In October my wife and I visited Niagara, NY. It was a wonderful time of connection with an old friend and connection with God in nature. One day we did a 10km walk/hike along the Niagara River gorge. At every turn was a new vista of vibrant autumn colours against the backdrop of the vast blue of the sky or the deep blue of the river. We felt like we had stepped into a special moment curated by God just for us.
After walking for quite a while along the river, we came to a stone staircase leading us back to the upper rim. At the top of the stairs was a bench overlooking the river. This is the view taken from that spot.
As we sat on that bench, the river laid out before us and a gentle breeze blowing off the river, a stillness fell over us. We had visited the waterfall earlier and been impacted by the sheer power of the millions of gallons of water flowing over the Horseshoe Falls and exploding onto the rocks below. But here on this bench, we felt like Elijah after the wind and earthquake and fire. God began to speak in a gentle whisper.
“In this season you are that river,” he said. As my spirit unpacked what that meant with His Spirit, He showed me the quiet power of the river. A power that is not boisterous or loud but quietly undeniable. I had been going through a season at work where God was reshaping what it meant for me to influence my workplace for the kingdom. I have a strong justice value system. I feel very strongly about being treated fairly and even more strongly about others being treated fairly and with dignity and respect. In the face of injustice, I can be passionate and adversarial.
But what God was showing me in the river was a different way to stand up for justice and righteousness. God was showing me the power of this mighty river was not only in the foaming white waters but also in the slow steady flow. The same type of steady inexorable flow that formed the Grand Canyon.
God was telling me to quiet my soul. I heard Isaiah 30:15…
This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.
He was calling me back to rest in Him and see the wonders that He would perform. Not me, He, the Holy One! In that moment I saw clearly the constant gnawing anxiety just below the surface that I had been living with for the past few months. I saw my unease and disquiet and fret. Even during this vacation, how many of my thoughts were still at work? I exhaled and began to take some deep breaths. When last had I even really breathed?
As I sat on that bench in Niagara a few days before the US elections it was not lost on me that my struggle to grasp Jesus’ way of impacting my world was a microcosm of a global church crisis of an identical nature. We all want to see righteousness and justice established on the earth but the critical question is how. I see us, the church, getting louder, more desperate, and more anxious. We are a lot more froth than depth.
I am still unpacking this lesson and what it means in practice to be the quiet river. But what I do know is this: There is a power to affect our world through prayer (God for us) and presence (God with us) that can only be accessed from a posture of abiding rest in Him and quiet confidence in the victory that has already been won. Being present in the moment to God and to people with a heart to love and to serve backed up by powerful governmental prayer from a pure heart is more powerful than any policy or legislation at the organizational or national level.
After telling His disciples about the Father sending the Holy Spirit to them when He was gone, Jesus said (John 14:27 NLT):
I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Thank you Jesus for Your gift of peace. Teach us to return to Your peace and to remain in Your peace.
Shalom,
Copyright 2024, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
As the worldwide celebration of Christmas overlaps with the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, my thoughts have been increasingly on the question, “Did Christ’s coming change anything about how we as Christians should think about Israel?”
Before Jesus, the Old Testament tells us that the Jewish nation of Israel was God’s chosen people.
For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. ~ Deuteronomy 7:6 (NLT)
Not only were the Jews God’s chosen people but Jerusalem was a special place where God chose to dwell.
Of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem He said: For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. ~ 2 Chronicles 7:16 (NLT)
For the Lord has chosen Jerusalem; he has desired it for his home. “This is my resting place forever,” he said. “I will live here, for this is the home I desired… ~ Psalm 132:13-14 (NLT)
It is verses like these that have caused the Christian world to have a special love affair with Israel and the Jewish people. Countless Christian tourists flock to Israel, calling it the Holy Land. And many unapologetically side with Israel in any conflict because of this perception that they are special to God.
So my aim today is to interrogate this concept of a special people and a special land in light of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection.
But first I must go back a little further in history to a man called Abraham. God chose him out of all the people on the earth at that time and gave the land of Canaan (modern day Israel) to him and his descendants.
“I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” ~ Genesis 17:7-8 (NLT)
Abraham had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and it is his descendants that were referred to as the Israelites (later called Jews). Years later when the Israelites numbered over a million people, a leader named Joshua was appointed by God to lead the first military campaign to occupy the land of Canaan, birthing the first nation of Israel. The land was already occupied and the Israelites took the land by force.
However, they were never able to fully drive out the occupants. So, began the violent history of that region of the world. It changed hands many times and if we fast forward to Jesus’ birth. Jerusalem is under Roman rule and the Jews are still holding onto God’s promises. In fact, the prevailing Jewish mindset is that a savior will come in the likeness of a great military commander and overthrow the Romans, restoring Jewish rule.
BUT Jesus has a very different and up-to-that-point unprecedented agenda. His agenda has nothing to do with continuing the old paradigm. This is why to this day most Jews reject Him as the saviour that God promised. And this is the scandal, the game changer, the rock that we must either break our preferred narrative against or be broken.
Let me begin to break down this new Christ-paradigm with this verse where Paul describes some aspects of what is different because of Jesus:
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. ~ Galatians 3:26-29 (NLT)
This is MONUMENTOUS! There is no longer Jew or Gentile (read Jew or Palestinian). Who are God’s children? Who are Abraham’s descendants? Who have inherited Abraham’s promise? Answer: All who have put their faith in Christ Jesus. So are the Jews God’s special people due to their lineage? No, anyone who has faith in Jesus are His people. Jesus destroyed all national and racial barriers! Therefore all thinking, prayer, action based on the ideology that the Jewish people have some special favour in God’s eyes in comparison to non-Jewish people is fatally flawed. Note I said, in comparison to. I am not saying that they are not special. It’s just that God has adopted us all in Christ and we are all special to Him; He has no favourites.
To further cement the point:
Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. ~ Romans 9:6-7a (NLT)
What about the land is the land still special? Remember the verse above from Psalm 132 that speaks about the Temple? Listen to Jesus;
“All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said. ~ John 2:19-22 (NLT)
Jesus effectively says here that after the temple was destroyed it was replaced by His body. Again, Christ redefines what is holy. The Holy people have become those in Christ, the holy place has become His body! Paul echoes this truth:
You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.” No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. Hebrews 12:18-22 (NLT).
Hallelujah! We no longer worship on this mountain or that mountain but the time has come when those who worship must worship in spirit and in truth! God is no longer interested in a special land for a special people. In fact, He never was. From the moment He called Abraham, His end game was that all nations would be blessed (Genesis 22:18). All was a physical shadow and foretaste of a deeper spiritual reality that has been made fully manifest in Christ! And thank God!
For me, this year, this is the Christmas story. While so many remain stuck in the old quagmire of violence, domination and control of a small piece of land by a select few. We, the people of Christ, should,… must have a different heartbeat.. a larger view of a God that desires peace for ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. We must be obsessed not with physical control of physical land but with heaven’s reality being made manifest on earth! We must be obsessed with heaven’s reality being made manifest in this realm.
Christmas is about the Prince of Peace and of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end! (Isaiah 9). So let us pray for this peace. Not a limited peace that favours a particular people. Let us pray for the peace of Christ for Israel, for Palestine, for the Gaza, for our nations. Let us herald peace on earth and goodwill to ALL men!.
Finally, when Christ’s work has reached its culmination this is how Revelations describes the reality:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” ~ Revelations 21:1-4 (NLT)
Amen.
Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
My good friend and mother in the faith, Dr. Patricia Morgan, challenged me today to answer this question. Here is my answer:
Jesus taught with humility and gentleness.
In Matthew chapter 11 and verse 29 (NLT version) Jesus makes this unusual statement, “…Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart…” If you want to teach someone, you have to be a safe place for them to make mistakes. Jesus understood this. In Jesus’ classroom it was acceptable to question, to doubt and to challenge. When I think of this aspect of Jesus, I think of His intense discussion with Nicodemus, the way he answered Thomas’ doubts and the many foolish outbursts of Peter. Nothing was below Jesus’ attention as the Messiah-Rabbi. Every question, doubt and challenge was an opportunity to teach. All that is required is a heart that is willing to learn, and Jesus will meet you where you are. He won’t be put off by your questions and doubts. He is patient, gentle and kind.
Self-examination: Do we, the Jesus-people, evidence this kind of humility? How do our leaders bear up under questioning? Are we allowed to question them? Is there even a forum where we can ask them questions? Pastors, how do we handle people challenging us? Do we have patience with our brothers and sisters who have doubts? Are we willing to sincerely serve (wash the feet) of someone who is stabbing us in the back?
Jesus taught from alongside.
Jesus, the author of all knowledge and creator of all things, left heaven, took the form of a servant and came alongside us to teach us how to live. The same verse in Matthew uses the metaphor of yoked oxen to describe how Jesus teaches. He bears our burdens with us. He walks through the ups and downs of life alongside us. Jesus didn’t just teach, He discipled. He allowed his students to get up close and personal to observe His life. Ever wonder why God Himself only had 12 disciples? Surely, He had more capacity? Maybe He was trying to show us something? Maybe there is more that is caught than taught? Studies actually show that we do not learn new behaviours from information, we learn through imitation. That’s how God created us. So, will we change our nations by only changing the information that we teach? My answer is no. At least not the kind of change Christ wants. If we want a Godly nation, then we have to have a Godly people willing to come alongside the people at the lowest point of their existence and live with them and love them.
Self-examination: Are we willing to walk alongside the poor, the sinners, the lepers, the tax collectors, the adulteresses, the homosexuals, the transgendered, the outcasts of our time? Or are we more comfortable throwing stones of righteous indignation and moral superiority over the walls of our gated communities and barbed-wire fences? Are we willing, like Jesus, not to cling to our privileges but give it up and take on the humble position of a servant?
Jesus aimed at the heart.
Often, we Christians see ourselves as combatants in a battle for cultural influence. We want to have more influence over what people say and do. We bemoan the prevalence of the LGBTQ+ agenda or the so-called ’one-world’ agenda or the liberal agenda and the list goes on. But I honestly wonder what Jesus sees. I think he sees people searching for love and I believe His heart aches for them to know His love. Jesus doesn’t see a battle for truth, He sees a battle for hearts. And He is willing to do whatever it takes, even die, to win our hearts. Jesus sees beyond the lifestyle choices and beyond the things that we see. He sees the heart of a little girl that is desperately searching for anyone who would just love her without trying to change her. He sees in that seething, violent, teenager, a little boy that never felt safe.
The Jewish people in Jesus’ time must also have felt like they were in a battle to preserve God’s standards. This was one of the problems they had with Jesus. He did not join the battle. He refused to pick sides. He refused to join in the culture wars of shaming the sinners, shunning the tax collectors, avoiding the lepers and stoning the adulteresses. You see Jesus was not interested in creating a moral and orderly society. What He was after, is after, is far more amazing, far more wonderful, just far more… He is preparing a bride for Himself that is beaming with love for Him, without spot or wrinkle of heart. He is after heaven on earth.
Jesus is telling us that love is the prerequisite to all change. That’s what He told the adulteress. Neither do I condemn you – I’m not here to fight you, I’m here to love you. Now that you know that you are loved, go and sin no more. People with changed hearts, change their behaviour.
Self-examination: When we see people who are not living the way God intended, do we feel indignation or compassion? Are we trying to effect change in our sphere of influence through preaching at people or loving people? Are our efforts aimed at changing behaviour or changing hearts?
Jesus started at the bottom.
If we have a very top-down model for effecting societal change then we see education through the lens of equipping kingdom-minded people to function at elevated positions in society and drive change downwards. This thinking permeates how we set up our Christian institutions. We have lots of structure and hierarchy and rules to drive change downward with the power to effect change reserved for the elite few ‘leaders’. These types of institutions unknowingly create passive people by default. We expect to be led by the chosen few. We are actually building worldly systems with a kingdom label.
Jesus did things differently. He created a grass-roots movement that rendered the old societal constructs obsolete. That is why they killed Him. He changed the rules! The Scribes and Pharisees had their brick-and-mortar bookstores, cornering the market, controlling the narrative, and Jesus started Amazon – giving any Tom, Dick and Harietta the ability to become a best-selling author! He took the power controlled by a few and gave it away freely to the masses.
To further illustrate the power of bottom-up thinking, let’s do some Math. If I were to open a university and graduate 100,000 new students every year, over 20 years I would have taught 2,000,000 million students. Wow! Wow? Let’s see… If I were to disciple and empower 10 persons every year who in turn disciple 10 every year, and so on, in 20 years we would have discipled 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 persons. That’s Jesus Math! That’s the power of the movement that He started with 12 disciples 2,023 years ago. In Jesus’ school, everyone has the power to lead. Really pour your life into a few people’s lives and give them the freedom and power to fulfil their purpose! Raising a powerful few is exponentially better than reaching millions en masse. Literally! I do hope we get this and stop measuring purpose by the number of people we will reach or deciding on speaking engagements based on how big the church (or YouTube/Facebook/Twitter following) is.
if we want to transform a society (aka disciple a nation) then we must employ the subversive methodologies that Jesus used. Our methods must teach us how to function as a body of equals. All are equally responsible and empowered to lead change. Matthew 23:8 (NLT) says, “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters.” We must be creating a groundswell of disciple-makers aflame for God that we disseminate into the world like yeast or salt, setting ablaze everyone and everything they touch for Jesus!
Self-examination: What is our transformation paradigm? Is it top-down, imposing the ‘law’ from above, or bottom-up, inspiring people to become the best version of themselves? How comfortable are we in environments of low control and high empowerment? Do we measure impact in terms of how wide of an audience we can reach? Do we see purpose in a lifetime of high-quality input into a few?
Jesus taught with authority.
“…for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.” Matthew 7:29 (NLT). That’s quite a commendation and an indictment.
Jesus is described as having real authority. What is real authority? Or what is the authority that Jesus had that the religious teachers didn’t? I believe one difference between the way Jesus taught versus the religious leaders is that Jesus spoke about what He had experienced as true. He lived His message. The other teachers were students of the book – intellectual aficionados.
When Jesus spoke of healing, He made people well. When Jesus spoke of power over the enemy, he drove out demons. We Jesus spoke of the truth, He never told a lie. When Jesus spoke about forgiveness, He never harboured any malice toward anyone. The power to impact a life is not just in words but in demonstration of power. There is an impartational reality that our influence is only to the extent that our words are integral to who we are. Who we are being speaks louder than what we are saying. And I’m not talking about our track record here. A track record speaks to external accomplishments. 30 years of marriage could be an external track record or it could be 30 years of actively appreciating more and more about your spouse, learning to forgive more and more quickly, learning to ask forgiveness with greater sincerity, becoming more open and vulnerable, 30 years of deepening intimacy and faithfulness of heart. I’m talking about character of heart.
The real punch line here is this: When you have real authority you do not need to rely on institutional authority (like the Scribes and Pharisees). Today it is easy to set our base of influence on our position in an organization or our title or our reputation. That sets us on a path to gain greater influence through climbing the church ladder and accumulating titles rather than forging a life of deep character and fullness of the presence of God. Jesus is looking for men and women who will walk in real authority. Generals of character and intimacy with God. Such men need no commendations from flesh. The presence of Jesus in them is their seal of authenticity.
Self-examination: Has our talk exceeded our character development? Is the substance of our life authoritative? Are we full of Jesus? Are we focused on growing deep roots of character and intimacy with God below ground or lots of branches and leaves of titles and accomplishments above ground?
Thank you Moma Pat for charging me with this question. It has truly been a wonderful time in the presence of God writing this with Papa, Jesus and Holy Spirit. It has certainly challenged and inspired me in very profound ways. I have aspired to design my educational programmes with these principles in mind but there are deeper depths to explore.
I hope it is a blessing to others as well.
Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
It’s Easter! A wonderfully sacred time for most of the Christian world. A time to remember the sacrifice that changed everything and reset the world calendar. Most importantly, a time to renew our devotional life. As I read again the epic drama of the days leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, I felt my heart stir as the Holy Spirit breathed on me afresh through the scriptures.
I saw the frenzied crowds faced with a choice; set Jesus free or release the revolutionary – Barabbas. We know what they chose, “We want Barabbas!” My heart broke for their choice. They couldn’t see it. They couldn’t see their salvation in the form of a humble mystic. They wanted a revolutionary who would overthrow their Roman oppressors. My heart broke for us too. We still want Barabbas. Despite Jesus’ example of revolution through sacrificial love and humble service, we still want violence.
The Barabbian gospel is perhaps the most difficult anti-Christ principle to rid ourselves of… View our history – the Crusades, conquest and colonization of America and the 3rd world. As Jesus said to Pilate as he was being cross-examined, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
Hopefully, today we have seen the abomination and oxymoronic nature of using physical violence to expand God’s kingdom. Sadly however, we Christians are still leaning on earthly power in more ‘acceptable’ ways. Perhaps it is our religious ego overcompensating for our lack of real spiritual authority? Our Barabbian nature lingers on in subtler forms – protests, political movements that support ‘Christian’ laws or judges, vomiting hate toward those who we deem ‘sinners’ or ‘heretics’. It’s the same now as in Christ’s day – we want the political or social power to overthrow our modern ‘oppressors’. These Barabbian false prophets would have us believe that Christians and our way of life are under threat, and we must fight back! But Jesus offered another way – dying for those who want to kill you. Now that is revolutionary!
“We want Barabbas!” wasn’t the only cry that fateful day. There was another cry, this time from the leading priests and temple guards, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Why? Because Jesus was undermining the religious system from which they drew their identity, significance and power. This was their real God – the thing they had to protect at all costs.
We’re still doing it today. Oh, when will we awaken to truly see Christ? Ironically, this even plays out in our very celebration of Easter. There are enclaves within the Christian world that refuse to celebrate Easter because they believe it is rooted in a pagan fertility ritual and furthermore, nobody knows what day it was on, etc. They crucify all who dare to uphold the practice. “If you were truly Christians,” they say, “you would not be involved in such an unscriptural practice!” Typical leading priest/temple guard rhetoric. What month or day Jesus was crucified, the roots of the word Easter, how it started many years ago… it is all inconsequential. The choice here and now, the opportunity, is to lift up Jesus together with believers across the world in sincerity of heart and unity of worship. If our hearts say no to that then we have to ask ourselves, “What is really important to us?” Are we more concerned with saying no to something that undermines our belief system (just like healing on the Sabbath in Christ’s day) or saying yes to the opportunity that Easter presents for unbelievers to hear the gospel and be healed? (Hint: Jesus chose to heal.)
I have been faced with my own inner crowd and leading priest lately. Jesus has been asking me if I am willing to live a sacrificial life. Am I willing to be crucified with Christ that I may be resurrected with Him? Am I willing to let the parts of me that I am still clinging to die? It is as though Jesus has set Himself in front of me, gently held my shoulders, looked me in the eyes, and said, “This is it, Mat. If you want to go any further, it requires sacrifice.”
I can’t say that I was all gung-ho about choosing the way of Jesus. I wanted to. Oh, how I desperately wanted to! But I didn’t feel I had the ability to follow through, not really, not truly, not authentically. I have seen myself choose my way over Jesus’ too often. So many times it felt like my heart would break in utter despair.
But… perhaps this is the mysterious power of Jesus’ sacrifice? Perhaps this is what makes the way of Jesus superior to religious power or political power? Jesus’ sacrifice actually has the power to transform my life really, truly, authentically. And so, I say boldly, “I CHOOSE YOUR WAY JESUS!” I choose to join you in your death and resurrection. Crucify me Jesus. That I may die, and You may live in me. This is the way.
Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
Many agree that Jesus’ over-arching message was the kingdom. John the Baptist preached that the kingdom was coming and then Jesus came and it was ‘at hand’. Jesus was a walking demonstration of the love and power of God made manifest on the earth. Jesus brought heaven to earth. The enemy’s kingdom was completely outgunned. Sin fled in the face of forgiveness! Sickness yielded under the power of healing! And demonic oppression was evicted as Jesus proclaimed freedom! A new kingdom was on the earth! The fact that this governmental mandate has been passed onto the church has been a hot topic among the Christian circles that I am a part of.
Today, I gathered with a group of men and women with hearts earnestly desiring the manifestation of His kingdom in Trinidad & Tobago. We shared a meal and shared our hearts with a humility and intimacy that I have rarely encountered. No titles. No agendas. And God turned up. As we prayed and shared, the presence of God was amongst us and things shifted in the atmosphere undoubtedly far beyond our awareness or comprehension.
My friend, Dave, shared about the governmental reality that the church of Acts came into. He illustrated the journey that started as a church powerless in the face of the enemy’s attack on the apostle James. James was imprisoned and killed. Then Peter was imprisoned, and the church woke up. As they prayed for Peter in the prison, an angel turned up and supernaturally broke him out of prison. Then this governmental authority became so real in the church that when Paul and Silas were imprisoned, they started a revival in the prison complete with supernatural miracles and mass conversions. That’s a picture of a church walking in progressive governmental authority.
So, as I said, this is a hot topic in many circles. For many, this revelation is communicated by an understanding that the word translated church in the scripture – “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 ESV) – is the Greek word ekklesia which refers to a gathering of the citizens of a nation for the purpose of governance. But as another brother in the meeting today focused on the verses that precede this one, some things that I had been struggling to articulate properly before suddenly became as clear as day!
So let me share what is on my heart by unwrapping these verses. Here is the full text (Matthew 16:13-18 ESV emphasis mine):
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
So Jesus says that this governmental force that will wreak havoc on the kingdom of darkness will be built upon a rock. The question is: what is the rock? Let’s start at verse 13. Jesus asks His disciples who other people say that He is… and they give some answers but what Jesus really wants to know is this: do His disciples really know Him? Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Right answer Peter! But let’s look at this more closely. This is not mere intellectual knowledge. You see most Christians think that because they believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, they can walk in kingdom authority. That is a fallacy! And that fallacy is a big obstacle because many believers are busy spreading this revelation of ekklesia and kingdom governance in the very erroneous assumption that the information is sufficient for governmental function. I don’t believe it is.
You see the real rock that Peter identified with was not the objective fact that Jesus was the Christ. It was the subjective experienced reality of who Christ was to Peter that was birthed out of real physical intimacy with Jesus. Peter had experienced the Messiah first-hand. The Messiah who walked on water, empowered him to do the same, rescued him when he started to sink and calmed the winds and waves! It was after this encounter that those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:22-33 ESV). In fact, this reality of Christ’s deity and power was so tangible in Peter that Christ identified him as the rock. The quality of Peter’s knowing changed him on a fundamental level. This type of knowledge only comes through experience not education.
Jesus will only give the keys to bind and loose to those who know Him like Peter did. While Jesus is not physically with us now, His Spirit is in us and it is only through a deliberate pursuit of intimacy with the Christ in us that we can walk the path to any form of true kingdom authority on this earth. Those who are on this path understand that the inner life of intimacy and communion is our highest priority. We must cultivate and grow this communion to become the rock like Peter did. The reality of Jesus with us here and now must be an increasingly experienced reality. Those along this path often use words like worship, encounter, contemplation, meditation, tarrying, lingering, and retreat to describe practices that enable this pursuit.
This is why the current revival that God is doing across the earth (most recently in Asbury) is so important and exciting. Revival is the word we use to describe when God moves from intellectual theory to experienced reality in a corporate way. It is actually the necessary start of ekklesia. Many do not make this connection. Many discount revival in favour of more teaching and organizing. If we meet in homes, if we teach everyone that they are a citizen, if we take the 7 mountains, if we do more evangelization, if we do more missions, if we do more community service, if we (insert whatever educating/organizing effort)… then we will see the church take its place as a ruling change agent in society. We all long for this and these are all good things that the church should do but they are not the first step or even the most important step. In fact, without intimacy with God any education/organization effort is doomed to failure no matter how great it is, even if it accomplishes great things in the natural. You see, education and organization can take us very far (exhibit A: the tower of Babel) but it cannot give us real authority and therefore it cannot defeat the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of this world will only bow when the King becomes incarnate in His body.
When God begins to encounter us on a corporate level, He is opening a window of opportunity for us as a body to step into a Peter reality. That is why I am going after revival. This is why I think it is important to celebrate and connect with anywhere that God is breaking into this world. It may just look like people laughing or crying or worshipping but it is much more than that! It is God bringing the reality of the kingdom in us first before we can bring it to the world. You have to worship in the boat with Jesus before you can worship in the prison. You have to be blinded by the light and knocked to the ground and hear Jesus speak to you before you can invade the darkness with light and knock the enemy off his feet. You must become the rock shaped without human hands before it can grow and take over the world. As a corporate body, we must encounter God in unity in the upper room before we can turn the world upside down.
Attention to our individual inner life with God brings corporate revival in the church and revival in the church brings kingdom come on earth.
Copyright 2023, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
I have been working for the same company for 18 years. I started as the Marketing Officer and then got promoted to Vice President Marketing. That’s a long time to be working in the same department. My job was never boring. I liked what I did and there were plenty of opportunities to get involved in initiatives and projects that kept me learning. Nevertheless, I began to feel a yearning in my soul for something more. It didn’t help when a few organizational changes also contributed to my growing demotivation.
Then God spoke. Or maybe I listened for the first time (to God and to my wife), instead of just telling Him what I wanted Him to do. Whichever it was, it was clear that He was calling me out from this malaise to re-engage with my job. “Alright if You insist,” I grudgingly obeyed. “OK Matik, you are going to re-invent yourself!” This was my inner pep talk as I began to brainstorm ways to enhance myself and my portfolio in ways that were meaningful to me. I had a masterplan, and I was excited.
The very next week my boss called me into his office. “Matik, I want you to disrupt yourself.” As he began to challenge me to come back to him with a plan to re-invent myself, I was laughing like a child and praising God on the inside. He had no idea how ready I was for this challenge. LOL.
Moments like these always cause me pause. Moments when the realness of God at work in my life becomes so tangible. It’s like a tree root bursting out at the surface of the earth, that evidences the vast root system that lies unseen below your feet. Oh God, thank You for unveiling Your goodness in my life. Every time I make one tiny step towards You in obedience, you make ten giant ecstatic leaps towards Me.
A few conversations later I was appointed Vice President Innovation and Corporate Agility – a new assignment for me and uncharted territory for my company. However, just how strategically God had set me up, only dawned on me when I began to do some reading in preparation for my new responsibilities. I realized that to be an innovative organization required a culture that was hugely diverse and collaborative; a place where trust was high, and people felt valued and safe; where it was OK to try new things even if you failed. Little epiphanic explosions began to fire all over my brain. You see, for months God had been speaking to me about creating kingdom community where people are valued for who they are, empowered to become spectacularly great and outrageously loved; a place where people find belonging and safety instead of shame and judgment. Creating such a community of believers had become an obsession but I never saw this coming; I never expected God to put me in the forefront of creating kingdom community in my workplace. Sure, I always advocated this type of culture and tried to make it the culture of my team in Marketing but I never expected to be given the opportunity to have such an integrated work and spiritual life in a secular space.
I do not know if this is what happens for all faithful Christ-followers in one way or another – if as we forsake all and follow Him, our paths inextricably lead into greater and greater purpose… or if this is just my peculiar path… But most of all I am grateful… Grateful to God for giving me work that is meaningful and fulfilling and challenging (as all meaningful work should be). Grateful to my boss and the board of directors for trusting me to lead this mission. And grateful to all those who believe in me and support me and wished me well in this new venture.
I do believe that there is no one more innovative than God. The picture of the body of Christ is a picture of what an innovative community looks like. God knows that when diversity is undergirded by deep love and unity in community, miracles happen. This is what the early church looked like. This is what an innovative community looks like. Many different parts. One body. Unconditional love.
As I step into the unknown, I’m putting my trust in Him, trying to love people well, and making this my mandate:
“To create an organizational environment that unlocks the greatness in every employee and brings them together to create a community of collective genius that consistently and profusely innovates.”
Copyright 2022, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
The Authentic Joy team is starting another cycle of the Spiritual Formation workshop series!
If you are hungry for a deeper walk with God and are looking for a group of like-minded people to journey alongside you in this season then why not join us?
In the first installment of this series, I introduced two foundational principles of spiritual growth:
Only Jesus transforms. Not religion. Only a real face to face relationship with Jesus. Sure, anyone can change their behaviour and manage their sin but only Jesus can change our desires – change us from the inside out. John 15:4-6 (ESV) says: “4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” It is the abiding connection with Jesus that transforms us.
We change more through relationships than through information. We have been fooled into a left-brained approach to spiritual formation. We have been told that if we study our bibles and attend to our church sermons we will grow. These are helpful, but what really transforms us is loving relationships and strong bonds with people and with God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV) “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
Today, I want to continue with three more principles:
Transformation works from the inside out
Fruit not gifts/accomplishments is the evidence of transformation
Jesus is our model of maturity
Transformation
Transformation is one of the core values of Authentic Joy. We are about inside-out transformation. We are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that no lasting change comes through external means such as rule-keeping, sin-management, or behaviour modification. Transformation starts with the Holy Spirit re-connecting our spirit with Christ, progresses through a heart regenerated by His love and a mind renewed by beholding His glory, and finally ends in an incarnated Christ-like life. The imperative for transformation then is not more education, more willpower, more effort, or more external motivation (whether through fear, shame, or the approval of men) but rather more encounters with God (the only one who can truly change us).
Fruit
Giftedness is not a measure of maturity. God gives gifts freely to all men. It does not require maturity to be a gifted soccer player, musician, public speaker, businesswoman, pastor, evangelist, or prophet. This is huge because we often erroneously choose highly-gifted people as our role models, mentors, or worse yet, spiritual advisors. Mature people are those who have put in the inner work of growth in Christlikeness. The result of a life abiding in the vine and submitting to the Master’s pruning is fruitfulness. According to Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit looks like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Only mature trees bear fruit!
The Model
Our role model for maturity is Christ Himself. He is the standard. While we may emulate different aspects of Christlikeness that we see in people, only Christ is perfect and complete. We like to give a relational perspective of Christ’s maturity:
Intimately connected to the Father.
Discipling, empowering and unifying our brothers and sisters.
Sacrificially and powerfully demonstrating the unconditional love of the Father to the world.
If we keep these principles in mind, we will have a good foundation for the spiritual growth that we all want to see in our lives.
Live long and grow!
Copyright 2022, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
If you haven’t yet, check out our FREE Spiritual Growth Foundation Course in which we cover the four foundational principles for spiritual growth and much more! In addition to on-demand videos which you can watch at your leisure, there are downloadable handouts for those who prefer written content.
Two of my latest Bible study plans just went live on YouVersion!
The first one is a 7-day devotional for business executives called Refuel, Reframe, Recalibrate. This plan is a wonderful way to start your day with a kingdom mindset and a breath of fresh air from the Holy Spirit!
Here’s an excerpt: Sometimes work feels like we’re walking on quicksand. We can’t get our footing, and with every step we only sink deeper. No matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to get on top of our workload or ahead of the crises. The antidote to this rat race mentality is to live in the secret place of intimacy with God. Daniel lived from intimacy. Daily, he would kneel in his upper room praying to Yahweh. God knew Him. God took care of him. God loved him. When the king made a law that promised death for anyone who prayed to any god or man besides the king, Daniel simply went up to his room to pray as usual. No fuss, no drama. He didn’t try to appeal to the king, get a petition signed or have a hissy fit on social media. He simply prayed. I think it’s fair to say that Daniel did not suffer from anxiety.
The second plan is a study based on the book of Daniel. It explores our relationship to power.
Here’s an excerpt from this one: In Daniel 1, we discover Daniel starts at the bottom of the power ladder – as a conquered slave. Daniel is a captive of Babylon without the power to even decide his name. He finds himself a chosen trainee for service in the king’s court. This immediately presents a challenge for Daniel because he is a Jew – a servant of Yahweh – but he has to serve a king and a people who have no respect for or allegiance to his God. How will he navigate this dilemma? He doesn’t seem to have much power to influence this massive pagan system. Or does he?
You can access all of my plans including these two on the YouVersion app or here.
I hope they help you on your joyful journey of spiritual growth!
Copyright 2022, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
If you haven’t yet, check out our FREE Spiritual Growth Foundation Course in which we cover the four foundational principles for spiritual growth and much more! In addition to on-demand videos which you can watch at your leisure, there are downloadable handouts for those who prefer written content.
“My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
John 18:36b (NLT)
This was Jesus’ answer as Pilate questioned Him about being king of the Jews. It is a reality that informed everything that Jesus did and the way in which He conducted His life. But perhaps more to the point that Jesus is making here is what He didn’t do. He did not vie for leadership of the Sanhedrin. He did not come as a king like Hezekiah or David to free the Jewish people from their oppressors. In fact, he made no attempt to free them from Roman rule at all. He never tried to gain any earthly power, whether through political means or through violence. His kingdom was not of this world and therefore was not enforced by earthly means.
As 2021 comes to a close, I cannot help but think that we (Christians) still haven’t learned the lessons of 2020. We are still desperately trying to build a spiritual kingdom with earthly tools. Utter futility. Nothing, I believe, illustrates this better than US abortion statistics:
First of all, it is worthy of celebration that abortions have been falling since 1990. I think that this is good news no matter if you are pro-life or pro-choice. However, what is striking is the fact that the greatest declines in the number of abortions took place under Democratic administrations (shown in blue). We can conclude from this chart that there either is no correlation between a pro-life administration and reducing abortion rates or more astoundingly an inverse correlation.
Many well-known Christian leaders publicly and vociferously supported the Republican candidate in the last US elections and cited his policy on abortion as a deciding factor (if not the deciding factor). This one issue absolved us Christians from any responsibility for the pettiness, bigotry, hate, and division that he spewed forth daily. We were saving innocent lives. Only, as it turns out, we weren’t. The CDC’s statistics on abortion for 2018 and 2019 reveal something that has not happened in a long time – two successive years of rising numbers of abortions. (https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/index.htm)
Could it be that what influences a nation is not so much the legal policies but the spiritual atmosphere? Could these scandalous statistics be a message from the unseen realm… “My kingdom is not of this world!”
Maybe (and I admit that this is a hypothesis) what made a difference was the prayers of the church lifted up during pro-choice administrations as opposed to resting on our spiritual laurels during pro-life administrations? Maybe…
Looking forward into 2022, the pandemic rages on and many of our churches continue to be preoccupied with earthly kingdom business. Our big concerns – being forced to wear masks and get vaccinations. As over 5 million people worldwide (including many clergymen and women) have now died from Covid-19, one would think that there would be bigger things on the minds and hearts of God’s people than the infringement of our ‘religious freedoms’. Surely.
Our kingdom compass is desperately in need of recalibration. Where does the anchor of our hope find ground? In Christ or in our government? What is the motivation for our actions? Love of neighbour or love of self? Are we moved by God’s voice or the latest conspiracy theory? What’s our priority, our freedom, or our responsibility as ambassadors of Christ?
Do you have strong convictions about taking or not taking vaccinations? Great! Take a page from the Hebrews in Babylon. They stood up for their convictions and depended on God to deliver them from the earthly authorities of the day. We can rest assured that if we are in the purpose of God, He will protect and provide for us as He did for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Our King is much more powerful than any earthly power. Daniel and his friends never sent around a petition for signatures or started a campaign against the king or plead their case or even asked God to judge the authorities. They just stood by their decision and left the rest to God come what may. They knew that their kingdom was not of this world.
Let’s flip the script in 2022. Let’s show the world the power of God like Daniel did… like Jesus did! Let’s be radical demonstrations of the love of Christ. The demonstration of Christ’s kingship was not in His ability to bend men to His preferences through legislation, political power or social pressure but His ability to destroy the power of sin, sickness and demonic oppression in the lives of men. In the physical realm, Jesus spent His life as a sacrificial demonstration of love. In the spiritual realm, He completely undercut the power darkness that was at the root of all evil. This is how we shine in the present darkness. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Our weapons are mighty for spiritual battle.
Let’s get radical. Let’s see thousands healed of Covid as churches send out intercessory teams to surround hospitals with prayer. Let’s see churches give radically to care for the sick. Let’s elevate our minds above these worldly affairs of masks, vaccines, and politics and begin to really follow Christ into His kingdom. Let’s demonstrate the indefatigable love and power of Jesus Christ!
Copyright 2021, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
If you haven’t yet, check out our FREE Spiritual Growth Foundation Course in which we cover the four foundational principles for spiritual growth and much more! In addition to on-demand videos which you can watch at your leisure, there are downloadable handouts for those who prefer written content.
Well folks,
we have come to the end; the final instalment in my kingdom culture series! I
hope you have enjoyed the content thus far. My aim in this series has been to
highlight some of the values of authentic kingdom culture and to juxtapose that
against the prevailing culture in the world. My hope is that the series has
provoked thought and inspired you to live the values of the kingdom wherever
you are!
In 1976 Edward T. Hall proposed a model for viewing culture as an iceberg. The part of an iceberg that is visible above the water is only 10% of its mass. The remaining 90% lurks hidden below the surface. Hall proposed that culture is the same; what we can see; the food, festivals, flag and fashion, is only 10% of what constitutes the culture. Underpinning that are dispositions, values, attitudes and beliefs. Let’s transpose this to the local church. The worship songs, preaching, activities, etc. are the most visible expressions of the culture but what I have been trying to focus on in this series is the underlying beliefs that lie below.
For this
final piece I have chosen an issue which I believe is at the very bottom of the
iceberg – love. I believe that love expressed through relationship is the very
foundation of kingdom culture. I do not believe that anything achieved or
constructed in the kingdom is of any value or merit or integrity unless it
comes from a motive of love that finds expression through relationship.
Jesus said
that all the Law and the Prophets depend on two commandments:
You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind.
You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love for God and love for others are the foundational values of the kingdom.
Paul said
that the most powerful exhibit of spiritual
gifts or the most pious expressions of religious duty are all nothing if they are
not done with love. Wow!
What does
this mean for us? Well one practical implication is that God is not impressed
by and He doesn’t respond to, mere spiritual activity. Often, I hear people say
that the church would be better if we pray like we used to, or we attend
services like we used to. I understand where those sentiments come from but the
answer is not in the activity. The answer lies first in the quality of our
relationship with God and with others. The activities are the 10% overflow from
the 90% foundation.
I have found this to be a radically life-changing understanding. It means that our lack of victory in a situation may be more linked to the heart attitude we have toward our spouse than the time we put in in prayer.
This was recently brought home to be in a very tangible way. I was struggling with mild depression. I felt overwhelmed by the challenges in my marriage and the melding of two families under one roof. Extended family members weren’t making it any easier either. But worst of all my prayer life was nonexistent and my bible study was dull. Then God showed me that I had been carrying around a little undercurrent of resentment toward my wife. I thought it was nothing. I thought I had good reasons why I should feel that way but God saw it and He did not share my view. I was stopping the free flow of His love. The moment I saw it and acknowledged it for what it was, my life changed.
The same principle applies to other spheres of our lives. If we want more of the Presence of God in our ministry, don’t necessarily focus on what activity we need to add or change, focus on who we need to forgive or who we need to ask forgiveness of, or maybe which other ministries, leaders or denominations we pull down!
Kingdom power and the Presence of God flows and endures where
people know His heart and live His values.
My dear friends, devote your lives to loving God completely and loving others well. Nothing else is of greater eternal consequence!
Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
