Melbourne New Church (VIC)

SUMMARY OF MESSAGES

John 18:37-38 (also whole chapter)

What is truth?

“You are king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him”.


This question was posed by Pilate when Jesus was standing before him to answer the charges against him by the Jews and is at the heart of our relationship with the Lord and others.

Asking this question is also about understanding the meaning of life and our own search for truth. There are all types of truth. There is truth as opposed to lying; there is truth for ourselves, the search for truth to understand life; there is the truths from the Word; there is the living truth.

The way we live is partly determined by the way we see truth and whether we see it in the Bible. In John it says, “In the beginning was the Word”. The Word of God contains simple or genuine truth which forms the spiritual principles in the stories, parables, Ten Commandments, Sermon on the Mount, etc. They are full of clarity and make for abundant living. These truths are like the sun shining through the clouds. If we go to the Word from love and not selfish motives we will find truths.

There are also truths that appear to be the truth but which have been bent, either by ourselves to justify our actions, or by theologians who have come from a doctrinal statement and then tried to confirm it from the text. Many injustices have been done to people over the centuries in the 'name of truth' where judgement has taken over from love.

At the time the Lord was before Pilate everyone had forsaken the Lord, even though they were supposed to know the truth. Pilate asked Jesus a number of questions and to each in all the gospels He answered very specifically without ambiguity. He spoke the truth, because He was the living truth. Jesus answered not a word to the accusations that were made against him. There was silence. This is because Divine truth is unspoken, felt within, tacit, self-evident and powerful in its silence. It needs no definition because it is felt within.

Real truth, Divine truth ultimately finds its expression in usefulness, in caring and compassion, something which the Lord demonstrated throughout His ministry. He gave life and love to the truth. When He stood before Pilate He said He was the King, a kingdom that is not of this world but is within. In one way Pilate was astute and insightful enough to know this, which was why he said, “I can find no fault”. But because he was a politician and a gentile, he did not have the full understanding of the real truth that lie behind the answers of Jesus.

Divine truth, which was made living in this world, flows into all things through the heavens into our spirit and mind. The Lord is called 'the spirit of truth'. It flows in by order in a sublime way. Divine truth is light: 'I am the light of the world’.

Innately all people are provided with a sense that there is a God and that He is one. It is whether we give expression to that in our life. The genuine truths of the Word, if used without transposes selfish intentions into them will give expression to the truth.

We cannot see God, but if we take the genuine truth we learn from the Word and out of love put it into effect, then the Lord is before us and around us. He is in selfless relationships. The more there is self in truth the less' truthful' it is because there are degrees of truth. Giving expression to the truth will mean that the Lord will stand before us and we will recognise Him for what He truly is.

Suggested Application during the week

Read a passage from the Word, and allow the Lord to speak to you and live the principle - the truth within it.

Revelation 22:14

Expectations

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.


This verse says that the key to the ‘Tree of Life’ is to do the commandments. At the heart of this verse is the idea of what we should do to lead a spiritual or religious life and basically it is living a good life or living well.

What expectations does the Lord have of us? What do we need to do to please the Lord? Some say that a life of religion is full of burdens and therefore we can have no fun and that no religion therefore means no burdens. The word religion has many negative connotations and people think of very onerous things that are required of us.

In one sense the Lord does not put expectations on us. The laws or commandments are given to make us free and not restrict us. They provide for a healthier society and relationships. To follow the Lord out of love does not create a burden but a joy. It permeates our life and enhances our relationships because love is at the centre.

If we think the Lord has expectations then this can lead to guilt, but when we realise that the Lord wants our happiness, forgives us immediately, and recognises our mistakes, then we can be free of guilt and know that he loves us unconditionally. We can still have fun and excitement but it comes from a deeper place and it is more pure. Fun is about the joy of doing things with others and the joy that this brings.

The Lord knows that true happiness comes when we look beyond ourselves. Religion is not about hundreds of laws. The Pharisees were condemned for their ritual which bound people to laws and left no freedom for them. Traffic laws give us more freedom because chaos would reign if there was no order.

We all know that in groups there is no harmony if everyone wants their own way and all want to be the ‘king-pin’. If everyone works for the good of the whole then there is harmony.

To love the Lord and keep His commandments brings true or perfect freedom because we are acting out of love. Rather than putting a whole lot of expectation on us, all that the Lord seeks is for us to live well. Living well is to love the Lord, maintain spiritual practices, serve and be of use to others. This is true freedom - service and being of use to our family, friends, the community, etc.

We should see religion, or love of God, in the context of the way we live each day. The heavenly life here and the way of life in heaven is about looking to the Lord and communities living in harmony. This is the goal and this is what brings true joy. The Tree of Life is the Lord, who is love and wisdom and the Lord in us. The gates are the knowledge of good and truth and living according to it. There are many gates to the Holy City but all are based on love.

If we put expectations on ourselves and see the Lord as doing the same then life becomes a burden. If we see that joy is serving the Lord and others, then it does becomes a joy.

Suggested Application during the week

Try and identify this week what gives you true happiness and what means most to you - what gives you deep pleasure not superficial gratification? This will help us to see where our priorities are.

Psalm 77:2 (also whole Psalm)

Accepting the Lord's Comfort

When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
At night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.


As with all the Psalms they can be seen at a number of levels - from the literal meaning, the mood of the writer, and also a glimpse of the inner thoughts of the Lord when He was on earth.

The text shows the struggles of the soul and the depths of despair that a person can reach. If we look at the Psalm as a whole we can see that it is in two major sections. The rejection of comfort and then the recognition of what God does for us.

We can see within it the thoughts of David, who is believed to have written most of the Psalms, and his inner feelings. Of prime important for us is to see how it relates to our own life, affections and thoughts.

Cutting to the chase as far as a personal human reactions are concerned, is that I have been hurt, an event or circumstance has affected me badly, I am feeling despair and I am not interested in being raised above it and to some extent I am wallowing in the situation. I just want to crawl in a corner and drown in self pity.

To a greater or lesser extent we all have these situations which lead us to varying fits of despair. Someone may have done something to us which hurt us, a partner, a work colleague or a friend, the list is endless. It can and does on occasion lead also to a crisis of faith.

This is the tone of verses 1-9, but then the word 'Selah' appears. Many ignore this but it is there for a purpose. The most common interpretation of it is that it is there as a pause or rest or stop. In other words it is pointing in terms of our inner life as a point where we need to stop and reflect, change our focus and this is what happens in the next part of the Psalm. It goes from negative sentiments to positive ones.

The challenge is to look at life in a way that enables us to move on. In stopping, we need to reflect and pray. We need to be able to forgive if we have been hurt, we need to find a space where we can see the contrasts between times of despair and joy or contentment and try to move back to that space. Turn to the Lord to help us. It may not solve our problem, the hurt may not go away, but we are in a new space which enables us to deal with it.

The contrasts between one state and another and if we reflect we can see the Lord working because he is infinite and knows our thoughts. We are comforted when we have trust when we do not also let guilt worry and hurt swamp us.

The opposite to despair or darkness is light. We need enlightenment from Divine truth. In John, the Holy Spirit is said to be the 'comforter' - the spirit of truth in our life. Truth in our life helps us discern, we look at life from true principles not from our own selfish thoughts.

We move from looking inward on ourselves to outwards and a life of use. Look beyond ourselves to others. This may be difficult but with trust and faith it can happen. The Lord can heal in many ways not just physical healing.

The mood therefore goes from despair to consolation which is brought about by recollection. The times where we have been helped in the past. The recollection will also be the basis for leading us out when it happens again. We are reassured by past events. With strength from the Lord and a willingness to look outward, the mood can change.

Suggested Application during the week

Recall times when we have been in this state or when we feel that circumstances are causing it to happen again and try to get on top of it quickly. See this psalm as a way forward.

Isaiah 45:7

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.


This text, in some translations, speaks about God creating peace and creating evil. Does God create evil, and how does this equate to a loving God? Both thoughts are at variance, so how are they reconciled, or can they be reconciled?

The teachings of the New Church state that God wants all people for heaven and it is only our turning away that prevents this. The opposite of love is evil and therefore if we turn away from love and to selfishness, this creates a non-loving environment.

In Genesis we read that ‘God saw what He had made and it was good’. The Garden of Eden is about a paradise where, as a result of the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, humankind turned away from God. This is a parable about the way humankind turned on itself over time. The ancient people were perceptive and loving, but in freedom, chose evil things and not good.

This is the essence of the understanding of the passage. To reach a state of real loving we must choose it in freedom, not be forced to do it. God bends and tries to direct us in various ways without destroying our freedom. Therefore to say that God creates evil could not be further from the truth.

Think about how we feel when we are loving and how we feel when we are hateful or selfish. There is a wide chasm between the two. If we choose love in freedom there is great satisfaction and inner contentment. To fully understand the text we have to look at it in the context of the whole passage.

As with a previous message we must put ourselves in the context of the people of Old Testament times. Isaiah is trying to show Cyrus, the Israelites and the World, that the one and only God is in control. Cyrus in one sense represented God and His Kingdom and it was stating that God was in control of everything. He was the Creator and therefore would lead the people.

The whole chapter looks at the qualities of God, so we should not take this text out of context. It is also important to look at the basis of the translation. Most of the Bibles we use are based on the Hebrew Translations and the Hebrew word is 'Ra'. It is recognised that there are many English words that can be used. If we look at the verse it says, “I created light and darkness, peace and evil”, where some translations use the word calamity because that is another option. The opposite of peace is not evil therefore calamity is used. In the Aramaic translation the word hardship is used. We can therefore see how one word can make so much difference.

However to say that God created calamity is not totally true. God is ultimate reality, love and wisdom and ‘the cause’. Other things are ‘the effect’ and therefore it is wrong to see everything as His. If we make wrong choices or choose the wrong options we cannot blame God. God will do all that He can to bend and mould a situation to bring good out of all situations because the essentials of God are love and wisdom.

Our idea of God affects our whole outlook on life. If we see God as loving it will help us to reflect this in our life. The life of Jesus demonstrates that loving way. Out of our struggles will come growth and a closer relationship with God.

If we recognise that God wants all for heaven then let us ask for strength to live the loving way in all aspects of our life.

Suggested Application during the week

Reflect this week on how we feel when we are feeling or acting in a loving way and when we are not. Recognise the difference and work on it.

Mark 4:35 (also whole of Chapter 4)

Pass over to the other side

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”


People often ask the question, ‘Which side are you on?’. In many things in life we should not sit on the fence, we need to choose which path or way we are going to take. We need to make decisions about things in our life. This verse comes towards the end of a chapter which firstly looks at the parable of the sower and secondly the mustard seed and the Lord asks the disciples to get in the boat and go to the other side.

There are two sides to our life, the natural and the spiritual, the internal and the external and the selfish or unselfish. In the parable of the sower it talks about the way seed is sown on which types of ground. This is about the process of our mind and life. What choices we make and at what level we work with what the Lord gives us. We can choose to be shallow, we can choose to be hard-hearted or we can allow the Lord to walk on the good ground within us.

The Lord talked in parables because the natural world mirrors our inner world and people could relate to it. Following on from this, the Kingdom is likened to a mustard seed which from very small beginnings becomes a big tree. It demonstrates the potential for good that we all have but the seed must be nurtured, just as our life needs to nurture what is good.

The Lord talks about those who have and those who have not. This is not to be judgemental in any way, but the fact of life is that if we are enlightened and walk with the truth, then we have made that choice - it is up to us.

We then come to our text, 'to pass over to the other side'. The previous part of the chapter is about the process, about teaching, about learning, but the second part is about doing. It is about making a commitment. Are we going to get in the boat with Jesus and go to the other side? If we do, then it has both its up sides and down sides and this is what any decision in life is all about.

Whilst the decision to follow the Lord may result in times of trial and storms in life. There may be times when the waves of frustration and difficulties, as our false ideas are brought to our awareness and challenged, may result in a stormy passage for a while. However, there is one important point to remember - we have chosen to walk with the Lord. He is in the boat, even though at times in our life He may appear asleep, He will rebuke the wind and peace will come.

Passing to the other side is about the path we want to follow, it is about working transforming our faith into a living thing that gives us comfort and vision. It is about making our outer life a mirror of the spiritual principles we have found confidence in and subduing selfish desires in favour of those that will look to others.

Passing to the other side involves all levels of our life; our relationships, the way we view the world and our goals in life. Depending on what we choose, we will either live externally or naturally, or internally. The natural way may have many attractions but will not lead to inner peace, the peace that comes from the Lord stilling the storm.

Suggested Application during the week

As we go through the coming week, observe the decisions we make and what is behind the path we take, or the re-actions we have to certain situations. This will help us understand whether we have passed to the other side of living.