Jesus paid a great price, an ultimate sacrifice of His own Godly life for the salvation of all in the world – but with the gift of freedom of choice – “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life”, writes Bishop Tutai Pere of the Apostolic Church.

“But ye, beloved, building yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” – Jude 1:20-21.

Now what is our most holy faith? The outright answer is holiness. “Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord”. One of the uses of a comma to a sentence is to prevent the necessity of repetition. So, we shall take this text from Hebrews 12:14 for example: “Follow peace with all men and holiness” (comma), “without which no man shall see the Lord”. Now let us leave out the comma and put in the repetition that the comma avoided. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness with all men, without which no man shall see the Lord”.

So we thought that holiness was only to do with our relationship with God? Oh, no! Holiness pertains or has so much more to do with our relationship with one another, with all other fellow human beings, brothers and sisters, neighbours and kindreds, humanity in its fullness and in totality. We can be sure and certain that, if we have that kind of life, we will never have to worry about whomsoever is around us – for our holiness is going to be shown in our relationship with all fellow human persons. This is therefore, building ourselves in our most holy faith (righteous relationship even in darkest moments in life), and in doing so, we are recognising then, that our faith is all about holiness in our relationship with man first, whom we daily see, meet, interact, integrate, involve with our own naked eyes but God whom we do not see by sight but by faith only.

In summation, God’s word requires for us as fellow Christians to: “Follow peace (make peace, embrace, love, care, pray, do good unto, not discriminate, relegate, segregate, hate, judge, neglect) with all men, and holiness with all men, without which no man shall see the Lord”.

We learn also of another lesson of the love of God from John 3:16, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life”. We know that many are still of the same belief and mind that God loves everybody. We know also of what Psalm 1:6 says, “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish”. Until Jesus calls for his bride home to him which is the church (not churches but One Born on Pentecost Sunday), His grace still is sufficient unto all and extends to all in this world of lost humanity still in sin and wickedness, “…that whosoever (in the world) believeth in Him (Jesus Christ) should not perish but have everlasting life”.

Another of Jesus’ parables we need to look at also is in Mathew 13:44-46: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure that was hidden in a field which when the man hath found for joy thereof, he sold all that he had and purchased the field.” The man who sold all he had and bought the field was Jesus himself. The treasure in the field was the Church, and the field is the world. Did he want to become a farmer, absolutely not. The reason he bought the world by his sacrificial death and shedding of his pure and sinless blood on his cross on Calvary hill was to offer free salvation to all who live in sin and death in this world of lost humanity. He paid a great price, an ultimate sacrifice of his own Godly life for the salvation of all in the world – but with the gift of freedom of choice – “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life”.

Be mindful also, that there are tares (false churches, preachers, beliefs and doctrines) and wheat growing and intertwining together. But he knows which real and true treasure he shall come back for, one that’s still shining the true light of Christ’s peace and holiness unto all men despite all whatsoever challenges the devil throws at us all – “… God is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He is still in the ‘soul salvation business’ until rapture time. He will have the last say, the only Righteous Judge to declare final judgment – the church’s ultimate vision and mission is “That this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations only and only then, shall the end come (Mathew 24:14); Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15,160); “and ye shall be witnesses unto Me…even unto the ends of the earth, and, lo, I Am with you always” (Acts 1:8; Mathew 28:20). His Grace is sufficient for all of humanity – “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil” (John 17:11, 14-15).

Church is in the world but not of the world – but a beacon of hope to the hopeless, and a lighthouse to guide and direct all that are lost in the sea of forgetfulness – ‘lest we forget’. Only a Thursday week ago, we were reminded to not ever forget the service and sacrifice of people, some our very own Ui Tupunas who have served in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations, ‘Lest we forget’ as symbol of commemoration of Anzac Day and all other wars together. ‘Lest we forget’ foremost, of the One and Only One, paid the greatest and ultimate sacrifice for the whole of humanity, throughout history and unto all generations – lifted no sword, weapons nor armament but with His blood shed and cried out, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

Have a safe, peaceful and blessed Jesus’ weekend, Amen!