Click Comic To Enlarge
John is excited to know that Jesus is his food, ‘the bread from heaven’ that gives him life and fills him with love and grace. Pastor Moses seems to be more interested in his special calling to be the spiritual cutlery in the whole process; and he is the only one with the holy calling to feed people…. hmmm, John can’t help but wonder if he really needs a spoon before he can freely eat the bread from heaven.
Click Comic To Enlarge
Eric feels that being spiritually spoon-fed once a week is actually something to boast about. Obviously young Bobby has not yet learnt that Pastor Moses is the only one who can feed those who are a part of his church. The unspoken rule is that he, and he alone, has the spoon, and they must come to him every Sunday starving to receive their weekly rations of God’s word.
I wonder if Eric will ever realise he doesn’t need to be spoon-fed from his Pastor, but that the Spirit desires to let him eat from God’s grace everyday, all day.
Click Comic To Enlarge
Pastor Moses seems to get very protective when he hears other pastors preaching things that he insists are heresy, and finds no problem with publicly rebuking them for the way they are misleading God’s flock… Hmmm, John can’t help but wonder how Pastor Moses would react if someone publicly rebuked him on similar grounds for preaching heresy.
John can’t figure out what the difference is between preaching that Christians are still obligated to be circumcised and preaching that Christians are still obligated to tithe. Why is preaching circumcision heresy in Pastor Moses mind, but preaching tithing is totally acceptable? Aren’t they both part of the old covenant ceremonial law?
(Note from Mick: I was recently interviewed for the ‘growing in grace’ podcast and I gave my personal views on tithing. You can listen to it here: Mick Mooney’s Interview With Growing In Grace )
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17
When Paul made this bold statement that now, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, a righteousness from God had been revealed, he didn’t mean that it was revealed through his ideas or thoughts. Paul did not make the gospel up! It’s true that he received a divine revelation of Christ, but then, with the knowledge of Christ that came through the Spirit, it enabled him to finally see the truth in the Scriptures – for now he could see Jesus, and to Paul’s amazement, he realised he could find the testimony of the life and accomplishments of Jesus in every Scripture.
The good news of God’s grace, the new covenant and a righteousness by faith had always been testified to, but, without the revelation of Jesus and the full reality of what his death and resurrection accomplished for us, it had always remained a mystery. As Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians:
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2 Corinthians 3:12-16
Without the light of Christ, we all continue to read the Old Testament as if it were veiled of it’s true meaning and intention, but now that we are in Christ, that veil has been removed and we can clearly see the story of Jesus and the message of God’s righteousness that is given as a gift, and not earned by our own obedience to a written code, but rather through our acceptance of God’s Son.
When Paul made this bold statement about a righteousness by faith, he backed up his statement by quoting a scripture from the Old Testament; because when Paul looked at the Old Testament he saw the story of Jesus all through it. Jesus himself helped two of his disciples understand this Scriptural reality as he walked along the road to Emmaus with them. Luke records how Jesus opened up their eyes to see him in all the scriptures, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets.
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27
The truth is that whole bible testifies about Jesus and the grace that comes to us through him. The Scriptures were never given to help mankind understand how to live before God, but rather to reveal, and testify to, the life story of Jesus, his suffering and the grace that would be given to us through his resurrection.
How wonderful to know that God’s intention for the bible was not to give us a rule book, or a life-application-manual, but rather his desire was to give us a testimony to the Life in us, that is Christ in us, our hope of glory! Now, if the testimony is true, and Christ did everything the bible testifies to, and he now lives in us, then we can rest assured that God’s righteousness that comes by faith is already radically alive and active in us. We can rest in the truth of God’s good news, and be assured that God is working powerfully in and through us at the same time. Amen.
Feel free to leave a comment about his blog post below
Written by Mick Mooney
Click Comic To Enlarge
…So, what is your faith perspective? Pastor Moses chants the standard ‘What Would Jesus Do’ line, but John tends to think it’s more about ‘What Would Jesus Believe‘, Eric, on the other hand, tends to go straight to his spiritual guru with ‘What Would Pastor Moses Do‘, and little Bobby, well, after all the contradictory sermons he’s heard over the years he doesn’t seem to know what to think at all - he’s happy just to say something that, to him at least, sounds spiritual, but actually it’s just babble ‘What Would Purple Monkey Dishwasher Do‘
So, what would Jesus believe?
Click Comic To Enlarge
Eric is learning how to perform all his spiritual obligations on cue… but John wonders if the Christian life is really all about being able to ‘perform‘ at the drop of a hat, or is it more do do with being led, and moved, by the Spirit?
Eric seems to be happy to discipline his flesh to just do it when he, or Pastor Moses, decide it’s time… If only it was so easy to ‘perform‘ when he goes to the bathroom (constipation is a terrible thing; poor Eric)- oh well, keep practicing Eric.
