do is believe in Jesus? That might sound pretty easy, but it's actually very hard. As the crowd of people demonstrate in the next few verses. The crowd of people ask for a sign from Jesus so that they will believe him. They even quote some of the Old Testament, they talked about the Israelites and how God gave them manna  from Heaven to eat. 

Jesus goes on to say that this bread - the bread of life - is not from Moses, but directly from God. Then he says 

"For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world."

The crowd get excited by this statement - who wouldn't? And ask Jesus to always give them this bread. 

Then Jesus drops a bombshell. 

"Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

After this Jesus says in the very next verse that there will be people who would have seen Jesus but still wouldn't believe Jesus. Then Jesus says it again at verse 44;

"I am the bread of life."

Lots of the people - especially the Jews - got very angry at this and didn't believe him. Jesus then goes on to say; "unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."
We now know this to be communion, but back then it's no wonder the people had some doubt (I know I would have).

This is the end of part one of 'The Bread of Life // You Are What You Eat. - Part two coming soon!

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He Lives // My Favourite Verse

In the last chapter of John verses 1-14 (John 21:1-14 ) we read about Jesus' last encounter with humans before he ascended to Heaven.
In these few verses we see that these seven men decide to go out to fish one night. They spend the whole night out in the boat fishing and catch absolutely nothing.
Then, early the next morning Jesus was standing on the shore next to a small fire he built for the breakfast and asked the men "Friends, haven't you any fish?"

Now, I'm no Bible expert, but I think that Jesus, the son of God would have known that these men hadn't caught any fish. Jesus must have been there for quite some time anyway to have had enough time to build a small fire and get some bread and fish to cook on it. So my best guess is that Jesus knew that these men hadn't caught any fish - the reason why he asked them is clear in the next few verses.

The men reply with a simple no, then Jesus tells them to throw their nets over the right side of the boat.
Some of these men were disciples, some were fishermen, all of them were rubbish. These seven men spent all night in a boat trying to catch some fish and can't even catch one. Also, notice that none of them recognise Jesus straight away - it takes a miracle for them to realise it's Jesus talking to them.

The men throw their nets over the right side of the boat, with no questions asked and immediately their net is filled with 153 fish. It's full of so much fish in fact that the seven men on the boat don't have enough strength to pull the boat ashore.

The men row the boat back to shore to meet Jesus (who they finally recognise) and arrive to see that Jesus is standing there with a fire cooking some bread and fish. As soon as Jesus sees them he says "come and have breakfast."
These seven men spent all night not being able to catch any fish, then Jesus turns up, shows them the right way to fish. They catch 153 fish and Jesus brings his own fish just in case 153 wasn't enough!

This is one of my favourite passages of the Gospels.
These seven men had been fishing all night, then in the early hours of the morning Jesus performs his last miracle and gives them enough food to feed an army (or a small youth group).
Then, just as the sun was rising over the sea they all ate breakfast that Jesus cooked them, on the beach!
The Bible doesn't say what they talked about but I'm pretty sure whatever they talked about would have been amazing. When I was reading these verses three main things stuck out to me.
1) The men on the boat - like everyone else who's ever been alive - were rubbish.
2) Jesus was awesome.
3) I would have loved to have been on this beach eating breakfast and talking with Jesus just before the ascension.

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Jesus // His Power

In Acts 3:6-10, we see Peter heal a disabled man so that he's able to walk and praise The Lord.

When you first read this story, it's all a bit overwhelming. A completely lame man, who's probably been disabled from birth, able to walk and talk and praise God in the space of a few minutes! Pretty cool right?

But Peter didn't heal that man.

Peter was just human. He was a man who walked with Jesus, but still just a man. He doesn't have the superhuman power to heal people. Peter heals the man "in the name of Jesus".

Acts 3:16 says that "By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see"

Jesus' was so powerful and awesome (literally!) that even his name could heal!

These few verses really reminded me that we can do anything. We can pass exams, climb the highest mountains, conquer fears - all in Jesus' name. All we have to do is ask!

Matthew 7:7

'Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.'

Jesus // The Boy in The Temple

The book of Luke is the only place in the Gospels where we get a little glimpse of what the early years of Jesus' life were like. Everywhere else we don't see what Jesus gets up to for the first 30 years of his life.
In Luke 2:41-52 Mary, Joseph and a twelve year old Jesus go to Jerusalem for the Passover feast and then, when it finishes, Mary and Joseph leave without Jesus - because they think he is with them - and they take three whole days to find him again.

I assume that anyone who reads this will have been 12 years old, is twelve years old, or will be twelve years old very soon. What were you doing at the age of 12?
Playing computer games?
Watching TV?
Playing with your friends?
Waiting to finally become a teenager?

I think I can safely say probably no other twelve year old has spent 3 whole days straight at their nearest temple or chapel listening and asking questions about God.

Something that really struck me when I read this the first time was that Jesus had to learn. These verses don't say that Jesus was teaching the other people, he was being taught. He even asked them questions!

When Mary and Joseph finally find Jesus sitting in the temple learning his mother says "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." To this Jesus replies "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I'd be in my Fathers House?"

Notice that Jesus is quick to make a comparison between his earthly and Heavenly Father. Mary says "Your Father and I have been searching for you" and Jesus says "Didn't you know I'd be in my Fathers house?"
From an early age Jesus realised, just like we should realise, he had an earthly and Heavenly Father.

Another thing that struck me was that these are the first words of Jesus ever recorded in the Gospels.

"Why were you searching for me?"

Why are you here? Why are you reading this blog post? Why are you searching for Jesus?

Are you searching for Jesus? 

The last thing I'll mention, and it's something that when I worked out I just sat back in awe. Everything in the Bible points in some way to Jesus and the cross and Resurrection. 

It took Mary and Joseph 3 days to find Jesus. Jesus, as a twelve year old boy was lost for 3 days. 33 years later Jesus died and 3 days after that he came back to life!

Jesus saw the importance of asking questions about God and his faith from the very young age of 12, if you have any questions you would like to ask us please feel free to email us at christianunion.blog@gmail.com. 

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