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5:1 GOING WALKABOUT

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25

‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked him. The blind man said, ‘Rabbi, I want to see.’ ‘Go,’ said Jesus, ‘your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Mark 10: 51-52

‘Going walkabout’ describes the apparently aimless journey of an Australian aboriginal who takes some time off to travel around in the Outback as a transition from youth to maturity. It has acquired the sense of something not being in its usual place, but that isn’t its primary meaning. Royalty may ‘go walkabout’ so they can meet ordinary people who hadn’t expected such an encounter.

Jesus is strolling around Jericho when he finds Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, who is good for nothing except coaxing scraps from passers-by. The fellow calls out, the crowd tells him off, but Jesus stops for him. After receiving his sight back, he can never return to his old life. Instead, he goes along the road in Jesus’ company.

When we come alive through receiving the Spirit, we see Jesus with completely fresh eyes. Instead of going off to live an independent life of our own, we go walkabout with him. His road is now our road. The world may think we’ve gone crazy, but what else can we do? We are marching to a different drummer.

Travelling with Jesus is living by the rule of faith. We can’t hear his voice or see him in front of us, as Bartimaeus did. But we have met royalty, we have someone to follow who got crucified to win us from our old good-for-nothing lives. He will decide where we go.

‘Weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought; but when I see thee as thou art, I’ll praise thee as I ought.’ My life isn’t my own, it’s yours. Lord Jesus, make your road my road today. Help me to see you as you are, and not mind what the crowd thinks of me. Thank you for stopping to find me. Nothing can be the same again.

5:2 THE GOOD NEWS

And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. 1 Peter 1:12 NLT

I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 20:21

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 1 Corinthians 9:16

Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy hadn’t been told that his house was to be demolished to make room for a new bypass. Even more to the point, the Earth’s inhabitants complained they had not been informed that their planet was in the path of a hyperspace bypass and was due to be blown to smithereens by a Vogon constructor fleet that very day.

There is widespread ignorance of basic Christianity today; indeed, many people think Jesus Christ is a legendary figure like Ford Prefect or Father Christmas. If only they could meet him and find out for themselves that he really is ‘the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25). If only they could wake up to the possibility that there is a God who offers us a friendship with himself that outlasts time!

Peter is writing to groups of Christians scattered through the far north-eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. We don’t know how they had heard about Christ, but those who told them had travelled hundreds of miles by land or sea to deliver their compelling story. The dedication of those early missionaries is infectious. Terms like ‘repentance’ and ‘faith’ need translating into idioms and imagery that resonate with the citizens of the world we have been born into. Who is under that same compulsion today?

I have often had cause to thank God for those who opened my eyes to the truth of Christ. I would like to play my part in the ongoing spread of the good news. Help me not to bury my head in the sand. Show me what I can do or say ‘in the power of the Holy Spirit’ to make a difference to my world.

5:3 JOY-BRINGING WORD

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight. Jeremiah 15:16

The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 13:48, 52

When things are bad, really bad, and everywhere you look is gloom and despair, the natural human tendency is either to sink into depression or to generate your own source of uplift. Stimulants, narcotics, music, sport, sex, yoga – anything that might lead to ‘happiness’ or at least an easing of the pain.

Jeremiah the prophet lived through some of the worst years in Judah’s history. He was mocked, ostracised, nearly left for dead in a mud-filled cistern, and existed in a continual state of disillusionment and despair. Yet he found deep comfort and almost physical pleasure in the words given him by his Lord.

Paul and Barnabas had set off into the mountainous interior of Galatia on their first missionary journey. They were harassed and attacked by Jewish opponents; Paul was stoned and left for dead at Lystra. Yet their preaching of Jesus as the good news bringer was received with delight by non-Jews, and little churches sparked into life in the most unlikely places.

Joy is independent of circumstances, success or wellbeing. It is closely allied to faith and hope, generated by the Holy Spirit and God’s word. The suffering Job could say: ‘I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread’ (Job 23:12). Those words were soul food for Jeremiah, as they still are for persecuted Christians everywhere. Can they be any less for us?

Job, Jeremiah, Paul all had it worse than I have. I don’t need to turn to artificial stimuli to generate temporary solace. I can pray Paul’s prayer: ‘May the God of hope fill me with all joy and peace as I trust in him’ (Romans 15:13).

5:4 FIRE RAISERS

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. Acts 5:32

I gave them the words that you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. John 17:8

In Max Frisch’s play The Fire Raisers two men who are planning to set the city on fire have installed some petrol drums in the house of a wealthy but over-trusting citizen. ‘Do you have any matches?’ they ask him. So he gives them some, arguing ‘Surely if they were arsonists they would have matches!’ The result is sadly predictable.

The first Christians went about lighting fires of faith that would bring not destruction but life. They simply testified to the fact of the resurrection: God had brought the crucified Jesus back to life and therefore he was the long-awaited Saviour of the world. They were reliable witnesses, ordinary men and women who had met the risen Christ and ‘knew with certainty’ that what they were saying was absolutely true.

The best witnesses in a court of law are those whose words carry conviction, however counter-intuitive they may seem, because the speakers have a transparent honesty and a first-hand experience that defies unbelief. But Jesus’ disciples had a further ally, the Holy Spirit. He is the true fire raiser, who not only fuels the speakers’ determination, but creates conviction in the hearers (John 16:8).

If we flinch at the idea of being witnesses for Christ, we needn’t worry. He himself will give us words straight from God. He will give us the ‘matches’ we need to light fires of faith and love for God in others. We don’t have to be living perfect lives. The same Spirit will alert our consciences if we are being disobedient in some matter.

Do I trust the Holy Spirit to do the job he has been sent to do? Do I care enough about the unbelief of those around me to want them to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4)? Lord, make me a fire raiser, not a damp squib!

5:5 SUFFERING WITH JOY

You welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 1:6

Consider it pure joy, my brother and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:2

John the Baptist was anything but happy. He was locked up in the basement of Herod’s grim palace by the Dead Sea, after faithfully delivering God’s word to the crowds and to Herod himself. He sent messengers to Jesus saying basically, ‘If you are the Messiah, get me out of here!’ The reply comes: Yes, indeed I am, but ‘blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me’ (Matthew 11:6).

In the Sower parable, ‘those on the rocky ground receive the word with joy; they believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away’ (Luke 8:13). Do I sometimes wonder if it’s worth believing in Christ, when folk give you such a hard time for it?

Paul’s new converts in Northern Greece quickly found they weren’t the flavour of the month with their normally tolerant society. Yet at least some of them ‘examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true’ (Acts 17:11) – and they stayed steady.

The writer Henri Nouwen says, ‘While happiness is dependent on external conditions, joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing – sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war or even death – can take that love away.’

Joy is fed from the underground springs of the Spirit and the word. We know we are unconditionally loved because of the cross. Our situation may not exactly be happy, but we can maintain a stubborn optimism even when we feel we have reached rock-bottom.

‘I dare not trust the sweetest frame.’ Lord, help me not to seek my joy in feelings which ebb and flow, but in your presence and your promises. Thank you that even when things are dire, you still love me.

5:6 OVERCOMING THE WORLD

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4

In the famous prologue to the Fourth Gospel John writes, ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’ (John 1:5). So why does evil seem so prevalent in our experience? Is this simply an illusion? Or is there a real battle raging?

One of the most terrifying illustrations in any children’s book is the scene in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where Aslan lies bound and helpless on the stone table while an incredibly ugly and evil horde of misshapen creatures celebrate what they see as his final defeat. Yet in a few pages’ time those same creatures will be running for their lives before the Lion’s triumphant army.

Jacob Epstein’s bronze on the outside of Coventry Cathedral depicts Satan bound and beaten while the archangel Michael stands over him. Go a little closer and you can see in Michael’s hollow cheeks and exhausted body the cost of that victory. It was a real battle.

‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever’ (Revelation 11:15). Christ’s victory is certain and permanent. It was won on his cross, certified by his resurrection and activated by his ascension and Pentecost. Yet there is still a part for us to play in the ongoing battle.

On our own we are no match for the evil in the world. But the Spirit of Christ within us, and our faith in the certainty of his word, are essential factors in the light not being overcome by the darkness.

‘The ship is in the sea, but God help the ship if the sea gets into it’ (D L Moody). Lord, you are ‘the one who is in me.’ You know the battles I am fighting. Help me to trust you to overcome, whatever the cost.

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