Sincere Ignorance and Conscientious Stupidity

Genesis 42:21

2011-12-20T00:39:00.002Z

Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

Joseph's brothers make an interesting association between their deeds and their distress. Their idea of divine justice is like the idea of 'karma' found in popular culture. What goes around comes around. The inaccuracy of their thought is plain to the reader, who sees Joseph testing his brothers, hoping to discover in them some spark of pity for their father's plight, or some sign that their hearts were turned to repentance. But to anyone who does not know how the story ends, this is a moment of high tension in the narrative. From the point of view of narrative balance, this is where the first-time reader expects Joseph to get his revenge. Having him at their mercy, they sold him into slavery; having them at his mercy, he can do to them what they have coming. We know that the narrative heads into a resolution, however. In terms of storytelling, the narrative line proposes something revolutionary: it is supposed to surprise us when we read -

Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

But we also know that the grace of that resolution was not easily understood or accepted by the brothers. Joseph had to comfort his brothers, who still believed that he would kill them. He said to them:

“Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Distress begets distress. That was the creed of the brothers. But God's intervention introduced grace to heal the family. God's plans and purposes overturn distress, establishing life, provision, comfort and kindness. Writing about the cross of the Christ, theologian R.T. Kendall observed this:

It was not until the Spirit fell on the disciples at Pentecost that the whole event came together. Then Peter and the disciples understood it all for the first time. They then saw that it was for our sins that Jesus died. They saw that it was all a part of God's pre-determined plan. "This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross"

{R.T. Kendall, Understanding Theology (Christian Focus, 1998) p. 103.}

The brothers got this right: "In truth we are guilty..." But there is a greater truth. Karl Barth wrote this:

It cannot be proved naturally or logically, legally or historically, but it is as true as the eternal Light, which differs from all other lights inasmuch as it requires neither fuel nor candlestick. It is as true as the mercy which we have experienced...

{K. Barth, Christmas (Oliver and Boyd, 1959) p. 46.}

The experience of mercy is a nebulous thing. Mercy transforms only when appropriated. The brothers had been shown mercy, but lived in fear. They required their brother to comfort them, and sought to force him to show mercy through moral blackmail, a thing which made him weep. Joseph wept when his brothers came to him, claiming that their common father sought forgiveness on their behalf, because he knew that they did not believe themselves forgiven. He knew that they had not received mercy, though it had been extended. He knew they were not his brothers, though he had extended them fraternal affection, and had sought to honour them as his own. But his answer was not bitterness, but grace. The sinner has difficulty believing inwardly that his heinous sins are not being held against him any more. (The brothers saw the distress of Joseph's soul, when he begged them and did not listen: his begging cries haunted their waking nightmares, and they daily saw the anguish of their bereaved father.) But although such sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west, the sinner believes the world will bring them back again. Why? Because "what goes around comes around" is a lie that dies hard. It has the semblance of rudimentary justice about it, and justice, being an attribute to God himself, is imprinted on his image bearers. Even though we scoff at it, and rebel against it, we know it is there...The language of forgiveness is the language of new birth for this reason. If there is no new creation - if I am not truly a new person - then I anticipate the consequences in this body of the sins the body has committed. But if there truly is a new creation - if I really am remade in a different personhood - then I live out my new status of "sonship". J.I. Packer makes this insightful comment about our adoption as sons of God in Christ:

...the entire Christian life has to be understood in terms of it. Sonship must be the controlling thought - the normative category, if you like, at every point. This follows from the nature of the case, and is strikingly confirmed by the fact that all our Lord's teaching on Christian discipleship is cast in these terms.

{J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Hodder & Stoughton, 1973) p.236}

And so it is. I was very struck by this paragraph in a book by Mark Driscoll, which speaks of the effects of this adoption:

The Gospel Builds a Spiritual FamilyOne of the prominent metaphors of the church in the New Testament is a household - or an extended family - held together by the blood of Christ. No wonder the New Testament tells Christians to treat one another as brothers and sisters. In our day of devastated families and generational fracturing, churches that operate like loving spiritual families, caring for and correcting one another in love, can be the most convincing proof o the power and benefits of the gospel.

{Mark Driscoll, The Radical Reformission (Zondervan, 2004) p.60}

New Scottish Hymns DEMO

2011-11-19T18:14:00.000Z

New Scottish Hymns DEMO

Psalm 27

2011-10-11T14:52:00.000+01:00

Of David.

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
   whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
   of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me
   to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
   it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
   my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
   yet I will be confident.
One thing have I asked of the LORD,
   that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
   all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
   and to enquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter
   in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
   he will lift me high upon a rock.
And now my head shall be lifted up
   above my enemies all round me,
and I will offer in his tent
   sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
   be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
   “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”

Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
   O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
   O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
   but the LORD will take me in.
Teach me your way, O LORD,
   and lead me on a level path
   because of my enemies.
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
   for false witnesses have risen against me,
   and they breathe out violence.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
   in the land of the living!

Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

What kind of confidence is this?
Is David indulging in wishful thinking? Does he tell himself, "It'll be all right", hoping against hope that it will be?
Is it superstition? "I've said the things to God that He wants to hear - that I want to be in his temple and to sacrifice to him - so he has to look after me now?" Is it a bargain with God?
Is it desperation trying to sound like confidence? "Answer me and don't be angry with me..." Is he begging?
Or is it denial? Does David really know that God isn't there, but he is too invested in the idea of god to pull out now? Is the determination that ends the psalm - "Wait for God" - nothing more than the empty hope of an abandoned child?

The psalm may not be dismissed as any of these things. The reason is that David recalls what God has commanded:

"You have said, 'Seek my face.'"

God gave this instruction to His people. (The imperative verb "seek" is second person plural.) The context also involves the name LORD - the covenant name for God, much more personal and laden with history. This God has had past dealings with his people, and these dealings are in David's memory. He recalls God's character to mind, and addresses the God who has been his help. David gets his confidence from prior instances of grace and commitment from the God of long-term faithfulness.

The status of the King as the Lord's servant is not the only context for his cry and prayer.The statement which begins the psalm sets the psalmist's hopes and expectations into context. God is David's light.

Through God's enlightening, David has light in a dark place. And how dark it is! I am reminded of the prophet Micah, who asserted:

"When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me." David's confidence is the same.

Like David, Micah knew himself to be a sinner. He too had offended the Lord. One of the uncomfortable things light does is reveal the things that we should rather not have on display. David begs God to be gracious, knowing that he does not deserve grace. "Turn not your servant away in anger." David knew God's beauty, and recognising that he had offended against it, he was aware that God and sin do not mix. From these hints in the psalm, we can reconstruct the situation which led up to David's writing it.

Firstly, David sinned against God. Then he discovered that his enemies were out for his blood. At this point the temptation he faced was to despair. After all, how could he, guilty, count on the help of the good God. He had offended God. Surely in his anger, God would reject David, casting him off, and forsaking him, just as David's father and mother had done?

But David does not give in to despair. Rather he gives himself a pep talk. He Resolves to be strong, to let his heart take courage and to wait for the Lord. The psalm ends with hope, not despair, and the journey into hope, the third stage of the psalm, is what the psalm is about.

So why does David have hope? The reason he does not despair is simple: God is his light, and by God's enlightening, he sees not only his own inadequacy, his own sin, and the temptation to wallow in guilt and despair, but also the sovereign grace of the Lord. Job's wife told him to curse God and die. Did David hear a similar voice? But what good would that have done? Despair produces no good thing.

The Lord is his light, certainly, but the Lord is also his salvation. The prophet Micah says what David says:

"I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him,
Until he pleads my cause and executes judgement for me."

Notice that Micah does not plead his cause - God does it for him. And this determination is analogous to David's: "Wait for the Lord".

God's salvation does not depend on David's actions. It depends on God's faithfulness. In other words, David may be guilty before God, but God is still his salvation. All God requires is for people to seek Him. David sought Him.

"Teach me your way, O Lord" he says. A good prayer for a sinner. A prayer from a place of humility.

David is confident that God will vindicate him against his enemies, because of whose he is. After all, as God's servant, if anyone seeks to devour him, or if anyone bears false witness against him, or breathes out violence against him, it is not just David that they insult. It is the Lord to whom David belongs. God will not be mocked.

No matter how God chose to resolve the affair, David knew and believed in God's goodness. This explains the line: "I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" His request was for God to lead him on a level path, because of his enemies.

Micah said: "He will bring me out into the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Then my enemy will see and shame will cover her who said to me: 'Where is the Lord your God?' My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets."

Neither David nor Micah had unfounded confidence. Vengeance is God's, and He will repay.

David's response to God's goodness is to enjoy God - to seek the Lord, to ask to be near Him, to live in his House, to gaze at His beauty, and consider God with his mind, until all his being gave over all he could give in sacrificial, joyful praise, singing and making music to God.

There is nothing else to fear for someone who fears God. God is enough.

If the Lord is the stronghold of our lives, then He is enough to save us. He is enough to lift up our heads, above all enemies, even though they should be all around. David asserted this, and believed it, because God gave him the faith to believe it.

But how much more confidence can Christians have, who know how God has done it? We know that God, our Lord, our light and our salvation, will hide us in His shelter in the day of trouble, concealing us under the cover of his tent. We know He will lift us hugh upon a rock, because we know who the Rock is: our heads can be lifted-up above enemies all around us because God's son was lifted up to die surrounded by his enemies. False witnesses rose against Him, and though they breathed out violence, the goodness of the Lord prayed this prayer in the land of the living, saying: "Father forgive them, they know not what they do".

Christians can take courage and can be strong because of the amazing courage and weakness of Christ. When, like David, we have sinned, our only hope is to run to Christ. We can be confident in his grace. After all, the fact that we want to seek Him is in itself evidence that He has sought us first.

The Lord will take us in, and we will not be orphans.

Luke 16: 19-31

2011-06-21T03:20:00.000+01:00

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

I just read a new book called "Fighting Poverty, Inequality and Injustice (a manifesto inspired by Peter Townsend)". It has a particularly interesting chapter by Conor Gearty called "Putting the lawyers in their place: the role of human rights in the struggle against poverty". It is fascinating because it tries to answer the question "Why care?" without reference to God. Conor asks:

"Why does it matter that so many are currently lost to the world on account of their impoverishment, either because they die unnaturally young or lead lives of unyielding grimness? Why should we not think of this as simply the (bad) luck of the species birth lottery? In times past it was easy to grasp why we both cared for others and ought to care for them: it was God's direction... At least since Marx, however, secular society has had the greatest of difficulty with absolutes of any sort, a scepticism that has extended to a reluctance to explore any of the supposed ethical foundations that might lie at its core."

The reason secular society has these difficulties, of course, is because God really is there. All "oughts" come from Him, and are incoherent apart from Him. Indeed - in societies without Christianity, the "oughts" vary tremendously, and emphatically do not tend to share the same ideals. Any historian will tell you this! Consider the Romans, the Spartans, the Babylonians, the men of Nineveh. Or take the Nazis, the Communists, the Taliban. The pre-Christian tribes of Scandinavia or the British Isles? These cultures did not have "universal" rights. They lauded revenge, war, conquest, booty, death, greed, craftiness, trickery, guile. The questions of the playground obtain: "who says?" - "You and what army?"

The only reason people should care about poverty and injustice is that God loves people, which creates value in them, making us all valuable. We are valuable because valued. Hell (and only hell) is what happens when people reject God, and God acquiesces in their rejection of Him by withdrawing Himself, along with all the Goodness that only comes from His presence. As C.S. Lewis put it, "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." Or to quote Don Carson: "Society set free from God is its own worst enemy."

The nameless "rich man", defined by his wealth, does not seek to leave his place of torment. Of course he hates it, but...

The rich man asked for Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue. Why such an effete request? Why not ask for a cup of water? Would that have satisfied him? No more should it than did the fine linen, the sumptuous debauchery of his recklessly selfish life! Here is the man who has eradicated his own humanity by refusing to recognise the humanity of his unfortunate fellow man.
Lazarus did not get past this man's gate. Even what he wasted could have fed wretched Lazarus! Even the dogs came and licked Lazarus' sores. The dogs did more for Lazarus than the rich man did. But Lazarus has a name.

"Warn my brothers," he demands. (Or rather: "send Lazarus": even now, he can only conceive of Lazarus as his lackey!) But does he really care about these nameless five? Of course not! He only mentions them by way of indirect accusation. "I wasn't warned that I'd end up in this place of torment, so how should they know?" He has spent his life in worship of the creation, being devoted not merely to outward show (purple garments and daily feasting) but to excess of delicacy: even his undergarments were of the finest linen. His god is his belly. What now torments him is this: he can no longer have the things he craves. In his lifetime he received all his good things. Literally all of them. There will be no more. God had been good to him. The rich man had nothing to complain of, and much to be thankful for. He did not earn these good things, and did not deserve them, and did not use them for the purpose for which he was given them. He had been blessed to be a blessing.

God always blesses people so they can be a blessing. (We are made to bear his image, after all!) This rich man claims Abraham as his father. But Abraham was blessed to be a blessing, and lived out of faith, pleasing God. So now that these blessings of God have been withdrawn, all he is left with is a sense of entitlement, and unfulfilled desire, and resentment.

Lazarus has a name. But look what else: he has a place. He has comfort. Angels attend him. God gives him the value He created him to have. He is at Abraham's side: a place of eternal honour.

Jesus tells this story to the pharisees. The context is significant, and sheds light on its meaning. Consider what has come before:

The proud pharisees hated the people Jesus loved, considering them to be morally tarnished. Jesus therefore told them three stories of how compassionate God goes after the lost: desperately, relentlessly and recklessly. The pharisees themselves were every bit as morally tarnished as the people they despised. The elder brother, however, was the one who did not get in to the father's party. He kept himself outside. (Though the gracious father pleaded with him to come in.) Jesus challenged the pharisees to see themselves in this light: as the ones outside of the kingdom of heaven.

Then, to draw their attention to their plight, he told them the story about a servant who was also in a desperate situation. This shrewd servant realised that he had a limited window of opportunity to betray his former master to secure good terms and a future with a new master. The pharisees were in the same boat. They loved money, rather than God, but God was the one to whom they were going to give account.

Jesus made it clear that he was not sweeping aside the demands of the law, as the pharisees thought he was. Indeed, it is impossible to do that! The law was a divine ordinance: even human agreements, such as marriage, for instance, may not be set aside without consequences! How much more impossible is it for the Law to be set aside! No - Jesus came to fulfill the law by loving God and loving people just as God and people ought to be loved.

The point is that anyone who does not live out of respect for that love is like the rich man who lacks love. He will end up living in a world of pain: a world without love. Hell.

Matthew 12: 1-8

2011-06-08T16:05:00.006+01:00

At that time Jesus went through the grain-fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

The difference between civil and natural law is that civil law is broken after the human lawmaker has spoken, but natural law is broken before the human lawmaker has spoken. We know not to park on the double yellow lines because human beings have created a framework within which that rule makes for a better flow of traffic, and safer roads. If nobody had made the rule, how should we have known it? But we know not to kill the traffic warden because God, who is merciful, even loves traffic wardens, so killing him would be wrong. Here is a story in which civil and natural law clash. Regulations are only regulations, but God's law is perfect, reviving the soul.

The Pharisees complained because they believed Jesus and his followers were setting aside the law about keeping the sabbath holy. Interestingly, their very objection showed the extent to which they themselves were unable to keep or even understand the law. Their pretext for argument with the disciples was to take issue with the "work" they did to gather the corn.

The matter of controversy was not that Jesus' followers were stealing: in fact the provisions of the law allowed for taking corn by hand in someone's field, providing you did not gather it up into bags. (The reason the text specifically mentions that Jesus' followers were plucking the heads of grain to eat is that Matthew wants to make it clear that they were not in violation of the anti-theft laws outlined in Deuteronomy 23:24-25.) The bone of contention was "working on the Sabbath". But this was ridiculous. They were not working, but feeding themselves. How risible: to miss the whole point of the commandment about the sabbath - to miss the sheer kindness and goodness of it - by thinking of it as a mean-spirited edict from a mean-spirited god. The knowledge of God was far from them!

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for two reasons: firstly because the scriptures made it clear that what the disciples were doing was absolutely in step with the law, and secondly because the scriptures made it clear that what the Pharisees wanted diminished God's law, reducing it to a set of petty regulations. Jesus cleared-up what was going on: the action of the disciples was motivated by hunger, not the desire to gain from labour. The action of the Pharisees was based on a grotesque assault on God's character.

When Jesus vindicated the innocence of his disciples he showed that God is the kind of God who, so far from being petty with regard to rules and regulations, wishes for hungry people to be fed. To God, mercy is more important than sacrifices. Indeed - God established the whole sacrificial system so it would point to the great mercy of God. The animals died so that people did not have to. In the end, of course, it would be Jesus - the God-man himself - who would exhibit the greatest mercy that has ever been shown, by becoming the most dreadful holy sacrifice.

In the past, King David had set aside ritual in favour of his men because they were hungry. And similarly, since the bread of the presence was hot when replaced, it was necessarily hot on account of the work done in preparing it. So the rituals themselves called for a flexible attitude to work, or else they could not be fulfilled! Of course the priests were guiltless in the matter: they should have been guilty if they had been persnickety with the law, abusing it to justify disobedience. The priests never turned round and said "Sorry, God. No offering of bread today! Can't bake it without breaking your laws!" They recognised that it was more important to give God what He wanted than it was to find excuses based on a rigid and unintelligent reading of the law. The requirement to present hot bread at the altar clearly called for that kind of "work" on the Sabbath, so it supervened. The passage Jesus alluded to says that the priest gave David the holy bread, "for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away."

In respect of the law, it is better to obey God than man. This is what it means that the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. When Jesus says that something greater than the temple is here, he means that in his kingdom, a surpassing glory has come - the glory of the Christ who gives peace, the ultimate mercy from the ultimate sacrifice.

---

Here are the scriptures that lead me into the above interpretation:

Hosea 6:4-6
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is ilike a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes early away.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Deut 23:24-25
“If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. If you go into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain.

Exodus 20: 9-11
Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

1 Samuel 21: 1-6
Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

Exodus 25:30
And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

Leviticus 24: 5-9
“You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord's food offerings, a perpetual due.”

Numbers 28:9-10
On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

1 Chronicles 9:32
Also some of their kinsmen of the Kohathites had charge of the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath.

John 7: 22-23
Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?

Haggai 2:9
The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 3:1
Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

Luke 5:27

2011-06-07T10:27:00.000+01:00

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
What was Levi like? The record of his conversion is short, but makes sense in context. The obvious question is why did Levi follow Jesus? He had not been inside the house where Jesus was. He remained outside, a miserable Jewish collaborator, the lowest of the low, manning his tax booth. This was not an impulsive man, eager to rub shoulders with everyone else. Levi sat.

Even when he saw the crowds who had come to hear Jesus, he stayed in his booth. Why would this man, simply hearing the words "Follow me", get up, leave everything and follow him? Levi did not leave everything when the crowds came. He just let them get on with it. Levi did not expect to be part of the action. He sat apart. What changed?

Inside the house, Jesus healed a paralysed man. "Rise, pick up your bed and go home," Jesus said - so he did. On his way out, this paralysed man walked past the tax collector. We know this because Jesus also, when he left the building, "went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth".

What had Levi seen? There was already a crowd when the paralysed man arrived, stretchered there by his entourage. They could not get in to see Jesus, and the man was there for a while, waiting as they readied whatever tools and ropes they needed to break through the roof and lower their friend into the place where Jesus was. What were these fools doing? A while later he saw the man leaving and carrying his bed, praising God. But even at this point, he sat at his booth.

What would you have done in Levi's place? I would have wanted to know how this had happened. But even if Levi did not ask, he heard this man glorifying God - speaking of Jesus as God's agent. Maybe he did ask, who knows?

If he had asked, and if anyone had answered him, he would have heard this - that Jesus explicitly healed the man so that people could "know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins". But still Levi sat there.

How do we explain Levi's impulsive decision? He got up, left his booth, and followed the man who could give him what he needed. Forgiveness of sins. He was no longer powerless to change. Here it was: the power and the will to forgive. If he had that, he could leave his booth. But when did he get it? The power came when Jesus himself said to him, "Follow me". He went from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus. He heard the direct call of God on his life. God creates what he commands.

Psalm 86: 12

2011-05-16T18:09:00.000+01:00

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.

Why did Jesus die? I believe there are two primary and overarching reasons, but behind even these is one truth: God is great. Jesus died, because God is great. Likewise, Jesus was resurrected because God is great.

The first reason Jesus died was to glorify God, and the other was to enable us to glorify God too. In a sense, all the other reasons are subcategories of these reasons. From the outset, however, I submit that what I have written so far is unintelligible to those who are not Christians. Most people do not appreciate that it was necessary for Jesus to become an atoning substitutionary sacrifice, so they can not get to the point of seeing the glorification of God for what it is: the normal, necessary and natural response to who God is, for those who truly know him.

Unless we see that Jesus had to die, and die in our place, having lived the perfect human life that we ought to have lived, then we are kept from seeing how glory comes into it. We have no language of glory if we do not know God.

We may not even approach the fringes of conceptualisation when it comes to the thought-category: “God and his glory”. There is no framework of reference through which we may attain to a knowledge of “God the glorious”, except that God gives it to his creatures. God is unapproachably exogenous in His glory: the very heavens declare his glory, just as the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Knowledge of Him is not a right for the creature, but a gift to the creature. In other words, we know God only if He reveals Himself to us. Through common grace, we can have a sense, vague though it may be, of God's being powerful and eternal, divine in nature, but the utter holy transcendence of God escapes us. So little does it register, that “god” does not even frighten us. “God” is not holy. “God” is domesticated in our imaginations. “God” is there? Where? I don't see him...

The story of Uzzah is an example of this. It shows what happens when we attempt to domesticate God, to thrust ourselves uncovered into the presence of the Almighty:

David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. And David was angry because the Lord had burst forth against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day...

The reason we do not see that we are lost sinners who have fallen into the hands of the living God is because we think in terms of individual sins: little things we shouldn't have done. Petty iniquities, or even manifest wrongs we certainly recognise, but are we so bad? - Surely not, we tell ourselves...
But such individual sins (of commission) are only symptoms. The real disease is the failure always to glorify the blessed God, and to make Him and Him alone the central joy of our lives. The majority of sins are sins of omission: the opportunity to commit these is endless, but a thief can only steal so much, a liar can only tell so many lies, and a murderer will soon run out of live bodies to kill.

Adam sinned by not intervening when Eve was being led astray, so God called to Adam first, to ask: “Where are you?” and “Who told you that you were naked?” Passivity is sinful: God did not create us to be neutral towards Him.

When we don't enjoy God, by giving Him glory, we act as if we are not made by and for God. We de-god God, excessively enjoying the blessings of God at the expense of the God of the blessings. We contradict God by living as if His idea of what our lives are for is wrong. He has made His views on our purpose quite clear in his law: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. When we do not love God that way, we make Him out to be a fool and a liar. If God says we are for one thing and we say we are for another, we throw God from his seat of judgement, and we thrust ourselves into his chair. We point our lives at created things, and fail to give the Creator his place.

But hang on. If we treat Him like that, won't we come up against Him in His terrible realness? Won't He have something to say about it? What will He do to us, when He finds us stealing from Him? (Since we have no life but what He gave us, we owe Him our very selves: do we pay what we owe? Can we withhold what we owe from God? Will God be cheated?)

This is the human condition, and we are so steeped in it, we can't see it. This is depravity. What does it mean? Certainly it means that where the circumstances are propitious, we will commit sins which have terrible consequences within this fallen world. (Just as a glass window will shatter, when a brick is applied.) But that is not the worst part of it. The most significant implication is that we are unable even to repent, unless God gives us the gift of repentance. The problem is this: only God can show us how far we have fallen. And even our repentance is inadequate.

But now we come to the second Adam. The one who was not passive. If we know God only if He reveals Himself to us, then we must look at Jesus as the communication that says what God wants to say. God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, the Word on the street, had to live life properly for us. Even John the baptist did not understand: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus identifies with us in water baptism: “Let it be so now” he says, “for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Birth, bath and burial.

This is what it means that the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. We are so lost, we must be sought for before we may be saved. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire, where it belongs. But Jesus was baptised for us, and the Father and the Spirit approved.

Then he had another baptism to undergo, and how great was his distress until it was accomplished! But he finished it, for the glory set before him.

God is great, and does wondrous things. He alone is God. The psalmist says:

Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Exodus 3: 1-6

2011-04-19T16:46:00.000+01:00

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Moses took a look. He knew that a bush could either burn or it could continue to grow. But here was a bush doing both. Boom! Off the beaten track for Moses.

Moses heard a voice calling him. He knew that either God had called him out of his path with emotional intensity, or He told him not to come near. That made as much sense as a bush that was on fire but not burned up. Boom!

Moses was turned towards God by these contradictions. They did not contradict reality, only what Moses believed about reality.

Atheistic people believe that we are merely atoms. They believe that this (look around you) is all there is. They sometimes lose faith in their position when they discover that this inevitably implies that there are no such things as:

true absolute morality,

(genocide isn't always wrong)

substantial beauty,

(the Grand Canyon is just rocks)

genuine value,

(people don't matter)

eternal spirituality,

(dying makes no difference, funerals are pointless)

real love,

(it's chemical imbalances in the brain, or self-interest)

objective goodness,

(because who cares what you do?)

dependable truths about justice and injustice,

(all truth claims are just power plays)

reliable hope,

(death is the end so nothing you do matters)

satisfactory meaning,

(it's all an accident; we're an unhappy juxtaposition of molecules)

The reason for this loss of faith is simple: working out of the premise that there is no God and no reason to believe in the things that we all believe in makes it seem strange that we still feel that life ought to involve morality, beauty, value, spirituality, love, goodness, justice, hope, meaning. I say it's an unsatisfactory premise. It is impossible to explain the human experience without reference to God. Unpalatable and unfashionable though it may be to say that God is real, and that He provides the existential and intellectual integration for human experiences, I am afraid to say that it is true. This means that, like Moses, we need to fear.

Psalm 127: 1

2011-03-27T15:08:00.000+01:00

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.

The house is the enterprise, the society. God is utterly sovereign.

Lamentations 3: 27-33

2011-02-23T10:49:00.002Z

It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; let him put his mouth in the dust - there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the one who strikes and let him be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off for ever, but though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.

Have you ever been afraid of being found out? Do your prayers go: "Lord, please cover up for me. Don't let people see?" Do not pray for this kind of help believing that God has an obligation to do what you ask, because God will allow a measure of discipline appropriate to the development of your character. Rather, hope in the Lord, and make him your lot, whatever he decides to do about your "secret" sins. He disciplines the ones he loves. Nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light.

If the things you want to keep hidden come to light, who will you trust then? The God who causes grief does not willingly cause it.

The steadfast love of the lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness!

Romans 6: 16

2011-02-18T16:10:00.001Z

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

It turns out that Bob Dylan was right.

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

So it's not sin we have as our master. That's the way of death, and our baptism into Christ signifies not just burial, but bath and new birth. Christians are under new management. Our new kind of existence is about becoming increasingly holy. But what if we long for the "free" cucumbers of Egypt?

That's the trouble: the freedom of our new identity is not forced on us, because that is not what God is like. He wants obedient sons who recognise the goodness of His way and follow it because of who He is, out of love.

Now, if the prospect of life-and-not-death is insufficiently attractive - then consider life in the light of the gospel. Paul calls the gospel "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes".

Why is it the power? In this good news, God has revealed his own righteousness - that is why it is powerful. The gospel is powerful because of the great goodness, justice, grace and love that are in God. The good news that God has given us Jesus in flesh and in spirit to atone for our sins and to offer newness of life is powerful indeed in lives which receive the news with gratitude. How could I want anything else? How can I give my life to serve anything or anyone else after I have seen what this God has done, what this God is like?

He has condemned sin in Jesus' body, taking the punishment due to me on himself! He has lived-out a life of perfect compassion, perfect love, perfect grace, perfect wisdom and perfect goodness. And he offers that kind of life to me, imputing to me His own perfection in the face of my failures. This is too amazing to neglect or to reject - I have to fix my life on the God who would do such a thing because He considers me worth doing it for. What a verdict! How could anything else compete with this news? If you don't know it's true, isn't there a part of you that wants it to be?

Exodus 20: 5

2011-02-17T11:24:00.000Z

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

This is the story throughout the bible: God is slow to get angry, but he will not clear the guilty. In the good ordering of the universe, sins have consequences. God would not reign if they did not. But what does it mean that He visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children? The word “visits” is tricky, since in other instances it is translated in a variety of ways. The most problematic translation is perhaps “punishing”.

The question often asked is: should God punish the children for the wrongs of the fathers? Is that even what the verse says God will do? If it were, it should be against the teaching of the rest of the bible. In Ezekiel 18:20, for example, this is the verdict:

“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

And if that were not sufficiently clear, Jeremiah 31:30 says:

“…Everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.”

Job’s testimony (Job 19:4) is in agreement:

“And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.”

Yet there is a sense in which the sins of the father do punish the children. If a father rejects God’s way and leads his family in sin, the children will suffer the consequences, often for several generations. Is it God’s fault? It would be difficult to consider God to be gracious, if He did not limit the effects of sins. But look at the trajectory of the verse. That is exactly what he does! God is jealous for his children. He wants us to be His alone, so the idolatry of the fathers is not allowed to punish every subsequent generation of children. God restricts the effects of their misplaced service to three or four generations. Sins matter in living memory. This is why there are cartoons which joke about the depredations of the Vikings but no newspaper syndicates gags about the gas chambers.

In the ancient near east there was evidently a tradition of punishing the children for the sins of the fathers. The guidance in Deuteronomy condemns the process: “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”

In the story of Abraham’s priestly wrangle with God over Sodom, we see for the first time the principle in reverse.

“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Whereas in those days the guilt of one man was felt to be enough to condemn his neighbours - for who learns to be wholly guilty without the collusion of their society? - Abraham argued that the righteousness of the few might cover over the guilt of the many. And God, who shows steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love Him and keep His commandments, agreed. Ultimately, that agreement led to the suffering of his Christ, because God is jealous for us, and will not clear the guilty, and because sins have consequences, and because grace, though freely offered, is not cheap.

Mark 2: 1-5

2011-02-04T15:19:00.001Z

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

These are the verses that get glossed-over in this section of Mark's gospel. The whole incident, as it is recorded, shows that Jesus, just as he can heal, is able to forgive sins. In fact, Jesus' own point is that he forgives sins. The end of the passage relates the scribes' reception of his claim - "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

These verses, however, establish something crucial within the context of Mark's account: Jesus did not consider preaching to be peripheral. Certainly, it is important to recognise Jesus as being of equal status with God, but moving from that central truth, we can examine its implications and discover something of God's priorities.

The crowd that had gathered, came because they knew this man was able to cure people of their diseases. That is what Mark means when he writes: "And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men." They were there for the cure. They had not come to hear the preaching.

They had come because a leper whom previously Jesus had healed, disobeyed his strict order, and spread news of his cure all around. The crowd either wanted to see him heal people, or to be healed themselves. Of course, Jesus knew what the result of his generosity to the leper might be, and how it would lead to restricted mobility, to fame and to difficulties in preaching the word. But yet, he healed the leper.

There is another thing to notice here. Just as he emphasised forgiveness to the paralytic, so he had with the leper. He sent the man away to make the offerings that the law required. The law about this is spelled out in Leviticus 14, and it required the priest to kill the lamb of the guilt offering. Jesus linked healing to forgiveness. The healing was the occasion of the man's learning about forgiveness.

What is most instructive is this: Jesus did not just heal the paralytic. Here, in the presence of faith, Jesus offers forgiveness of sins before physical healing. The delay created tension. Notice, after all, the trouble the friends had gone to! They met together to fetch their paralytic friend. They carried him (who knows how far?) to the house on his mat. They broke-in through the roof, and lowered him down. They clearly planned it to the extent of going back to fetch the necessary tools to do the work when it became clear that they could not get in any other way than through the roof tiles. But all the while, Jesus preached. What did they want? Why did they go to all this trouble? They wanted their friend to walk. Did Jesus stretch out his hand straight away, and cure the man? No - he forgives him first. Physical cure is tangential to forgiveness. Where there is faith, Jesus forgives sins. Jesus is the one who blots out our transgressions for his own sake, and he will not remember our sins.

Colossians 3: 1-3

2011-02-01T15:51:00.002Z

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The North American periodic cicada spends seventeen years under the ground. It subsists on sap, using its long snout to eat, and creates tunnels for itself along which it moves when it has to. It spends its life alone and in the dark. In its larval state, it is encased in a dry shell skin which it discards only when it reaches maturity. Once it emerges above ground, it discovers a huge number of other mature cicadas, who have all surfaced at the same time, in June, seventeen years after they were born. The males begin to sing, seeking out a mate, beating two skin membranes on their abdomens to ring out their presence. They are wonderfully coloured creatures, born into a new orange-flecked body, with wings.

Matthew 19: 16-22

2010-12-15T01:36:00.000Z

A man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

What good must I do? But Jesus tells him what evil not to do.(As if he could do anything good, anyway! - Without faith, how can anyone please God? What is "good" that does not please God?)

Which commands to keep? But consider the commands Jesus leaves out. “Have no other gods before me” had lost its force? By no means!

What do I lack? Jesus says he only lacks perfection. He is fine apart from not being fine. He's good apart from being evil.

Jesus has the answer, though: come, follow me.

Just get rid of all that other rubbish first. That would be a good deed to do. In whose power was it to accomplish?

This young man had made for himself an image in the form of something in heaven above and in the form of some things on the earth beneath. He had bowed down to them and worshipped them, even though the Lord God is a jealous God.

Who can be saved? With God all things are possible. Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for Jesus' name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Matthew 15: 1-9

2010-12-15T00:51:00.001Z

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

I write this in December, more convinced than ever that Christmas can be a bit of a turkey.

Let's worship Christ, not Christmas.

Matthew 1: 21

2010-12-07T19:13:00.004Z

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Jesus, the Hebrew name "Joshua". It derives from the words meaning "God saves".

Isaiah 44:3

2010-12-06T21:17:00.001Z

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

This passage runs parallel to Ezekiel 36 and John 3, and helps to explain what Jesus means by the new birth.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

1 John 1: 5

2010-11-29T22:57:00.005Z

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Magritte's pipe is an image of the medium transcending the message. Might it be that John is involved in something similar, here? The "him" that John speaks of is, after all, Jesus, the logic for everything; Jesus the reason, the word. He has a message. He transmits to us. He guides our thoughts, which is what communication is. But is the medium not more than the message?

So what was Jesus' message if His very life was the medium? The goodness of God was the message. To know Jesus, what he did, and why he did it, consider this goodness of God. The way Jesus lived was consonant with this truth - that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. This God is - alone - worth praising.

It is true that John's letter is all about love, and fellowship and truth, and all the other good things made possible for God's family through the cleansing from sin offered by Jesus. But the reason that anyone would want it is this: God is good. God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. God is the gospel.

Nobody who nitty-grittys the business of studying the bible, or serving in the church, or who begins to pursue prayer or fasting, or who takes deliberate "alone-time" with God, or who pursues any other spiritual development programme gets very far with it, unless he has an idea of God's goodness. Only if God is good and really good in your soul, will you want to pursue Him with your mind, body and time. Has He given you the grace to know of His forgiveness and His goodness? The fact that you know of His goodness may be taken as a sign that He is reaching out to you. Indeed, He has spread His arms wide, and had them nailed expansively open. The grace that initiates you into His presence, keeps you there.

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.

Psalm 112: 4

Genesis 2:18

2010-11-14T23:25:00.003Z

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Eden, before the fall. Everything is good. Good and very good. But not everything - something is wrong! God fixes it. So here we have a pattern for history, but not for eternity.

This verse speaks of God's plan for friendship, community, sex, love and so on. But behind that, there is an important truth about who God is, that is worth exploring before going in to what He did. This narrative permits us to think about why He did it, and what kind of thing it is He did. Before we use it to discover what we are, we might use it to find out about God. Indeed, since we are made "in his image", the narrative intends that we should discover who we are by discovering whose we are.

History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. The pattern of divine action which we see here obtains, in fact, throughout history: God allows something not good, but moves in to make it good. Christians will now, of course, think of Christ, the supreme example of this. But (to make the case from a few examples) consider also Abraham, blessed out of turn, at the point of no hope. Terah worshiped the moon, and Sarah was old and barren. But he was given the gift of faith, and the covenant which Christ fulfilled. Or think of Moses: also old and exiled, but God's instrument for exodus, and given the law, which Christ fulfilled! Or think of David: the shepherd boy who became a king, a man after God's own heart, a saviour for his people. What was he, but a pattern of the true shepherd king, whose devotion could not swerve: who lost his life to save his flock? Who could fail to fear such a God? What horror to lose such goodness!

What we see here is the first recorded instance of how God's ordering is perfect. In the account, for example, God made the home and then put people into it. Homelessness was never in the design. The narrative of creation is a story of sorting. God separated the light from the darkness. He separated the waters from the waters. He separated the day from the night. God made things as they ought to be made.

The point of God's rest on the seventh day was that He had "finished his work". In other words, He had done exactly everything of what ought to have been done. His expansive personality had expressed itself as it ought to have done. I repeat the point to drive it home. Ought! This is the divine ought, not the human ought. Alles in ordnung! Tutto a posto! Todo bien! Hakol b'seder...

He had been gracious, he had been creative, he had been righteous, and the acts of righteousness which demanded his will to act, He completed. We experience this completed act from within, during the surge of creation, and may only rest, experiencing His peace, if He, from His unboundable present, touches us with His sabbath.

I affirm that He does so, and, although I can not explain the experience, or articulate it, can testify to its truth.

Malachi 4: 2

2010-10-16T16:29:00.000+01:00

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?”

Jesus felt the prophecy being fulfilled. The word of power went out from himself. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” She expressed her faith in him as messiah by reaching for the wings of his garment. God healed her even as she exhibited desperate faith.

Daniel 7: 9

2010-10-07T16:31:00.002+01:00

As I looked,

thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.

There was a time when meadow, grove and stream
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Appareled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore; -
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

Wordsworth lamented it without nostalgia: he was growing old. His present joy had been swallowed-up by the ravenous about-the-terrible-future thinking in which adults indulge. Nobody has present joys whose mind is bent in knots of grim imagination. The Ancient of Days, by my reckoning, is much younger than us, lives in unbounded immediacy, and is more present than we can be, even when we, as children, live in the now.

Is anyone unimpressed who thinks of Him sitting down on flames? The judge is pure, and his fire is burning. God has style. It's the style of substance.

Exodus 1: 17, 21; 20:20

2010-09-16T22:00:00.002+01:00

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”

The fear of the Lord, which Moses brought to the Israelites, was the very thing that saved him from the death that the Pharaoh had in mind for him.

To fear is an inescapable part of the normal human condition. The object of that fear is rightly God, who alone should not be crossed, and for good reason. To fear any other object is to confer on it a disproportionate status, to de-god God, and to sin. The integrity of a person depends on an unwillingness to anger God, to usurp His prerogatives, to fail to meet His standards, and to arrogate His glory. Nobody will sin, who fears God at all times. The midwives preferred to treat as sacred, the life which God had ordained, than to treat as disposable the life which Pharaoh had despised.

More than that, however, the fear of the Lord is a positive thing, because of God's character. God is love, and therefore to fear him is to act in step with his loving character. The midwives feared God, and let the children live. They loved the children, and God gave them children to love.

In this fallen world, the fear of the Lord, which keeps us from sin, is a necessary negative. The law of God tests us. We, who have been justified, will one day be glorified, and will not require to be restrained from sin, for our bodies will not have any desire to sin. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly-burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

Habakkuk 1: 6

2010-08-27T19:51:00.001+01:00

I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

In the oracle of Habakkuk, the prophet complains to God. He is appalled at violence and strife. Those in charge of his country perverted justice. He asked the "Why?" question, that fundamental on which so many nowadays get stuck. What an answer he got.

People who have dismissed God, feeling that he has no answer to give to the "Why?" question, should read what he said to Habakkuk.

"Why aren't you doing something about it", is what the prophet meant, when he asked "Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?" He called God idle.

If you don't remember (or have never heard) what God replied, it is worth having a read through the whole oracle.

Yes, things are bad. I'll raise up the Nazis, and they will kill and destroy. Except, not Nazis. Chaldeans. But vile fascists nonetheless. Is God weird? Surprising? He certainly thought so. "Be amazed," he says. "You won't believe this."

It is important to know this about the God that the Bible depicts: He is angry, he is judgmental and he is jealous. So consider this: If you were making up a God to suit yourself, would you make him any of these things?

I suggest it is important to know about these three attributes of God first of all, precisely because they, more than the things we admire about God - his love, or his wisdom and grace for example - suggest that this God is not imaginary. God is not God if he can't surprise you.

If you dwell on the fact that God is real, it rather helps when you come to pray to him. To dwell on the uncompromising facts of his reality is, in some senses, the nearest approach to ultimate reality that anyone can make, in fact. You are idle, charges the prophet. No I am not, replies God.

But how do we do this - what is it to dwell on such uncompromising attributes? It is a mistake to think of the words used to describe God as pure anthropomorphisms. The error is to think in human terms of attributes associated with God. That is, if God is jealous, he is exactly what jealousy should be, not what it is when we embody it. He is jealous, wanting his people for himself, which is what we were made (by him) for. He hates anything that takes us away from him. He hates it because it is evil in itself, and because it mistreats us, and robs us of joy. This jealousy is not petty.

Similarly, if God is angry, his whole being is enraged against anything which dares to threaten what should be loved, honoured and cherished. When we are angry, it is only because someone has irritated us, more often than not, or because we need more sleep. We feel anger at violations of our will, as does God, but the difference is that his will should not ever be violated. There is no caprice there, only perfection.

When we judge, we do so without even half the facts. He has all the facts, and an unerring perspective on the way things should be. He is the plumb line, the gold standard, the yardstick, the benchmark. What are we? We are lumber-headed idiots, pronouncing on things we know nothing about. Speaking for myself, anyway. Are you any better placed than I am?

No place so sacred from such fops is barr'd,
Nor is Paul's Church more safe than Paul's church-yard:
Nay, fly to altars; there they'll talk you dead;
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. -Alexander Pope

But Habakkuk was given to see God's ultimate purposes, and vowed to hold on. He saw that God went out for the salvation of his people, for the salvation of his anointed. He foresaw the head of the house of the wicked crushed, and laid bare from thigh to neck. God was the prophet's strength and his joy: he took joy in the God of his salvation. The same joy is what Christians have, because we have known the great and noble saviour, and we believe in him.

Matthew 5: 4

2010-08-27T18:39:00.002+01:00

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

When Jesus included this amazing statement of hope in the sermon on the mount, he changed a certain sort of grief for ever.

People grieve in shock, denial, anger, and a sense of violation, similar to fear. The theme of Stephen King's best selling novel “Pet Sematary” is the unconscionable hell of uncontextualisable grief. In the story, there is no normalization of feelings: encouraging expression and review is meaningless, when there is no answer to death. The characters experience serious restrictions in their social capacities – becoming withdrawn, disengaged, unable and unwilling to love.

The most dramatic moment in the novel, apart from its gruesome ending, is the outburst of outrage uttered by Ellie, a little girl who rebels at the prospect of her cat, Churchill's death.

“I don't want Church to be like all those dead pets!” she burst out, suddenly tearful and furious. “I don't want Church to ever be dead. He's my cat! He's not God's cat! Let God have his own cat! Let God have all the damn old cats He wants, and kill them all! Church is mine!”

Her father has no answer for her, other than to suggest that death is natural. He can no more say Churchill is God's cat, than Stephen King can.

“Honey,” he said, “it happens. It's a part of life.”
“It's a bad part!” she cried. “It's a really bad part!”
There was no answer for this. She wept. Eventually, he supposed, her tears would stop. It was a necessary first step on the way to making an uneasy peace with a truth that was never going to go away.

Notice the despair in the narrative voice, here. “There was no answer for this.” Real life is often every bit as horrible as the horror novel. What makes death worse is the crippling guilt that accompanies the death of someone who was not so loved or cherished as they should have been. Such grief inhibits and depresses, depersonalizing people, generating sadness, listlessness and loss of interest in the world. I have seen people unable and unwilling even to talk, seeking out the punishment of darkness and isolation, making a lonely situation more lonely by exacerbating the changes (sometimes inevitable changes) to eating and sleeping patterns brought about by the death. “Normal” becomes abnormal: routines become appreciably different, difficult and are destroyed. The escapes of drugs, alcohol, food, sex: any number of promiscuities become therapeutic, masking the pain. When Jesus declares: “They shall be comforted” - he ends the violence of death. He takes the crisis out of the crisis. He declares that there has been no violation. The context of death is that those who mourn shall be comforted. Of course, death is not natural. Nothing should die. Christ has and is the answer for this problem.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Isaiah 66: 1-2

2010-07-27T18:20:00.008+01:00

Thus says the Lord:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

---

"You're only saying that to me because I'm black," he said.
"No I'm not. That's not true" I said.
(Because he wasn't black.)

- - - from a comedy routine by Sean Locke

Is this passage in Isaiah a non-sequitur?
"I made heaven and earth, so how could you be up to the task of building me a house? I'll look to the humble and contrite."

It may seem like the second statement has nothing to do with the first, but if we try to make them run together as a united idea, it can be done without too much trouble. The unspoken link between them is: "the attitude of heart with which people approach God". Lord help me to tremble at your word, because you know the pride of my heart.

People who are humble and contrite recognise that they alienate themselves from God. They know that they are unable to worship Him, let alone establish any kind of temple of praise. They understand what C.S. Lewis meant when he wrote of man's search for God being like the mouse's search for the cat.

On the other hand, self-appointed temple-builders, those who offer up more and greater sacrifices, those who consider that they are doing God a great honour by honouring God: such as those can have nothing to do with Him. Such are wicked and proud. They were in a hole but decided to dig a trench.

In fact, the logic of the first statements makes sense of the grace, authority and magnanimity of the second. The God who has heaven and earth as his throne and footstool: this God promises succour - he deigns to look on the one who fears his word. God defies the logistics of containment. Nobody deserves his favour: he owes nobody anything.

God is disposed to rebuke and to reassure. We have already encountered this theme in Isaiah (Isaiah 57: 15).

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
"I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

In that passage, God concentrated on his holiness. Out of that eternal exaltation, he is willing to correct, discipline, restore, bring to life and give peace to the lowly and contrite. The verses under consideration here are the preamble of a rebuke for the proud - the wicked for whom there is no peace.

Restoration to one group, destruction to the other: the theme is beloved of the psalmists, and the prophets:

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34: 18

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51: 17

He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147: 3

I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. Ezekiel 34: 16

In that day, declares the LORD,
I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away
and those whom I have afflicted. Micah 4: 6

It is not until the new testament that we see how God intended to do it. Jesus made this a central part of his mission on earth: to bind the broken-hearted, and to bring good news to the poor.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Matthew 5: 3-4

"But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18: 13-14

In an essay against flamboyant religiosity, Charles Spurgeon once wrote that, "to invent our own forms of worship is to insult God". His point was that God, being Spirit, seeks worshippers who acknowledge His worth in spirit and in truth. How can we do that, unless God enables us? Lord help us to tremble at your word, because you know the pride of our hearts.

Psalm 52

2010-07-06T17:20:00.006+01:00

Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.

But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
The righteous shall see and fear,
and shall laugh at him, saying,
“See the man who would not make
God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!”

But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.

Today's newspapers contain the story of a fugitive who, on release from prison, shot his former lover and murdered her new partner. Raoul Moat also shot a policeman, PC David Rathband, who is now in hospital. In a note, the killer pledged that he would continue murdering policemen until he was killed himself. He believes that the world is better arranged such that he ends up dead, and men, through his agency, end up looking like this:

The episode which elicited this psalm from David was an evil act of treachery and opportunism. Doeg the Edomite saw a chance to win favour with the unstable, paranoid, murderous king Saul, and took it. He had to murder a whole village full of innocent men, along with their children and wives, but he reckoned it was worthwhile. He had to betray David, lie to the king, and speak to sow discord between the king and his son, but not of these things were matters of account in his eyes.

There is often someone who scruples little to take advantage of his fellow men. Doeg was one such. The ravings of a paranoid king - a desperate man breathing out murderous threats - he took to be his path to advancement. Such men are convinced in their own mind that the way of brutality is better than the way of peace.

They believe that they conceal their underhand ways by acting only at an opportune time, but the truth about their character is not hidden before men of discernment. David knew what Doeg was like. He knew he sought refuge in his own destruction.

In the psalm, David contrasts Doeg's way with his own. He is quite clear about the justice and righteousness of God. This justice and righteousness, ultimately, punishes and rewards. It punishes headstrong, determined unbelief and rewards unwavering faith. It guarantees the triumph of good against the assaults of evil. It promises the redemption and restoration that makes all things new.

Micah 5:4, John 17

2010-06-07T00:07:00.009+01:00

And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

Security comes through being a part of Christ's flock. Security is having a shepherd whose strength is the strength of the Lord.

My security is that he has the majesty of the name of the Lord his God: the name he exposed to me, as it were in obedience, in the glory of obedience, mitigated through servanthood, humanity and death. Through this death I dwell secure. I live through this death. Oh sheep! The lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need. Let me take you to a time when he prayed for his sheep.

His theme is glory. So that his sheep can still hear him, Jesus once prayed aloud. He included us as silent partners in his conversation. It was an appropriate thing to do, since he celebrated the glory of knowing God, and being known by Him. Appropriate, but also important; he is the means and mediation by which God is even still made known to us.

He, the Son, must be glorified in order that he may glorify God - this describes the relationship. Jesus does not seek his own glory selfishly, but in order that he might glorify the Father. One inference to draw is that he, in his body on earth, lacked glory. For his disciples, Jesus acknowledges that, before time, he was with God in glory! He came from a glory missing to his body on earth, even though, amongst us, his was the agency of glory to God: his work and obedience.

This prayed-for return to glory ultimately incorporates amazing things like love and unity. At the outset, however, he requested glory in order to glorify God. See here the Jesus that the hymn writer praises, who "emptied himself of all but love"!

Crucially, Jesus considered his work and mission - his very obedience to death - in terms of glory. The word signifies ineffable weight, importance, majesty, ultimateness, perfection. From where else, but from the Father, could this glory come? But what a surprising thing: it is the glory of giving the gift of eternal life to people: it is a glory to God, and for Jesus, but it is the saving of our souls!

All souls? No. His sheep receive this gift, but others do not. The "haves" are those who have been given to the Son by the Father: the disciples, in the first instance, and, in the second instance, anyone who believes through the word that was given first to the disciples. The implication is that the "have nots" have not been given to the Son by the Father and do not receive this gift. Some people are excluded from eternal life. Eternal life is not a right, but a gift. Is God capricious? Or are some more deserving of the gift? By no means! The distinction is not in believing but in belonging. He shepherds his flock. His flock.

He even says explicitly: "I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours." Belonging precedes belief. The distinction between those who believe and those who do not believe is implicitly the distinction between those who belong to God and those who do not belong to God. But in what sense do any people not belong to God? God made all people, and we are inescapably His!

Ah - but there is a way in which people who do not know God do not belong to him. People can be "of the world" and can deny the truth about Jesus. That is, they can never be God's, even though God might long for them. They do not long for him.

In Jesus' story, the rich man wanted Lazarus to bring him water. Did he want to leave his place of torment? In fact, he merely longed for a return to the days of his ease, no matter what it cost Lazarus. Abraham was also his "father", and addressed him not with vitriol, but as "child". Abraham explained the separation to him in terms of a fixed chasm.

Perhaps the chasm is fixed to stop the exploitation of those whose lives had been hard enough?

People "in the world" have not been given to Jesus "out of the world". In that sense, they never were God's and they never were given to Jesus, and they never kept God's word.

Sheep and goats look much of a muchness on the far hillside. Only up-close can they be separated. They are not separated based on worth, but on the basis of type, something over which they have no control. Wheat and tares grow together, in the same soil. Wheat is wanted, weeds are only good for the fire. An enemy sowed the weeds. The job of sifting through the wheat and the tares is God's. God knows his own harvest.

The question "Why do some people not receive this gift?" seems tangentially related to the nature of the life that Jesus prayed about. Eternal life actually consists in knowing the only true God, and Jesus as His messiah: the one anointed in the Spirit and sent to do the works of God. That is, those who are not to be blessed with the gift of eternal life are not blessed with the gift of knowing the only true God. These sheep are not kept in the majesty of the Name.

Neither do they believe that Jesus has been sent by God, nor that Christians are also sent out by Jesus. Some people do not want to know him, and certainly do not wish to be sent out anywhere for any purpose. And they do not wish to know Jesus the messiah sent by the Father, and indwelt by the Spirit, either. It is important to consider the word Christ as a title, rather than a name, because the Spirit is in the title, as much as he was when Jesus was baptised and transfigured.

The important thing that Jesus prays about glory is that, on the basis of the completeness of his work on earth, God is glorified through the son. He speaks of completing his work in two ways: "the hour has come" and "I have accomplished the work you gave me". The reason the hour has come, is that the works of God have been worked by his messiah, his son, Jesus. Whatever Jesus did, he worked to bring glory to God. In his works, he completed obedience, since he was charged with their accomplishment. His duties completed, Jesus calls for the glory he had in God's presence. That is, he asks God to return him to the glory of which he emptied himself in obedience to his Father's will.

The passage that enlightens Jesus' prayer is in the letter to the Philippians, where Paul charts Christ's great descent and ascent from and to glory in a rhapsody of praise.

Jesus prayed to discuss the manner of his obedience. He declared that he has borne the name of God - and surely by "name" here, he implies "the character and likeness" - manifesting it to this group whom the Father gave him.

An obvious question is "how, or in what way did he manifest God's name?" This is crucial! It is nothing less than the difference between "knowing about" and "knowing" God. Jesus is the means by which we may know God. How? It has to do with words. His act of obedience was to give the words that God gave him, so that the redeemed, destined to eternal life, receive them.

But what is meant by "receive" in this context? Clearly, this is something quite different to passing-on merely human messages! If I say things like: "let there be light", I had better be beside a light switch when I do. Yet, as one in whom God's image lives, even some of my words have a mitigated kind of earthly power. "I hate you" can destroy, and "I love you" can move a heart. Throughout scripture, the works of God are accomplished by the words of God, so to speak of passing-on God's words is to speak of the raw creative power that separated light from dark, day from night, morning from evening, and so on. In this case, it is also to speak creative power.

The rest of the gospel of John shows that the words of Jesus - understood in terms of the creative and restorative power of God - were spoken in accents of Christ's action. Not for nothing is Jesus spoken of as "the word made flesh".

In what way did Christ manifest God's name? Through receiving the word, the new birth happens. God creates what he commands and commands what he creates. These words, again, were not Jesus' own words, but the words of the Father. Words of power, and a gift from God! Receiving them, the very people whom God had given Jesus out of the world came to know that he came from God. They came to know truth. Knowing truth, they became believers: believers believe one critical thing - that God sent Jesus, which is true. Belief in his "sentness" is shorthand for an overarching conviction about his character and likeness: believers grasp that Jesus is like the Father, though in flesh, and in the glory of obedience only. That is, belief in Jesus is implicitly a belief in his authority over all flesh. What kind of authority? An authority to give eternal life, and to pass on the knowledge of the only true God.

But Jesus prayed down glory, and he spoke of his people, whom he has made God's people! He considers his people to be his glory. The prophet Isaiah had a similar thing to say in the 53rd chapter:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.

That is, Jesus sees his own people and is satisfied because in them he is glorified. The crushed Jesus is satisfied with us.

"All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them."

The language is of the dance: a sharing, a partaking, and an exultation. If I heard God say, "I would do anything for you", the cross would incline me to believe it. When Jesus consecrated himself, he did it for our sake. The word is "hagiazo" - he sanctified himself, set himself apart in holiness for us.

But what precisely did he ask the father to do? Did he ask God to remove his people from the earth, so that they may no longer suffer? Does he wish for them to be translated into heavenly bodies? In fact, the first thing he asks God is to keep them, in his name.

But what is it to be kept in God's name? Names are more than monikers. Just as God's words are powerful, and inexpressibly more so than ours, so his name is special and transcendentally more so than ours. In fact, to speak of his name is to speak of names in a different way. The category "name" on earth discerns a shadow of the substance which is hallowed in Heaven. His name, the reality that identifies His holy, sublime character - worth, goodness, life, mystery, wonder, aseity, mercy, peace, joy, love and more besides: this name is what keeps us.

Now Jesus prays for God to unite his flock. Whilst he is in God's presence, he is not there to unite his believers on earth. But of course, he did a limited job of that anyway: keeping them in God's name through prayer and teaching. No wonder he said that it was better for them that he should go to be with the Father. How could there be a church of more than eleven, if he had stayed in a body and on earth?

The Spirit, sent to his church, is a Spirit of unity. We are united in joy. He asked God for us to possess Christ's own joy. To his disciples, Jesus made much of the joy that comes from knowing that your name is written in heaven. No wonder: the things of the world are passing, but that joy will go on going on, and in increasing, unmitigated measurelessness.

Suffering does happen here, but Christ prayed that those who are his might be kept from the evil one. The prayer of Christ is that we rejoice in suffering. (Not "because of" suffering, and not "in spite of" suffering, but in it.) The joy that is set before us makes it meaningful to suffer for Christ's sake. We shall dwell secure.

This, in fact, is most of what it means to be "made holy in the truth, which is God's word". There is an increasing sanctification through satisfaction in his sufficiency, admiration of the accomplishment of the Scripture, and the indwelling joy of Christ. This is what it means that Christ prays for sanctification in the truth: he asks God to make us holy in the truth, which is his word.

To use the word "holy" here is to think in transcendent terms. It is not enough to say that holy means "set apart", for the same reason that to speak of a lion as being "not like a mouse" is not enough... The truth is substantial, just as the word, which is God's word, is powerful and great: big enough to withstand and to break anything that the world should throw at it.

Into the world we go - just as God sent Jesus. To be received in like manner. Sent to obey the Father, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the advent of the kingdom. Sent to preach repentance, and ultimately to die for it. Being in possession of the word, Christians are as hated as Christ. How does the word offend? It is the light that shines in dark places, showing up the evil of men's deeds. But he stands, in God's strength, our great shepherd. He is great to the ends of the earth.

Exodus 9:16

2010-05-19T17:34:00.004+01:00

But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

The idea that God made us for a purpose is anathema to modern man, who wants to be free. Unfortunately, he does not understand freedom, and languishes. He has been bewitched by a casual practical perspectivism - even if he reckons there must be some kind of a god, or at least, some bigger explanation than accident that accounts for us all being here. He is mistrustful, cynical.

In Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (The Gay Science) the famous madman Nietzsche composed a ditty about power which rather neatly captures his philosophy that all truth-claims are power-plays:

Spruch des Gewaltmenschen:

Bitte nie! Lass diess Gewimmer!

Nimm, ich bitte dich, nimm immer!

Roughly given it means:

What the Powerful Man Says:
Never say, "please?" Stop that whining,
Take, I bid you, always take.

He conceived all truth-claims as the outcome of such a philosophy. Everyone who makes a claim about how things are or should be is grabbing for himself. There is no truth - especially about what should be, and what should not be, where nothing outside the material universe has generated a moral framework within it. Seneca urged people to "be wary of anyone who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk." Nietzsche simply went a step further.

In the 44th chapter of that book, he makes this explicit, talking about what motivates people groups to believe certain things. (The previous chapters discuss the formulation of law codes as though they were essentially means for distinguishing peoples from their neighbours, rather than good things in themselves.) He contends that behind a belief about a motive is an actual motive - what he implies is a power-play.

Das innere Glück und Elend der Menschen ist ihnen nämlich je nach ihrem Glauben an diese oder jene Motive zu Theil geworden, — nicht aber durch Das, was wirklich Motiv war!

(The internal satisfaction and dissatisfaction of people is theirs based on what they believe about such and such a motivation - not, however, that it comes through {genuine discovery of} the real motivation.)

Up to a point, he has a point. Many of the things we claim are power plays. We do act in our own selfish interests more often than we ought to. But it is hard to reconcile so cynical a view with the things that Jesus taught and did. Jesus repeatedly demonstrated and enjoined love. And look what his followers said ought to be:

Paul counselled: "Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others."

John, pointing to Christ's humility and example, instructed: "Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked".

Peter commanded obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, saying that "We must love one another earnestly from a pure heart".

When Moses went to Pharaoh, he intimated the hard reality of God's verdict. That man's purpose was to show God to be great by being defeated, even though he considered his power to be his life. The point of seeing through things is to see real things on the other side. The point about "meaning" and "truth-claims" is that the existence of the idea of "meaning" and the idea of "making claims about truth" suggests the reality of meaning and truth. Only a hardened heart makes light of this insurmountable fact. We, all of us, exist for God: some for His destruction, others for His grace. This is real freedom. It is also real power.

Luke 16: 1-9

2010-05-18T21:31:00.006+01:00

There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Money is not what Christians are about. The reason Christians struggle so much with being generous is that they have forgotten about eternity. We should pray that, where we are unwilling to be generous, God will set the reality of the resurrection future in our hearts.

An unscrupulous but desperate man who has nothing left to lose cheats his present master to secure an easy future, fearing the consequences of unemployment and indigence. He was in the very fortunate position of having a narrow window of opportunity. He took advantage of it!

At some stage soon, the balloon goes pop.

God commends us if we treat our present situation as one which is passing away, and as if it were not our security. Why should we treat it any other way? Mammon or God? Who will be our master?

Let's make hay while the sun shines. My guess is that the finest things of this life will one day seem so foul that we will be amazed at how foolishly attached we were to them. We will see the grip they had on us, and laugh for joy at being free. All that glisters is not gold. There's a change of fortune coming to all of us, or, as Kierkegaard put it: “That is the road we all have to take - over the Bridge of Sighs into eternity.”

Colossians 2: 9

2010-05-18T21:06:00.003+01:00

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily...

Jesus: what God is like when he puts skin on.

Christology is mysterious and peculiar. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. And we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

The way that Christology works itself out is in love. At least, that's the theory. Perhaps I should say, the way that a true Christology works itself out is in love.

Ecclesiastes 10:20

2010-04-28T16:08:00.003+01:00

Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

Democracy is a system in which the people have the power.

(If the above video doesn't work, try this one...)

Isaiah 43: 25

2010-04-27T21:07:00.011+01:00

I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Privacy shmivacy: here's what's scary about Google. Google remembers your sins. Don't be evil? Don't remember evil, then.

The world lacks a rhetoric of forgiveness. Many people are against it, even counting it immoral to forgive and forget. Christian love-and-forgiveness allows God to create value in the object of His affection. The verdict that counts is God's. And God blots out transgressions. He does not chew over old slights. Love doesn't serve up last night's sins for breakfast.

The world is skeptical of change in character. People who have been let down don't believe in it, and find it harder to believe in it, when they can see a clear depiction of what once was, even if it no longer is.

The answer, of course, is the gospel. Only the gospel puts us all on an even footing: we are all sinners, falling short of the glory of God. I can't cast stones. I can repent. And I have been redeemed. At a cost. Love keeps no record of wrongs. The outstanding debt was paid, once and for all.

1 Corinthians 1: 4-9

2010-04-25T22:47:00.008+01:00

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The key to understanding this letter is in the issue of why Paul thanks God for the Corinthian church. If I had been the one whose evangelistic preaching set a church like that in motion, I would have been embarrassed. To say that they misbehaved is to put it mildly. We encounter the train wrecks of their lives all through the letter. These people were calling themselves Christians, and living without love. But they were Christians. He was sure of it. The testimony about Christ had been confirmed among them. The Christ who saved them would grow them into maturity in his own time, and through his own power. Paul, a man whose faith was much better than mine, was not embarrassed by them. He was thankful to God for them. What is it about Christ's love that would not merely erode, but overcome the sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, reviling, drunkenness, swindling, homosexuality, theft and adultery that characterised their conduct?

When Paul remarks that they were enriched in every way, does that mean "in every way", or only "in every way in speech and knowledge"? That is, is he drawing attention to the gifts of tongues and knowledge that the Spirit gave them, or is it more general than that? The Greek is not clear on the point: it says - that in everything you were enriched in him in everything speech and in all knowledge.

ὅτι ἐν παντὶ ἐπλουτίσθητε ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐν παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ γνώσει,

At any rate, they were marvelously equipped to be useful. But they were not being useful! They took what God had given them, and buried it in the ground. Paul's testimony, which was the good news about Jesus, his death for sinners, and his resurrection power, and God's fulfillment of his plans for his people - this gospel they accepted. It was the sign that they had been born again: they were able to receive the words of life from the apostle.

Whether or not their spiritual gifts confirmed the testimony, or whether it was the fact that they did not lack any spiritual gift, the important point is that God had clearly been at work, building his church through the preaching of his word, and through the completed work of Christ, believed by men.

In this light, the word "sustain" and the expression "to the end" want looking at with care. God, who calls men into the fellowship of Jesus, is able to create what he commands. He ordains a new community in Christ, so He lifts it up by the same power that caused it to begin in the first place. God is faithful. Even when people are not, God is faithful.

The apostle specifically contrasts their gifts with the preaching with which he came to them, drawing out for them what abusers they were of God's goodness and charity:

Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

The things Paul says about the spiritual poverty of the Corinthian church include their disunity, their divisions and their quarreling. These divisions figuratively "divide Christ", and belittle his sacrifice. They were jealous of one another, given to strife, and factional. In all these failings, Paul designates them "merely human" and says that they are "as people of the flesh - as infants in Christ" - not the sort of people he was able to address "as spiritual people". How much greater is God than we are, that he not only descends to our level, he lifts us up! Paul did not despair, he gave thanks to God!

Ephesians 4:1

2010-04-17T20:22:00.006+01:00

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called...

This is the time of year when toads make more toads.

In the first three chapters of Ephesians is an extended preamble to the meat of what Paul wants to get across to the Ephesian church. They are all about this calling, how God sent Jesus to be the messiah for the Jews and the Gentiles, and how Paul prays that the church will be all about realizing - in its faith and its works - God's plans for it.

Paul rehearses how God has been doing this new thing lately, and how He even made him an instrument of grace, letting the gentiles know that they also can belong to the church.

Paul has an idea of the church being the way that God reveals his wisdom not merely on earth, but in heaven: to the heavenly authorities. Somewhere up there, angels are looking at the church and saying: "Wow - God is so wise!"

So much for the blueprint of salvation in the first three chapters. Now he comes to his point: he urges the Ephesians to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which they have been called.

But wait a minute: the church is to reveal the manifold wisdom of God... Angels are to look at what we get up to, and say: "Ah yes, Lord, great plan!" I'm not sure a toad like me is up to that.

Thank goodness it doesn't depend on me. It depends on God answering Paul's prayer for me, that I should be strengthened with power through his Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith—that I, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that I may be filled with all the fullness of God. Unless God answers that prayer, I am sunk. We all are...

John 9: 8-9

2010-04-05T01:34:00.008+01:00

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”

"Does he take sugar?"

This episode is horrific. When the man was blind, people spoke about him as though he was not there. "Who sinned," they asked, desperate to find a reason not to care.

Then he was cured, and they treated him in the same manner that they were accustomed to treating him: as though he was not there. "You were steeped in sin from birth..." I am so glad that he was the kind of man who did not just say, "I am the man". He was the kind of man who kept on saying: "I am the man". Who is blind but my servant...Who is blind as my dedicated one...

"Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" - Exodus 4:11

"You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord." - Leviticus 19:14

A sermon on this text

1 Thessalonians 5:11

2010-04-05T00:18:00.003+01:00

Encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing...

I love it when the Colorado Christian University missions trip students come over to Glasgow to share in our lives.

Maria's interview on the CCU missions trip to Lenzie 2010 from Lenzie on Vimeo.

Drew's interview on the CCU missions trip to Lenzie 2010 from Lenzie on Vimeo.

Russell's interview on the CCU missions trip to Lenzie 2010 from Lenzie on Vimeo.

Luke 20: 34-38

2010-03-21T23:13:00.007Z

“The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”

I believe it, and I thank God that he has put an end to death, foul death. We marry because we die. One of the best things we can do, we do because of death. Can you imagine the best things that God has for the sons of the resurrection? Be clear about this: Jesus offers this resurrection to those who are considered worthy. Only in Jesus can anyone be considered worthy. The best thing that God has for the sons of the resurrection is the Son in whom this resurrection comes. I believe in him.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks,
and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Ecclesiastes 1: 15

2010-03-13T12:43:00.004Z

What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

What the teacher says here is that he sees that the world is bent out of shape. He knows that everything under the sun is meaningless. He also knows that it should not be meaningless - the meaninglessness itself is a warp in reality's weft. The meaning which is lacking can not be experienced, because what is lacking cannot be counted, except as a want. The teacher has confronted his problem. He does not allow it to get on top of him.

This is the preamble to his discourse, which, of course, he wrote after he had tried all the things he tried to create meaning in his life. If you read Ecclesiastes you find that he did all the things that people experiment with, in a search for meaning. He tried worldly wisdom, madness, stupidity, pleasures, possessions, people, sex, fame, greatness, reputation, honour, power, hard work, indigence, family, making vows to God, doing things for God, mourning, feasting, laughing and gossip, human justice, finding vicarious meaning through children, marriage, risky business, and every other thing that people try to give meaning to their lives. He found out that, "All is vanity".

But that would be a gloomy and unpalatable end to the matter, if that had been all he had to say about it. In fact, he appeals to faith. His summary invites men to trust God, and to live out their lives as if God's judgment should make sense of the things we do. In fact, it is something stronger than trust that he enjoins on his reader: it is fear. The one who lived out the life delighting in the fear of the Lord was the one whose life had most significance, and most meaning, and most glory. It turns out that the teacher knew what he was talking about, even if he didn't know Who...

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Proverbs 26:17

2010-03-05T15:57:00.004Z

Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.

I have heard extreme but relatively coherent opposing takes on the following topics, as I have read around, and explored and considered them, at length and from a variety of angles and experiences.

Abortion,

Alcohol,

Attitudes to truth,

Bioethics,

Bringing up children,

Cigarettes,

Civil liberties and human freedoms,

Divorce,

Drugs,

The environment,

The family,

Gambling.

Healthcare,

The value of human life,

The idolisation of power,

Intolerance,

The marginalised,

Marriage,

Money,

Nuclear arms,

The old,

Pornography,

Poverty,

Property,

Race,

Sex,

The vulnerable,

War,

Zebras.

I don't often get involved in quarrels not my own if I can help it. Even about zebras. But some quarrels are my own. Consider a man who is wise in his own eyes: There is more hope for a fool than for him...

For lack of wood the fire goes out,
and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

Revelation 3:20

2010-02-24T00:17:00.004Z

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus is the speaker. At least, the voice was the voice of one like a son of man. He identifies himself as the living one, who died, and is alive for ever. That's Jesus, right? He's speaking to churches. The Christ who said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" said this to churches. "Nobody comes to the Father except through me..."

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

John 9: 35-38

2010-02-22T16:57:00.004Z

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Dead babies.

An interesting thing: Jesus healed a man, then asked "Do you believe?" Both times, He sought the man out.

At the point of asking, He knew that the man believed Him to be a prophet. He knew Him as a man from God. But his education was not complete. Do you believe in the Son of Man? You see him now. He is speaking to you. Seeing is not believing.

Believing is important. How do you know if you are born again? You know because you believe.

How do you know if you believe? You know you believe if you love.

In this case, the worship was direct and personal. He worshiped Him. This blind man developed as he grew in his knowledge and love of the Christ.

It is a terrible thing to deny the need to deepen faith intellectually. It leads to the same kind of spiritual blindness that the pharisees had, and in which they were judged.

The person who claims that they do not need to deepen their knowledge of the truth is arrogant and judgmental. Arrogant, because they claim to have a position of perfection; judgmental, because they feel superior to those whose love is to grow in truth.

What can be more dangerous than anti-intellectualism? If you are born again, you are born as an infant. Grow. Failure to thrive is terrifying and terrible.

I have blessed by meeting a man called Cyril Axelrod a few times. He is a deaf and blind man who preaches the gospel much better than many sighted-hearing people. There is no excuse not to grow, or to advocate standing still.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Axelrod

1 Corinthians 6: 12-20

2010-02-19T19:05:00.004Z

“All things are lawful for me,” ~~~ but not all things are helpful.

“All things are lawful for me,” ~~~ but I will not be enslaved by anything.

“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food—And God will destroy both one and the other!” ~~~ The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body—And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power!

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body...

“If it feels good, do it.” Is this how we should think about our sexual nature? It has been a problem for a long time. This is what the Corinthian church was wrestling with when Paul wrote to them about it. They had heard that Jesus died to set them free, but they were running wild in this new freedom. "I can do what I like: you're not the boss of me..."

People who don't understand that freedom is always freedom within limitations hurt themselves, and others. A fish is not freed by being lifted out of a net, if it is then placed on a table. It is freed by being allowed to live in the environment in which it can flourish: the sea. The Corinthians were using their freedom from the power of the law to indulge behaviours which were unhelpful, and, though they themselves did not immediately see it, were allowing themselves to be enslaved.

The problem seems to be that they had too low a view of sex. "People have an appetite for food – if you're hungry, you eat," they said, and the implication was: if you want sex, have sex. It's only about our bodies, they thought: everyone dies anyway, so do what feels right.

But that is hardly reasonable - let alone helpful. The thing about sex, is that it is much more than an ordinary appetite. Nobody ever wrote a song in praise of a three-course sit-down meal, but innumerable poems and eulogies to sex and romance infest the pop charts and literature of the world.

O Golden arches glorious,
O'er all transfats victorious,
Thy fries and apple pies
Bring tears into my eyes...

Similarly, even appetites need to be controlled. If you only satisfy your appetite for food with burgers and chips, guess what happens? What is more, people generally recognise the need to limit sex to legitimate and appropriate circumstances. Paedophilia, for example, is frowned on in most cultures. Different sexual ethics have held sway throughout history, and all of them point to this truth: sex requires regulation.

But why does it require regulation? Paul points out that sexuality is linked to morality by the spiritual connection which it involves. That is, sex is more than an appetite, it is a physical way of connecting intimately and spiritually with another person. It goes without saying that sex always involves the vulnerability of nakedness. What of it? This physical disclosure of oneself articulates a spiritual and emotional uncovering, speaking to a connectedness that is unattainable in other ways.

It is possible (by repeatedly connecting sexually without emotional connection) to attain a level of detachment which divorces the physical feelings from the spiritual and emotional experiences, but to do that is to punish oneself. This is part of what Paul means by, “every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body”. The pleasant physical feelings are meant to be united with the joy of spirit and emotion to make the activity significant: it points to trust, to love, to hope. But that is only part of Paul's meaning.

The more important point Paul makes is that all bodies are God's.

The staggering thing is that God, who already has full rights over bodies (He is the creator and sustainer of all life, after all!) claims a new right - the right of ownership, for Christians have been bought with a price.

The price he has in mind is the cost of Jesus' death: he died to restore us to God, to bring Christians back into real and meaningful relationship with him. Since he died our death – the death we deserve and have invested in by sinning – he has rights over the life that his resurrection brings to us. Paul's point is that we may be free, but our freedom is not just “freedom from”: it is “freedom for”... We are free for Him.

What this means is truly astonishing: our bodies can bring glory to the one who most deserves glory: the Christ who died in our stead, and whose Spirit lives in us as a deposit guaranteeing us the resurrection which he already has. But wait, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit within us, whom we have from God! So: stop and consider the possibility that we have in us something worth more than everything and everyone. Once we see how good it is to glorify God, and whenever we remember how good the God we glorify is, we will want to use our bodies to show how great God is.

An old tv show called The Beverly Hillbillies was the tale of how a poor mountaineer shot into the ground, and up came a bubbling crude: untold riches. He and his family were transformed into the richest of the rich. They had been living on the land for generations before they knew what they had. Buried in the earth, the Texas tea was no use to them. The black gold was only golden once it got to the surface. The Spirit has the potential to change our lives in a much greater way. If you bring God a thimble, he'll fill it. But if you bring him a bucket, he'll fill that.

Whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him, wants what God wants, and lives as Jesus would live, if Jesus were in his place. This is the power of God to save us: it is good news, that God wants our very bodies to be places where he is shown to be a good and glorious God. He has made us male and female, has given us sexual bodies, and he had this good reason for doing it that way: he loves us and wants what is best for us, because he is glorious and good. We can't just say “Sex doesn't matter because it's only the body, and will die and become nothing anyway” - it does matter, because the body has been bought back – redeemed by and for God, and at a price.

1 John 5: 1

2010-02-03T00:56:00.005Z

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

It would be odd if you believed before you were born. First, we are born again. Then we believe. The way we know that we are born again is that we believe, and believing, we love.

If a person needs God to regenerate them before they can believe that Jesus is the Christ, and live in accordance with that truth, then the best thing Christians can do for people is to ask God to make them live, so that living, they might believe, and believing, they might love, and be loved.

The new birth, which comes through hearing and receiving the word, ought also to be preached.

I know and believe that this Jesus is the Christ, because I have been born of God.

If you read this, and don't know that, then please do hear this. Jesus is the only way back to God, because only his death will ever be enough to satisfy the indignation and anger of a holy God. We Christians know this because he came to earth to die that death. We also know that he is trustworthy because God did not let him decay, but raised him up into a resurrection body, vindicating him in everything he said and did, proving him to be the Christ, promised long.

If you do not feel the weight of sin, or account yourself guilty before a holy God, then I pray that the Spirit will move in your life, to convict you, so that you may discover your need, as I discovered mine.

Psalm 19:1-4

2010-01-30T13:05:00.009Z

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

General revelation is not perfect, though it is complex, revealing truth. The law of the Lord, on the other hand, is perfect, revealing wisdom. In Christ are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Christ, therefore, we may interpret knowledge with wisdom, though we are simple.

I remember a time when a man I didn't know snatched up my son in front of me, hit him, and ran out of the room with him, dripping blood as he went. Of course, I was anxious, but I had no thought of stopping him. Nor did my wife, who was with me at the time. It upset her.

Sometimes the way the world speaks is through violent upheaval and threat. The God of love is a God of earthquakes. The God of love creates calamities. They seem utterly random - as random as a frog in a hat. When you pour out water from a bucket, you never can tell what way it is going to go.

I was glad he did it. When he returned him from the oxygen machine, my son was breathing normally, and his mother and I felt great relief that our newborn was well.

Colossians 3:13

2010-01-14T13:34:00.002Z

Bear with one another...

Any Christians who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please themselves. It can be important to have doubts, so that other people get the benefit of them. As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, we are called to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. If someone has a complaint against another, we are to forgive each other; as the Lord has forgiven us, so we also must forgive. Evil, impurity, lust, covetousness (idolatry) these things are not to be ignored. But not everything we might find objectionable is evil. Jesus made this his complaint:

"O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?"

Genesis 29: 31-35

2010-01-14T10:32:00.006Z

When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.

Poor Leah. All she wanted was to be loved. But she was considered ugly, by the arbitrary standards of her day. Even her father saw her as a liability. Someone to get shot of. And her man (he was hardly a husband to her) was a shallow fool, set on finding meaning for his miserable life in another woman. He had his own psychological problems, of course. He needed to exorcise the demons of a father's rejection, and thought that he'd be able to do it in bed with beautiful Rachel. So he used Leah, but lusted for Rachel. Pretty Rachel.

But Leah hoped for him to want her, needed him to need her. Maybe if he wanted her, she would escape from her affliction? Maybe if she gave him a son? Maybe then her existence would be justified, and make some sense? Maybe? No! God had to allow her son after son after son - disappointment after disappointment after disappointment - before she came round to the truth. She was not made for a man, she was made for Him. Her value was not locked up in a husband's heart, and she ought not to have sought it there. She bore no more once she knew this truth.

God knows what it is like to have no special physical appeal. God knows what it is to feel rejection, where He should receive love. God knew, and Leah came to know that God. God favours the rejected, loves the unlovely, vindicates the crushed. God rewards those He teaches to love Him. The greatest reward is to praise Him. Leah knew Him by name.

Psalm 130: 7

2010-01-05T23:26:00.009Z

O Israel, hope in the Lord!

For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

and with him is plentiful redemption.

I remember reading Boethius on the question of God's unchanging nature, and being quite impressed. It strikes me (as it did Boethius...) that there is no necessary contradiction between God's unchanging nature (read: perfection) and his all-knowing sovereignty over events. By sovereignty I mean that God is omnipotent, and chooses his limits based on love, in line with his surpassingly good nature and character. His nature and character never changes.

We experience things in time, but He understands from the vantage point of eternity. The act of creation, so far from being serial, from God's point of view is a sequential unity. This means that God's take on the events which we experience serially and sequentially is not like ours. A limited analogy: a film on DVD is both a static unity (the plastic disc, full of data) and a serial sequence (the film as it is watched). Thus in order for our prayers to "change God's mind" - all they have to do is influence Him at the point of creation: a point which He constantly experiences as an aspect of His "now". The actors get to influence the director before the film is in the can.

This does not mean that God does not understand what our experience of creation as beings in time is like - He does, and that too gives strong comfort! Rather, alongside the Genesis pictures of a Creator at work, and at rest, it makes sense to think of God in the terms which Revelation gives to us: alpha and omega, beginning and end - the ultimate exogenous variable. Ultimate, in the sense that God is all-powerful. Exogenous, in the sense that God is not limited by the internal mechanisms of the created system. And Variable in the sense that He interacts with the system He has set in place: as the word made flesh.

I don't wish to fall in to the trap of functional and existential modalism, but it seems to me that what such a view also allows is an escape from the determinism that limits man's responsibility for sin: God is sovereign, and all things are predestined according to His sovereignty, but in such a scheme man cannot escape responsibility for his acts on the basis of inability to choose. Choice remains, and judgment is just (God having brought into being the best possible world he was able to, where free will means God does not force his creation to do good).

The real problems of the doctrine are in resolving what we cannot fathom: how can God, who suffers (I speak in terms of the communication of attributes), also be happy? How can God be angry and loving? What does "the incarnation" mean about the nature of humanity? Is "being" the same as "becoming" in God's existence? (How can God "become" anything: perfection is simple!) What these questions suggest is that our understanding of being human is second rate next to the quintessential experience which the Christ had and has: that is, he did it and does it the way it ought to be done, and is the yard stick for humanity. Jesus did not "become" one of us in every sense of the word "become": that part of the trinity that is the Christ-man always is and has been and will be fully divine and fully human. (This is not to make some panantheistic claim, where God is part of creation. it is simply to make sense of the expressions "sons of the Most High" and the clear expression "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.") "To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

Yet, as John tells us, the "Word became flesh and dwelt among us". The fourth Lateran council (the terrible council which began the most serious persecutions of heretics in the church's history) began with the thoughtful statement that:

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God made flesh by the entire Trinity, conceived with the co-operation of the Holy Ghost of Mary ever Virgin, made true man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh, one Person in two natures, pointed out more clearly the way of life. Who according to His divinity is immortal and impassable, according to His humanity was made passable and mortal, suffered on the cross for the salvation of the human race, and being dead descended into hell, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. But He descended in soul, arose in flesh, and ascended equally in both...

The last part of this statement did not give theologians a problem in 1215: but how can it be that God incommutabilis should "empty himself" and "become a man"? Is man-ness like clothes that God got into? Was it an outfit made out of person? When a man is sick, his whole person is sick. What can it mean, then, that God, who does not change, becomes a man? Is the relationship between Christ's man-nature and God-nature both real and relative? The word which became flesh is mysterious, as God is mysterious. Perhaps the answer lies in the thought that the flesh did not become the Word. The unchanging perfection of God is not susceptible of Spinoza's interpretation of it: that God can never love, nor suffer. God is personal, and hears, and responds to the ones He loves. This is His perfection: a perfection of a higher order.

And with him is plentiful redemption.

---

Thanks to Michael Krahn for asking me to think about this. http://michaelkrahn.com/blog/

1 Corinthians 2: 15-16

2009-12-24T00:12:00.005Z

The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

To find joy and meaning in God is to worship him. This is a gift, and happens through the gift of faith. What is meant here by "spiritual" is precisely that: a person in whom God's spirit lives - a person of faith. What is meant by "judges all things" is precisely that: the gift of judging everything relative to the joy and satisfaction which is in God. This is why he may not be judged. He is free, has been freed, and has the safety of God's vindication. He has the freedom to worship. This is the hall mark of the spiritual person, but it is not an individual thing: it is a collective thing. It is about WE not I.

God is beyond ultimate understanding by a person. But the Spirit fully and utterly grasps and comprehends the thoughts of God. In this, we see something important about God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty is what takes Him beyond judgment. God's sovereignty is also what makes him ultimately happy in a way at which we, individually, can barely guess. But we have the mind of Christ.

This God is so big, he can cope with sin, can send good and evil, can control everything, and can see the world simultaneously through the focus of time and the focus of eternity. This God is sovereign, and glorious. What we know and why we worship is that he sent the Christ to make us perfect through his suffering. By his wounds we are healed. Even the angels sing that song.

Matthew 2: 16

2009-12-21T20:07:00.002Z

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

Remember: Spendmas is a fun family festival, about tinsel, crackers, turkey, cuddles and Santa.

Romans 6: 20-23

2009-12-21T00:42:00.004Z

...When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin = death (bad!), life = Christ (good!).

Deuteronomy 32:4

2009-12-16T22:58:00.004Z

"The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he."

Rights and wrongs are absolute - we're just poor judges of rights and wrongs. (cf 2 Samuel 22:31, Psalm 18:30, Psalm 19:7 etc.)

If doing the right thing is absolutely possible, this implies, as Jesus said plainly, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. " (Matthew 5:48)

But who can *be* perfect? We need Jesus, founder and perfecter of our faith, who has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14, 12:2)

Then, though no one has ever seen God, if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12)

Psalm 33:1

2009-12-09T23:07:00.001Z

Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.

Proverbs 19:23

2009-12-08T02:24:00.005Z

The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

Fear is like an emotional jigsaw piece that finds its exact fit only in God. Fear is exclusively felt as an unpleasant sensation, when it is directed at an object which is not God. To me, this tends to suggest that its proper appointment - its true function - is to satisfy itself only in God. God alone is incapable of being harmfully feared.

As our maker,
and as the infinitely gracious giver of every good and perfect gift,
and as the very one for whom we are made,

we can only legitimately fear to lose Him.

This fear is a gift, the counterpoint to God's beautiful jealousy for us. He is so desperate for us, that he sent his Son to die for us, and we should be so desperate for the ultimate satisfaction of God, that we must fear Him: this jealousy and that fear, being subject to God's sovereign power, and the Son's eternal victory over sin, are the Spirit's infinite and eternal guarantees of loving communion.

The proverbial "fear of the Lord" insists absolutely on a positive understanding of this otherwise negative word. By not being mealy-mouthed with the term, the bible reconciles fear to goodness. The word is the same word as the word used for all the bad fears and dreads it also acknowledges. As this proverb has it, fear is the pathway to life and satisfaction and rest, so we discover not a sleight of hand by which fear is redefined to mean something it does not mean, but rather the true, complete, and right meaning of the word in its appropriate context. Jealousy is good in God and bad in us, just as this fear is good when it is directed towards God.

1 Timothy 2: 3-4

2009-12-08T02:02:00.004Z

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

It is fine to serve a God who looks for a way out of having to punish. God our Saviour desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. This pleases God: He doesn't delight to punish. His disposition is kindly. God is not Nemesis. If only we were willing to participate in his kindness, patience, and self-control! It is good that one day, the truth will out. What fun we will have then!

Romans 8: 14

2009-11-11T23:30:00.007Z

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

I am led (often reluctantly, alas!) by the Spirit. Even today, I wanted to tell a lie, and I did not only because the Spirit intervened to lead me. Too lightly do people say things like, "There, but for the grace of God..."

To say that I am led by the Spirit is not to claim to be some sort of great spiritual giant. I emphatically am not, as anyone who has met me, and some who only know me by reputation, will tell you. A reputation, of course, is not character. Reputations are built up by painstakingly taking credit for successes, and are destroyed by omitting to attach blame for failures to someone else. But then, I do not claim to have character, either. The best I can do is cry out: "Abba, Father!" In fact, that's the best you can do, too.

I am led, more or less, as an infant, by the hand. Sometimes I'm such a dog, I need a short leash. On the other hand, I'm one of God's sons. So I'm happy.

---
B.B. Warfield on the leading of the Spirit.

Isaiah 6:5

2009-11-05T18:27:00.001Z

I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Isaiah did not know who the coals symbolised, but he discovered the truth of faith: that the God who convicts sinners of their sin, honours faithful repentance, and atones for their transgressions.

Stand up, and bless the Lord
Ye people of his choice;
Stand up and bless the Lord your God
With heart and soul and voice.

Though high above all praise,
Above all blessing high,
Who would not fear his holy name
And laud and magnify?

O for the living flame
From his own altar brought,
To touch our lips, our minds inspire
And wing to heaven our thought!

God is our strength and song
And his salvation ours;
Then be his love in Christ proclaimed
With all our ransomed powers.

Stand up, and bless the Lord;
The Lord your God adore;
Stand up, and bless his glorious Name
Henceforth for evermore.

Acts 10:43

2009-10-29T23:39:00.003Z

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

The soldier Cornelius looked, by anyone's standards, like a standup guy: a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. An angel even testified that his prayers and his alms ascended as a memorial before God. Why did they ascend thus? Because God gave this decent man to be saved from his decency.

I can only conclude that the religious things he did were worthless, blameworthy even, apart from his salvation. Cornelius was not some obviously morally degenerate criminal type who needed to "shape up" - Cornelius was a perilously religious, rule-keeping, moral guy, who had to be born again. His trouble was that he was better than almost all the people about him. People even carried his reputation as a "good" man before him. What a dangerous state to be in! No wonder God had to shout to get his attention.

It would not be by the things he did that he could be saved. Jesus is the one in whom anyone who has received forgiveness of sins has received it. Cornelius was born again. The things he did were good things, but they were only remembered before God because he would be saved through Jesus' name. He was directed by a holy angel to send for Peter to come to his house and to hear what he had to say, in order that he would be saved by the preaching of this truth about Jesus: that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. You can be as good as you like, or as bad, but only believing in him counts. Only believing counts. He could not believe unless he had been told about him in whom he ought to believe.

He was sent by an angel to be converted: sent to hear the call to believe in Jesus. The call to believe in Jesus is not the call to moral reform. It's the call to rebirth. It's the call to conversion - a status-changing saving relationship with the living, risen Lord Jesus, the messiah, the lamb of God, to whom all the prophets still bear witness. God's love has to become the focus of life. Once it has done, you will be sure of your conversion. Real Christians love God and love each other. We work out our saved lives, and are not ashamed of the government of our souls, but exult in God's praise.

Proverbs 29:25

2009-10-27T20:27:00.005Z

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

Jesus feared God more than anyone. Isaiah 11 says this of him:

the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
---

How greatly do I dread you, Lord,
Who are so quick to bless,
Your Son, the way, the life, the Word,
Makes fear love's deep impress;
For who could love you truly, if
they had not learned to fear?
I have that great and gracious gift:
Your very presence near -
Your love, the call that brought me here,
Your dread, the touch so dear.

Prov 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Prov 1:29-31 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

Prov 2:1-5 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Prov 8:13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Prov 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Prov 10:27 The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.

Prov 14:26 In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.

Prov 14:27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

Prov 15:16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.

Prov 15:33 The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Prov 16:6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.

Prov 19:23 The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

Prov 22:4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

Prov 23:17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.

Acts 2: 42-47

2009-10-26T18:35:00.006Z

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Amongst other things...
The church was characterised by:
1) Being filled by the Spirit,
2) Learning,
3) Praying,
4) Being loving,
5) Being evangelical,
6) Being blessed (to be a blessing),
7) Worshiping,
8) Being faithful.

This means that the church is characterised by:
1) Being filled by the Spirit,
2) Learning,
3) Praying,
4) Being loving,
5) Being evangelical,
6) Being blessed (to be a blessing),
7) Worshiping,
8) Being faithful.

1 Peter 5:6-7

2009-10-13T23:47:00.003+01:00

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

He does care for us. Humility is discovering that God cares for you, and believing it. There is nothing good that I have that God has not given me. As a public statement, I say that I don't want to be God, because God is better at it.

Unfortunately, I find that I am, against the tenor of this conviction, full of pride, just like Satan.

Lord, this is my anxiety. Care for me, when I don't even know what my problem is. I forget that Jesus was superlatively humble, never opposed by God, one in Spirit with the Father. I forget that the hand of God was powerful; it gave grace to him, and through him to me. I forget that Jesus' death allows me to put my sins to death, and I am not just a passive victim of this pride. Lord, you will lift me up, when it is right for you to do that. Help me take care of and grow a deep conviction to love you, and loving you, to be who you made me to be.

It is no bad thing to "think greatly of the greatness of God", as John Owen put it.

Proverbs 10:23

2009-10-08T21:27:00.003+01:00

Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.

A number of proverbs are structured like this, a balanced pair of statements turning on the conjunction. The idea is to contrast and compare the halves to discover the meat of the saying. In this proverb, there are two contrasts and a comparison: the first contrast is between "doing wrong" and "wisdom" - indicating that wisdom is the shorthand for "doing right". The second is between "a fool" and "a man of understanding". The implication is that a fool lacks understanding. The "joke" is the constant part of the proverb - the joy of a joke being comparable to "pleasure". Another proverb about a "joke" (ch. 26:18-19) deals with a deceiving neighbour. Someone who deceives his neighbour and passes it off as a joke is like a madman throwing around firebrands, arrows, and death. Serious deception is not funny, and can not rightly be passed off as such, when its consequences are so devastating. "Ha ha, I've destroyed your life," is evil, not merely incongruous.

Behind both these proverbs is an assumption that humour, as such, is something that it is right to enjoy in its proper way. Similarly, in Ephesians 5:4, the implication of the proscription of filthiness, foolish talk and crude joking, which are out of place, is that these things, being out of place in the meeting of God's people, get in the way of expressing thanks to God. Again, the implication behind the word "crude" is that it is an out-of-place type of joking that has to be guarded against. Joking per se is not the issue.

I have written of "humour, as such", but that implies a fixed idea of what humour actually is. As it goes, I think there is a working definition of humour which we can lay down that distinguishes it from all other facets of interaction. To start with, humour is definitely distinct from laughter. Although laughter can often be the physiological symptom of humour, is not something to consider in the same way. Being tickled or ingesting certain toxins can make us laugh. There is no humour present in laughter, though there may be laughter present where there is humour.

But what is humour? It has always seemed to me that the occasion of humour is the recognition in the mind of an obtuse arrangement of anything - ideas, places, people, things - in a way that suggests that it is appropriate, and which, for a split second, may even appear consonant with the proper arrangement of the universe, but which soon is discovered by the mind not to be so. There is no humorous situation, or joke which does not agree completely with this definition. This is why the madman of the firebrands deception is not humorous: the wise man recognises in the madman's incongruity only sin and malice - not seeming congruity. Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, because he lacks a proper sense of humour. It is God who gets the last laugh.

The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him,
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his day is coming.

Psalm 37: 12-13.

Proverbs 20:3

2009-09-30T00:02:00.005+01:00

It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife,
but every fool will be quarreling.

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to - W.C. Fields

How right he was... The point about pointless arguments is that you don't have to be right or even have to understand the issues to join in. It was Voltaire who said that a long argument means that both sides are in the wrong, and he also may have had the germ of a point. The issue is one of honour and folly. It's the difference, if you'll pardon me, between being a thinker and a stinker.

Matthew 17: 24-27

2009-09-27T20:32:00.004+01:00

When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Simon prefered not to rock the boat. Getting the small amount of money was clearly important to the collectors, more than one of whom came to ask. To avoid embarrassment, or creating bad feeling, or an unpleasant scene, he acquiesced with their request. Ought he to have done?

Jesus challenged him straight away because, in a sense, he had caved-in to avoid trouble. This was Simon, not Peter: not a rock. In a tacit way he had misrepresented Jesus as one who was a subject, rather than one who was a ruler. By rights, Peter ought not to have agreed that Jesus should be expected to (or even be asked to) pay this tax. It was not his tax to pay.

In this city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the men who collected taxes needed to know this. Indeed, Jesus had previously called on Matthew there, who was sitting at his tax booth. Jesus had been to Capernaum before, always on his kingdom mission. On one occasion he used his healing of a paralytic man to demonstrate his equality with God and his power to forgive sins. He healed there on the sabbath, and stirred up controversy by doing so. Was he really keen "not to give offense to them" or was he really keen to have Peter think a bit more carefully about what he was involved in? Who is it more important to keep in with? Man or God?

In providing the shekel from the mouth of a fish, Jesus reminded Peter of his mastery over the entire created order, and his right to be within the temple to be served rather than to be taxed. The temple, after all, was for him. It was where he should be worshiped. The money Simon agreed to pay was not to come from the common purse, but from a fish, which the fisherman-to-trade was to catch. The fisher-of-men was reappointed a catcher-of-fish, in a mild rebuke, which no doubt reminded him of his true calling.

I love the way Jesus gently brings us back on board. He did not show Simon up in front of the tax collectors, but took him aside, into the house. He did not just let him see the error of his ways, he provided him with a way to admit to his thoughtlessness, and a way out of his predicament, a way that reminded Peter of the awesome power that Jesus commands, and the fantastic privilege it is to be on his side.

Matthew 7: 6

2009-08-31T18:30:00.006+01:00

"Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."

It's a famous saying, "Don't throw pearls before swine" but what does it mean? Jesus is not accounted a great teacher for crystalising the obvious, so what was his point?

As I scour the internet, I am amazed to discover that rather lot of people have written of this section in the sermon on the mount that it is a call not to be too gracious, just in case you are taken advantage of. If that is the case, then Jesus might have taken his own advice, since he, not counting the cost, paid for it sorely. It doesn't seem like Christ to call on us to be limited in compassion, or to be parsimonious in generosity. I'm fairly sure God loves a cheerful giver, and that someone who sows sparingly reaps sparingly. In fact, I'm sure I read that somewhere... What can we say about this throwaway line, then?

It is a proverbial instruction, true, but that does not advance us much, as it is clearly not a standalone proverb - it is not susceptible of a casual interpretation in the absence of substantiating context. In fact, looking at it on its own gives us "don't be wastful" or, "be careful who you give good things to": hardly inspirational. What else can we say of it? It is an example of synonymous parallelism, certainly, and ontological personification metaphor too. But, big words aside, still we come back to: what do these trampling pigs, attack dogs, pearls and holy things all mean?

Jesus calls on the crowds to repent and to get on-board with the kingdom, which is the wider context of this instruction. But there are other teachings where he deals with treasures. He tells them: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

An interesting turn, that. Not, Where your heart is, there your treasure will be, but an invitation to examine the things I spend my money (or time / energy etc) on; and subsequent clarity on this matter: what matters to me. Could it be that "You cannot serve God and money" is the context for this talk of pearls?

A treasure was discovered by a man in a field, and he gave everything he owned to get it. The kingdom is like that too. I suspect that the pearls are our lives, hidden in Christ, and the pigs and dogs are the things of this world. The proverb is about not getting it (life, that is) wrong. He might plainly have said: "Don't waste your life."

Why do I think that? Well, it fits with a parallel reading of 6:19 - 7:11. The component passages may be broken down by theme as follows:

Prefer heavenly to earthly riches, 6:19-24;
Don't worry about the things you need, 6:25-34;
Don't be hypocritical about other people's struggles, 7:1-5;
Prefer heavenly to earthly riches, 7:6;
Ask God for what you need, 7:7-11;
Treat other people as you wish to be treated, 7:12-14.

That's my tentative best shot. Help and insight welcome...

2 Timothy 2:24–26

2009-08-17T14:36:00.016+01:00

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

When Paul says that “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,” that is virtually what happens in the new birth. And here is the key to liberating people from the captivity of the devil. God grants repentance — that is, he awakens the life that sees the ugliness and danger of sin and the beauty and worth of Christ. That truth sets the prisoner free.

It’s what happens when a person in the dark fondles an ebony brooch hanging around his neck, and then the lights go on and he sees it’s not a brooch but a cockroach, and flings it away. That’s how people are set free from the devil. And until God does that miracle of new birth, we stay in bondage to the father of lies because we love to be able to tell ourselves whatever we please. We keep fondling smooth roaches and warm fuzzy tarantulas in the dark.
John Piper, Finally Alive, pp.57-58.

On a youthwork forum I read, someone wrote in to ask "How do we know if our youth ministry is effective?" An excellent question.

The first answer was a fairly bald statement: "Simple answer -- If lives are being changed!
Honestly, though, that's what it is all about. If you don't see fruit in that way, then it is time to re-evaluate what you are doing and the methods you are using. People talk all the time about numbers of students in your youth group, but really it should be about the number of students coming to know Jesus and changing their lives for Him."

If this is how we measure ministry success, then Jesus' personal preaching ministry was largely a failure. Regeneration - the new birth - is certainly not something that we can contrive. Obedience is the key. I wrote back:

If you are being faithful, then your ministry is as effective as it can be. You may never see a single life changed. God is in the business of changing lives, and you are in the obedience business.

Do not try to measure your success by anything other than your faithfulness... Be faithful and work.

The key to being effective is to burn up grace like a rocket burns its fuel.

1 Samuel 17: 37

2009-08-11T02:19:00.006+01:00

"The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."

It is an amazing thing that David understood this, living so long before Jesus. It worries me that I am not up to scratch. What a giant of faith! But Jesus, of course, is the reason I can find hope in this story. Jesus killed every Goliath when he defeated death on the cross, and is the champion who gives me hope as I read about David.

I know that I'm no David. But I also know that the God who delivered the messiah from the unjust death that he died for my sake can deliver me too. Whatever giants lie in my path, I can encounter them in confidence, because I know - from that death - that God loves me, and has ultimately already killed them for me. David risked his life for God's sake. Jesus lost his for mine.

This is what our young people will get to hear at our church holiday club today. I hope they discover that it is good news. But most of all, I hope that they won't treat the story as some sort of moralistic exemplum. If the message were, "Go off and be like David - confront the giants in your lives, and God will help you overcome them!" then that should seem more like witchcraft than worship.

Genesis 3: 14-15

2009-08-09T17:20:00.008+01:00

The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

I'm leading a small group bible study for a holiday club this week, and amongst other passages from the bible we're looking at Genesis chapters 2 and 3. The young people are going to be asked to discuss these questions in groups:

What did the fruit promise?

What did it deliver?

What went wrong, and who was to blame?

What would the world be like if nobody had ever gone against God?

Is it important to love God and do what he says? If not, why not, and if so, why?

I rather hope these questions will help them open up the meaning of the chapters. It's a colossal sequence of ideas to get to grips with: creation, relationship, love, openness, honesty, lies, temptation, sin, death, punishment, alienation from God, each other, and the planet, God's mercy, and the hope of restoration.

My aim in getting through the bible passage will be to get them to identify with the truths of the passage, principally, that we need someone to rescue us.

As Romans 5:14 says, Adam was a type of the one who was to come. I am glad that the one who came passed the test.

---

cf Tim Keller.

Ezekiel 1: 28

2009-08-06T12:07:00.006+01:00

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face.

God as a working hypothesis in morals, politics or science, has been surmounted and abolished; and the same thing has happened in philosphy and religion. For the sake of intellectual honesty, that working hypothesis should be dropped, or as far as possible eliminated.
[Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God in a Secular World, in A. McGrath, Christian Theology Reader, (Blackwell, 2007) p.52]

I have desires and appetites which correspond not to the things which I find in the world, but which are satisfied beyond the world. The resurrected Christ is the only existentially satisfactory and intellectually credible answer I have found to these appetites and desires.

I desperately want these things to be real, and founded in immutable truth: society, love, family, beauty, meaning, purpose, life-and-not-death, discovery out of mystery, joy, happiness, reconciliation, glory. A purely material experience is devoid of that reality.

I find that when groups of people take Jesus's message at face value, then they discover that these things exist, and have been given to us by a loving God.

I can show this simply by looking at how the early church got on, and the things that they proclaimed and avowed.

A vision of real society is glimpsed in Acts 2: 42-47 -

And they {that is, the three thousand or so souls who were baptised and who became followers of Christ after they heard Peter preaching to them} devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

A vision of real love that is worth contending for is clearly discernable in the introductory salutations of Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church. Even though these people were backbiting, immoral, and involved in all sorts of bad practices, Paul could write this:

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The kind of society that God is involved in will be sorted out by God, in his patience, and through his Grace, by the gift of his Spirit. The cross of Christ is not emptied of its power, and later on in the letter, Paul explains exactly what the love which should
characterise church life looks like:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Paul's advice:
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.

As to family, the bible teaches that God is the one in whom all families are blessed:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

What of beauty? Well, it is Jesus himself who recognises and affirms beauty:

While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her?

She has done a beautiful thing to me.

For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.

And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Jesus affirms the immortal memory of true beauty. And he will affirm it, in the beauty of holiness. The advice for husbands, which Paul gives in the letter to the Ephesian church is all about beauty:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Meaning, being tied to knowledge, is entirely resident with God. There is a proverb which teaches that it is unwise to think you have the discernment it takes in and of yourself to move from knowledge to meaning. In fact, it counsels:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.

Meaning is conferred on us from outside. The significance of all things is that they point to a creator. Without God, where can we go for answers to confused meaning? This is not some "God of the gaps" theory, which says that we use God to fill up our own shortcomings of knowledge and meaning, until a better understanding squeezes God out, but rather it is God as a working hypothesis: the lens through which the world comes into sharp focus. To the extent that this has to be experienced to be understood, I recognise that I am resonating here only with the believer, but to the extent that my testimony relates my experience, I hope to convince, and invite. Jesus says things like "come to me" for a reason. He's hoping you will come to him. I am not the only one who believes this. Perhaps the most compelling evidence is from within a family context. After all, we pass on what we feel is important to our children. In his old age, King David's advice to his son was this:

"And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever."

Meaning can be found, because God wants to be sought.

If we can have meaning, we can also have purpose: God gives us things to do. He expects us to do things, holds us accountable for them, and challenges us and tests us. Abraham he tested by calling him to sacrifice his son, the longed-for son, given to fulfil a promise. And God turned his expectations around, through the expression of his character, and by divulging his desire to have his purposes adhered to.

God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Micah 6:8 gives the root of all human purposes:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Abraham was able to walk in humility with his God. He had discovered, by appealing to God over the destruction of Sodom, that collective guilt might be atoned for by individual sacrifice, and ultimately, God provided the perfect sacrifice. It was this one which would rearrange the permanence and powers afforded to death.

And this is why I find Christianity to be the appropriate response to my appetite for life-and-not-death. In all of history, only Jesus has convinced large numbers of people that he had power over death. He said he did, and then he died. It turns out that you really can't keep a good man down.

Christians continue to die, but, as Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, "we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." This is why Christianity succeeded, even though it was persecuted, and was a faith of the powerless.

Jesus promised to take his followers on a journey of discovery out of mystery: he said "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and noone comes to the father except through me." He promises an end goal: ultimate reality, the Father, God. This destination, into deepest truth and life, is a journey of ultimately great discovery and ultimately great mystery. Whoever loses their life for Jesus's sake, will find it. Jesus demands everything, so that our love for him can be absolute.

Joy and happiness, are also to be found in an ultimate way in Jesus. Indeed, the bible commands: "Always rejoice in the Lord". The love that conquers all things is ultimate reality as far as the bible is concerned: what is this but joy and happiness?

Reconciliation is what surprised the early church: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Paul was amazed by this, and passion without prejudice is always what characterises the love which is in Christ. We need this God. He is glorious.

Luke 15: 2

2009-07-29T02:00:00.002+01:00

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Jesus makes a few old testament texts mean so much more through this parable. What I notice most about Jesus' tale is that the father must have been standing and waiting, keeping a look-out for his lost son. How else might he discern him at a distance? Now I hear longing in the voice when God says:

Zechariah 1: 3 - Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you...
What sort of reunion will it be, though? Will the terms be bearable? Consider this: the father in Jesus' story felt compassion, even as he saw his wretched son.

Malachi 3: 7 - From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?'
The prodigal son just comes to his senses, realises he has nothing to lose, gets up, and comes. He comes in humility and without much hope. He does not expect to be treated like a son, knowing that he has forfeited that privilege by squandering the inheritance, and insulting his father, effectively by desiring his death. Coming humbly and without expectations is not a bad way to return to God: He owes nobody anything.

Lamentations 3: 57 - You came near when I called on you; you said,'Do not fear!'
The son in the parable apprehensively rehearses his sorry story as he trudges along the road. If only he knew that his compassionate father had been keeping a look-out! He would not require even to hear the full story when he saw him. He was the sort of father who would not stand on his dignity, but would run out - desperate to meet him - and with hugs and kisses. His son would not have to petition to see him. This was the reunion he had been hoping for, a cause for celebration!