What will you eat today?

It’s sometimes said that eating is our national hobby. Most of us enjoy choosing and consuming food, know restaurant ratings well and are delighted to give or accept invitations to dine.

The Bible has a similarly positive appreciation of food. An initial vegetarian diet was soon replaced by freedom to eat just about everything (Gen 9:3). After Jesus, the Old Testament food laws were relaxed and we can again eat almost anything with thanksgiving (Acts 10:9-15; 15:28-29; 1 Tim 4:3-4).

Food is listed as one of God’s gifts (eg Ps 104:14-15) and a bountiful ‘table’ is a powerful image of God’s best blessings (eg Ps 23:5; Matt 22:1). This is all good news: we thank God for our food and can enjoy the food that he gives us.

However, there are some food traps. Unwise eating can damage our health, especially if we have a low-exercise sedentary lifestyle. More seriously, discontentment can lead to a terrible state where enough is never enough and our stomach becomes our god (1 Tim 4:6-7; Phil 3:19). On a social level, a failure to share food with the hungry is indicative of a life that does not belong to God (Matt 25:35&42).

Thus, food has its place, but it is not first place. As Jesus says: is not life more than food? (Matt 6:25). He warns that preoccupation with physical food can keep us from seeing our need and the source of food for the soul (Jn 6:26-27,35). Our soul-food is found by connecting to God through faith in Jesus, devouring his word, letting it become part of us and drawing energy form it to live a vigorous life with and for the Lord.

What will we eat today?

Many of us plan our eating for the day, set aside time to dine and make a restaurant booking. And we do the same tomorrow and for tomorrow’s tomorrow. But, what about our soul food? It’s often a casual affair with the odd snack on God’s word, missed spiritual meals and super-light portions. Indeed, some of our spiritual diet may be like junk food. This is the kind of spiritual ‘eating’ that gives a rush of energy but which fails to build us up and may even damage our spiritual health. The Bible encourages Christian adults away from an infant’s diet of spiritual milk and points us to spiritual solids. (Heb 5:12-14). These solids are the further truths about Jesus that will inform and sustain our faith in him through tough times. Attention to our spiritual diet is key to an enjoyable, energetic and healthy life with God.

Bon appétit!

Jacob's Journey

Many of our adult members are the first generation in their families to be Christian. An increasing number of our rising generation were born into a Christian family. They were taught the faith at home and have grown through our various Christian education ministries for infants, children and youth.

It’s a wonderful privilege to be raised in a Christian home. However it raises some questions. These were well-put in a question at our recent youth camp: Many of us were baptised as infants and raised as Christians. At what point do we become Christians and how do we know if we are Christian?

The Old Testament helps us. Jacob was Abraham’s grandson. We can assume that he was circumcised in infancy (the old equivalent to infant baptism - Gen 17:9-14) and raised within the faith of the Lord. However, his behaviour in lying to his father and cheating his brother suggests that the faith was not yet his own (Gen 27). Jacob went on a journey to find a wife but the Lord had another journey in mind (Gen 28). The Lord met him in a dream, introduced himself as the God of his grandfather and father and promised big blessings. Jacob awoke from his spiritual slumber and promised that: the Lord will be my God (Gen 28:21).

This is a familiar pattern. We have our children baptised as a mark of their belonging to the Lord and should help them to know and do God’s will (Deut 6:4-9). We should also pray that they will grow in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. This was the pattern of Jesus’ childhood (Lke 2:52) and can be considered as the norm for children of Christian parents.

However, our children need to make Jacob’s journey. The faith of their parents needs to become their faith and their parent’s God needs to become my God. Some may follow Jacob and be reconnected to God after a period of rebellion. Others may have a quieter process which is barely noticed. What matters here is not the process but the outcome: that, one way or another, our children confirm the Lord as 'my God' and live it out.

This presents a challenge to parents and the church. One of our roles is to help children know the difference between going along with their parents’ faith and following the Lord for themselves. It’s unhelpful if they and we simply assume that children are Christians because they are raised in Christian homes and have grown through the Christian education ministries of the church.

Let’s help our children to know this difference and to make Jacob’s journey.

The Christmas Bridge

The Chinese government has started work on a bridge to link Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau with a 50 klm six-lane roadway. It will be the longest bridge ever.

Bridges make connections.
God’s action in sending his Son Jesus into the world can be seen as the greatest act of bridge–building ever undertaken. The result is a connection between heaven and earth - an infinite spiritual distance.

The Bible puts it in the language of Jesus being a mediator or middleman: For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 1:5). A mediator reconciles parties who were estranged from each other and that is what Jesus does. He is the one who made peace by his blood and thus reconciled former enemies (Col 1:20-22).

Brides need connections.
Bridges make connections but also depend on them. For this reason the Christian church has long followed the Bible to insist that Jesus is both God and man (eg 1 Jn 4:1-3, 9). In the early centuries, theologians had to insist on the full humanity of Jesus to counter view that he lacked a connection side on the human side of the bridge. In later days, the divinity of Jesus had to be defended to establish the God-ward side of the connection.

Bridges have builders
The bridge was built from heaven to earth and not from both sides. God sent his son. We did not ask for him and even rejected him when he came (Lke 20:1-15). God does not help those who help themselves. Instead he helps those who reject his help and are unable to help themselves. God built the bridge.

Bridges cost plenty.
The new Chinese bridge will cost about RMB73 billion. Hopefully, it will be built without loss of life in workplace accidents. The bridge from heaven to earth was built at the immense cost of the one and only Son of God being sent to die as a necessary part of the construction process (Jn 12:23-27).

Bridges are there to be used.
It will be amazing if the new Chinese bridge is built then remains empty. It’s there to enable people and goods to connect from one side to another.

Likewise with Jesus. God chose to save, who to save and how to save. He then gives us a very real human responsibility. Jesus commands us to repent and believe the gospel (Mrk 1:15).When we do this, he is our bridge to life. Let’s do that and cross to the other side.

Mary Christmas

Christmas can be irritating. If you are travelling or live overseas, it can mean separation from family and loved ones. If you are working or serving in church, it means being busy while others relax. And then there’s the ceaseless pressure to work through ‘to do’ and ‘to buy’ lists. Meanwhile, the seasonal Bible readings and carols can fade to a meaningless drone with our contempt for the familiar.

Amidst all this, yet another call to have a ‘Merry Christmas’ can make us fume. Perhaps we need a ‘Mary Christmas’.

Mary had every reason to be irritated. First there was the troublesome journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem for census purposes – and surely a census-based tax would follow. Then there was the baby. Misconceptions surrounded the pregnancy and now there was the delivery. A barn was no substitute for a delivery suite at KK Hospital and noisy animals were no substitute for caring nurses. And then they were on the move again – fleeing to Egypt in the middle of the night. Would she ever get home to show the boy to her folks?

Despite all this, Mary rejoiced at Christmas.

Her joy was expressed in a song that we call the Magnificat, from its opening words in Latin (Lke 1:46-55). It draws on another mother’s song (Hannah in 1 Sam 2:1-10) and puts the birth of Jesus in a big frame. Mary is an able theologian as she interprets her son’s birth through the lens of God’s power, mercy and covenant promises. Every baby is special, but this one was more special than most.

Notice where Mary’s focus is. It’s not on herself, apart from to confess her humble state. Nor is it on the passing circumstances of what we could call Christmas trivia. Rather, her eye is on God and his big deeds. She sees God acting on her behalf to be her saviour and is glad – very glad. That’s an interesting twist. Parents can resent being overshadowed by their children, but Mary welcomes it. Her son will be her saviour!

Let’s take time to have a Mary Christmas this year. Maybe we can say ‘no’ to a few invitations in order to spend deep moments with God. This can be time for a meditative reading of the nativity accounts, perhaps with Handel’s Messiah or a well chosen version of the Magnificat spiralling our thoughts and prayers heavenward like incense.

Whatever we do this Christmas, let’s join Mary and rejoice in the Lord. Then maybe Christmas won’t be so irritating after all.

Resting or Restless?

People sometimes have a passive idea of what it is to be a Christian. Thus faith is seen as a static resting on Christ for salvation and then just plain resting. Likewise, baptism can be seen as the end of a journey, rather than a mid-point on a journey that ends with our death.

The Bible shows us active followers of Jesus. Mary went on to follow her Son from the cradle to the Cross and the shepherds spread the word about what they had seen. It was likewise in the adult ministry of Jesus. His characteristic message was announce the coming of the kingdom and call people to follow him. Lives changed as the fishermen left their nets and Matthew left his revenue table (eg Mat 4:18-20; 9:9). Their following was active.

This pattern continued after the ascension – and it was intensified as the energising and equipping ministry of the Holy Spirit empowered believers and thrust them into being restless for Christ. Baptism was a ticket to a Christ-centered activism of learning all they could. They met for prayer, fellowship and worship; and bustled about in community involvement (eg Acts 2:38-47). The chosen people were not the frozen people, but were hot for Jesus.

There are challenges for all of us here.

Today’s new members will pledge themselves; … to serve faithfully the Church and society, that God's holy name may be glorified in me. In keeping with this they have all been presented with the opportunities and challenges of service within our various ministries and many of them are already active.

What about those of us who have been Christians for longer periods? Are we resting or are we restlessly active to serve Christ, his church and his world? There is no shortage of places where all of us can use the God-given abilities that have been developed and matured

A tired leader recently asked when the busyness of ministry will end. The answer is simple: when the Lord returns to us or we return to him. Thus John Piper prays Lord, spare me this curse with respect to ‘retirement’ from Christian service. He also tells how the first Christian missionary to the Islamic world was a monk in his mid 80s!

Let us indeed rest on Christ in saving faith and let us take those moments of restfulness in him that we need to catch our breath and replenish our soul. But let us also resolve to be restless for him while ever we draw breath.

The Waiting

THE WAITING
Anna wondered whether she could last the distance. Her seven year marriage seemed a lifetime ago and at 84 plus she knew that her days were numbered. Yet she waited with expectation. Every day she went to the temple and worshipped. Her eyes scanned the visitors ... would this be the day when the redeemer came? (Lke 2:36-38)

Someone else waited. Time was passing but God had promised that he would see the deliverer before death closed his eyes. Something took him to the temple compound that day. Then he saw them. There was a mother, her man and a baby not long past the one month anniversary. Something tugged at his heart and he knew this was the moment – taking the child he embraced God’s salvation. As for himself, Simeon was now ready to die. (Lke 2:25-35)

What are we waiting for?

We habitually count down to all kinds of events and may even have a countdown timer on our computer. Weddings, births, holidays, graduations and retirements all give us a sense of expectation and thus we watch the days shrink. But, do you notice that the waiting is sometimes better than the getting? And so we ask ourselves: ‘What was that all about?”

Is it worth the wait?

Anna and Simeon were waiting for God to act. They didn’t know it, but their wait was for Jesus. He is the one whose coming marked the close of the waiting time and the start of the ‘now’ time. This was the ‘last days’ as the end-game of God’s big plans came to fruition. And thus the Christmas cradle led to the Easter Cross and the cancelling of sin’s penalty and power through the self-sacrifice of Jesus.

We call all this ‘advent’: the coming of God’s Son Jesus at Christmastime.

There is another waiting. Another coming. Another advent. And so the Bible speaks of Jesus coming a second time to bring the fullness of God’s salvation to those who are waiting for him (Heb 9:28). We wait for this advent by putting our faith in Jesus to reconnect us to God and by giving ourselves to a life of love for God and humanity. This kind of waiting means that we are always as ready as Anna and Simeon to welcome Jesus and that we have no fear of God’s judgement.

Jesus has come and is coming.
What are we waiting for?

HEROES OF THE FAITH – CLEMENT

Over the last few weeks we have met some Christian heroes of the second century: Polycarp, Felicitas and Justin. These all bore outward testimony to Jesus and were all martyred for his sake.

Meanwhile the church grew in numbers and in its geographical spread. This was a church like any other in history: an imperfect company of imperfect saints. Problems soon arose within local churches and required help.

The church at Corinth needed attention from the Apostle Paul for its problems in New Testament times. Further problems arose later in the first century. The ‘fitting and orderly way’ that Paul had commended to Corinth (1 Cor 14:50) fell apart. Some senior church leaders were summarily deposed and disorder threatened.

New of this reached Rome where Clement was the key leader. He is called ‘bishop’. This means that he was a senior local church leader rather than a modern-day regional bishop. This Clement may be the person mentioned in Philippians 4:3 and almost certainly knew the apostles Peter and Paul at Rome as a young man. He was born in the modern Ukraine and lived AD40-99.

Clement wrote to the troubled church in Corinth. ‘The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians’ was probably written in 96AD and is the first surviving Christian writing after the New Testament. It was read alongside Paul’s letters at Corinth as late as AD170.

Clement’s letter is warmly pastoral and has wise words for the church of any age as it faces disagreements and conflicts. Notice how he commends gentleness towards fellow-believers and points us towards Christ: …

Let us cleave, therefore, to those who cultivate peace with godliness. … For Christ is of those who are humble-minded and not of those who exalt themselves over the flock. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the sceptre of the majesty of God, did not come in the pomp of pride or arrogance … but in a lowly condition.

…. Let our whole body then be preserved in Christ Jesus and let everyone be subject to his neighbour.

It is inevitable that problems arise within churches. What matters is how we resolve them. Clement sets an example of decisive action, rather than dithering. He shows us the way of peacemaking that looks to Christ and bids us look not to our own interests but to that of the whole church.

HEROES OF THE FAITH – JUSTIN

Christian heroism comes in many forms. Some are heroes in missions, evangelism or care of the needy. Others are heroes of the Christian mind.

Justin (~ AD100-165) was born in Palestine of pagan parents. He pursued truth and meaning through Greek philosophy until his conversion to Christianity aged about 30. He writes: … I was delighted with the doctrines of Plato, and heard the Christians slandered, but at the same time saw them intrepid at the prospect of death … . These believers may not have matched the unconverted Justin in debate, but they clinched the argument with their deeds.

Do our lives commend Christ to his cultured critics?

Justin became a leading Christian scholar. He first taught in Ephesus where he argued for Christ against Jewish critics. Next stop was Rome. He spoke for Christ to the pagan philosophers and even the Roman Senate.

Do we use our pre-Christian strengths and contacts in the service of Christ?

Christianity sometimes has an uneasy relationship with philosophy. In part this is based on a misreading of the text: See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy (Col 2:8). Justin was one of the first to see that the problem is not with philosophy itself but with philosophy that denied Christ. He tried to take every thought captive (2 Cor 10:5) as he thought, spoke and wrote with a Christian intellect. Some of his views seem problematic today, but we should not miss the challenge to develop and express a world-engaging Christian mind.

Here is a sample of his robust writing: Hence we are called atheists. And we confess that we are atheists, so far as the gods of this kind are concerned, but not with respect to the most true God ….

Do we think as Christians on the issues of our day?
Do we speak as Christians in our public square?

Justin was not just words. His public arguments for Christianity brought him under surveillance. He was denounced for refusing to sacrifice to the local gods, scourged and beheaded. And that is why he is more commonly known as Justin Martyr.

Are we ready to confess Christ as Lord, whatever the consequences?

Clunched

Clunched = the deal you clinch over lunch

Just wondering

Just wondering ..

Why the streets are 'All decked out' just now but there's hardly any mention of Christ-mas?

Why its okay for finance companies to proselytize aggressively on the streets but its not okay to send a prisoner a pastoral letter with a minister's message, prayer points and Bible readings?

HEROES OF THE FAITH – THE FILIAL BOND

One of the worst fears of many parents is to attend our own child’s funeral. But what if you watched your seven sons die before your eyes because you were Christians and also knew that you were next?

Would we stay loyal to Christ?

Felicitas was a wealthy Christian widow who lived in Rome. She was born in AD101, had seven sons. Many people were converted through her charitable deeds. These deeds and the conversions attracted attention. Pagan priests complained against her to Emperor Marcus Aurelius and a trial date was set.

Are our lives so distinctly Christian as to attract attention and even hostility for Christ’s sake?

A public official tried to persuade Felicitas and her sons to abandon Christ. He failed. According to tradition, the first son was whipped and pressed with weights until he died. The next two had their brains beaten out with clubs. The next was thrown from a height to his death. The last three sons were beheaded. As each son died, Felicitas was offered the pardon of her own life if she renounced Christ. She refused. And so, aged 65, this Christian widow was beheaded with the same sword that was used against her youngest sons.

What price would we pay for Jesus?

Our families can be causes of division in the faith and even Jesus had troubled family relationships at times (eg Mat 10:34-38; 12:47-50). However, for most of us, our families are the one group of people who we can count on to stand by us in all circumstances and to love us at all times.

Imagine then the feelings of Felicitas as her sons suffered on her account. Had she renounced her Lord, they, and she, may well have lived. Instead, like Mary, her soul was pierced on their account (Lke2:35). This mother was made of an inner steel that was tougher than the sword used against her sons and herself.

How firm is our resolve to maintain our confession in Jesus?

Few of us are likely to be tested in the manner of Felicitas. However, we will all be tested if we are faithful to the Lord. May we be as resolute as this noble hero of the faith and keep Jesus in absolute first place in our lives.

Heroes of the Faith – Polycarp

2,000 years of Christian history have produced many heroic figures whose examples of dedication to Christ inspire and teach us.

One such is Polycarp of Smyrna (Izmir in modern west Turkey). It seems he was born about AD69 and was a leading Bishop of the church in Roman Asia. In AD155 he was on the ‘most wanted’ list for the local authorities. The charges against him were atheism (for not believing in the Roman gods) and sedition (for putting Christ before Emperor).

When Polycarp was arrested he said: God’s will be done, and provided refreshments for his captors while he prayed for two hours. On the day of his trial his judges were embarrassed at such an aged and gentle man. One asked: "What harm is there in saying that Caesar is Lord … and so saving yourself". Another said: "Swear and I release you, curse Christ."

Polycarp’s reply is one of the noblest confessions of any martyr: "For 86 years I have been his servant, and he has never done me wrong: how can I blaspheme my king who saved me?"

Are we so loyal and grateful to Christ that we would say this?

Death by wild beasts and then burning was threatened. Polycarp replied: "The fire you threaten burns for a time and is soon extinguished: there is a fire you know nothing about – the fire of the judgement to come … . But why do you wait? Do what you want ... ."

Are we so certain of the hope to come that we would be thus calm before this prospect?

As the fire was prepared he prayed again: "I bless you for counting me worthy of this day and hour, that in the number of the martyrs I may partake of Christ’s cup, to the resurrection of eternal life of both body and soul …."

Are we so fixed on Christ and his kingdom that we could say the same, even for the lesser suffering that we have for Christ?

It seems that the young Polycarp knew the Apostle John. Little could John have known how his words to the church in Smyrna would prove so apt for her later bishop: "Do not fear what you are about to suffer. ... Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. … The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death" (Rev 2:10-11).

May we have grace to be as faithful as Polycarp.

Ready to Go - The Really Useful People

Today is Reformation Sunday. We remember the gracious act of God to reform his church through people such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox.

One feature of the Reformation was insistence on the rule of Scriptures. The church and its members were not to be swayed by tradition, pragmatism or their own ideas on what was right in faith, life, worship and church order. Instead, God’s people were to listen and submit as God spoke in the Scriptures. That emphasis on God ruling all things through his Scriptures is especially strong in reformed and Presbyterian churches.

Today is also the end of our four week series from 2 Timothy 3:14-17. This passage teaches us that the Scriptures are God-breathed. God’s word was expressed in the words of human language through men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The passage also explains the uses of the Bible. It will make us wise for salvation; teach and correct us in the content of our beliefs; rebuke and train us in Christian conduct.

Today also marks the end of Christian Education emphasis month. Over the last few weeks we have been exposed to the various Bible teaching ministries of the church. Today’s focus is on adult learning through our revamped School of Christian Ministry (SoCM). The courses and programming of New SoCM give us all many opportunities to grow in the faith.

The purpose of this growth is summed up in the words: so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:17). That is, we don’t study the Bible as an end in itself, but as a means to a greater end: that we might be: God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10).

All of today’s themes come together as we mark the church’s anniversary. We need to scrutinise church life by the Scriptures lest churchly traditions or pragmatism take us from God’s way. We need to reinforce that the whole church is to be a Bible-learning and Bible-doing church at all times.

The anniversary is also a time to remind one another of our calling. We are to be ready to go with God as we live the life that he sets before each of us. We are to be ready to go for God as we fulfil his mission to make disciples of all nations. This readiness is a product of being a Bible-learning people.

May it please God to make us a really useful people in his next year.

Was It Worth It?

The old Protestant cemetery in Pinang Malaysia has graves of many pioneers of the British colony there.

Some came as merchant adventurers with the East India Company and more to seek their fortune. Others came to build an empire as soldiers and administrators. Doubtless many were escapees.

It was a long journey for all and the risks were real. Many graves contained people who lived less than 45 years.

One family grave is noteworthy ..

John Ince died on 24 April 1824 aged 29.

His wife Joanna died on 1 June 1822 aged 27. She shared her coffin with an unnamed infant son.

Their daughter Caroline Rachel died on 4 December 1820 after 5 months and 26 days of life. Her younger sister Eliza died on 23 May 1821 aged one month and four days.

What cause took the Ince family to all this?

John and Joanna were Christian missionaries. They went to build the greatest empire in God’s kingdom and to share the riches of heaven.

Was it worth it? ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to keep that which he cannot lose.’

The Really Useful Bible

We all know that a closed Bible is a useless thing. In the language of an old Anglican prayer, we should have our Bible open to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest its contents.

It’s one thing to have the Bible open and be active learners, but what are the uses of this learning?

As 2 Timothy 3:15 teaches, the first use of the Bible is to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. This was our theme last Sunday.

However, the Bible’s uses do not stop there. The Bible has uses to those who have put their faith in Jesus as well as to unbelievers. 2 Timothy 3:16 gives four further uses, paired around two themes of Christian content and conduct.

• Christian content: The Bible is useful for teaching and correcting. In a positive sense, the Bible teaches us all we need to know about God. Instead of making up our own ideas about God we are to let him be our teacher through the Scripture. We sometimes have defective ideas about God, whether from partial knowledge, some distortion of truth or even a wilful error. The Bible is the standard by which these wrong ideas are corrected and we are pointed to right content in our beliefs.

• Christian conduct: The faith is something to be lived and the Bible is the street map to guide our conduct. This is especially pressing for converts from non-Christian backgrounds who may have little idea of godly living. The Bible trains in righteousness by pointing us to the principles and patterns of behaviour that please our Lord. On the other hand, both new converts and old believers can slip into conduct that is right in the world’s eyes but offensive to God. We need to have our Bible open so that these behaviours are rebuked and changed.

If we put all this together, we see that the Bible has uses for heart, head and hands. Our heart is to be given to the Lord Jesus in faith as we become wise for salvation. Our head is to be taught and corrected in the content of the faith. Our hands are to be trained and rebuked in right conduct so that we can live what we believe.

The Scriptures are a really useful book. Let’s open our Bibles often and carefully ponder what is written there. Let’s also let the Bible to both inform and transform our head, heart and hands in the ways that please our Lord.

Wise for Salvation

Wise for Salvation

Some people have a life-long and deep-seated fascination for the Bible. Whether as amateur sleuths or professional scholars, they love to spend time digging deeper and deeper into the background, language and meaning of the Bible. This is good, and we can all benefit when they share the fruits of their fascination.

But is the Bible given just for our fascination? Is the Bible more like a textbook for our learning or a road map for life?

2 Timothy 3 addresses these questions. The God-breathed Scriptures are intended to guide our thinking and behaviour in order to make us complete people who are ready to go for God (3:16).

However, first things first.

The greatest and first human need is to reconnect with our maker through faith in his Son Jesus (Rom 3:23). And so, before the Bible teaches us what to believe and how to behave it points us to Jesus for the wisdom of salvation (2 Tim 3:15). This is a message that we will never discover in creation, or in our conscience or by our own thinking. It is a message that is revealed in Scripture (Rom 3:21) and which must be revealed because our hearts are darkened and our thinking is foolish (Rom 1:21). This is wisdom: to see our need of salvation, to know that we cannot save ourselves and to trust in Jesus as saviour.

Notice where this message is found – it’s the Old Testament. The ‘scripture’ referred to in 2 Timothy 3:15; Rom 1:2; 3:21 and 1 Corinthians 15:3 is the old Bible of the Hebrews. This reinforces a point that Jesus made to his disciples after his resurrection (Lke 24:25-27, 45-49). We must learn to read the Old Testament in the light of Jesus and as all pointing to Jesus in one way or another.

Whatever else we learn from the Bible, this is the start point. Its one thing to be learned in the languages and literature of the Bible and able to discuss it for hours – but have we believed in Jesus?

In this sense, the Bible is a road map for life. We are not all able to study it with intellectual wisdom, but we can all read the life-wisdom of reconnecting to God through his Son Jesus.

In ORPC we put a big emphasis on Bible learning in many of our ministries. Let’s be sure that we have made the Bible a road map for life by putting our faith in Jesus.

The Scriptures: Inspired and Inspiring

The Christian Scriptures are central to our gathered worship, to all Christian Education ministries and to our private piety.

Why make such a fuss over this diverse collection of ancient writings? They are often difficult to understand and are far removed from our digital world in which we are post-everything but unsure what we stand for. Why privilege the Scriptures over other religious writings?

We receive the Bible as the word of God and hear the Scripture declare that: All Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16a). This is a compelling image. Our breath comes from the inner recesses of our being and expresses our thoughts as it passes over the speech organs. Likewise, the Scriptures come from God’s heart and express him to us.

2 Peter gives us a clue as to how this happened: men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:21).

• Men spoke: the Bible was written by human hands in our languages using different literary styles and in widely varying settings. To understand the Bible we have to try and get into the minds of these people and their languages, styles and settings. Then we can better grasp what they were trying to say to the people of their day before asking what the message is for us.

• Men spoke from God: the Bible’s writers were not the final source of their message. They were used by God in such as way that prophets could say thus says the Lord, the apostles were the means through which the Lord’s commands were given (2 Pet 3:2) and the writings of a man like Paul could be called ‘Scripture’ (2 Pet 3:16).

• Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit: the whole Trinity is involved as the Father bears witness to his Son through the Spirit who also enables us to understand the Scripture (1 Cor 2:11-14).

Thus the Scripture has divine and human aspects, just like Jesus who was both fully man and wholly divine. The humanity of the Bible impacts the way in which we understand it, as noted above. The divinity of the Bible makes it worth reading as we hear the word of our creator and redeemer in the words of his human writers.

It is because the Bible is inspired by God that it is inspiring. And that is why it remains central to gathered worship, Christian Education ministries and private piety.

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME?

Help to the needy often begins with those closest to us. And so we read: Whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim 5:8). Following this we may often start our help-giving with our family, our friends, our fellow-believers, those of our cultural group and only then to the world at large. If funds are short, we may even stop after helping just our own family.

However, it’s worth considering some other texts. The parable of the Good Samaritan holds up a model of help across cultural lines (Lke 10:29-37). The Christians of Corinth and nearby cities collected money for needy Jewish believers in far-off Jerusalem (2 Cor 8-9). All believers are urged to do good to all men, with particular mention of fellow believers (Gal 6:10). And Jesus teaches us to give to anyone who asks of us, citing the example of God who sends sun and rain on all manner and condition of men (Mat 5:42-47).

Human need is not parochial and neither is the responsibility of care.

The same point is made to the Old Testament church. When Israel entered Canaan she was to give a triennial tithe to help poorer people (Dt 14:28-29; 2612-15). This was part of being soft-hearted and open-handed (Dt 15:7-8). This would be an ongoing need, for there would always be poor people, even though there should not be (Dt 15:4,11).

The lists of receipients are significant. The first mentioned are the Levites, or clergy. They had no land to farm and depended on the offerings of landowners to support their families, much as today’s pastoral staff depend on the church’s funds so they can be full-time in ministry. Israel’s widows and orphans are certainly to be helped, but they are only mentioned after the alien or stranger. Likewise with the great celebration that was to follow the first offerings of first fruits in the land that God gave (Dt 26:11). Notice that order : needy non-Hebrews are mentioned before the main categories of locals. This was so that they too could share in, and celebrate, the Lord’s bounty.

Perhaps it doesn’t really matter which needy person we help first or last. However, there is a sense in which Christian help for the needy is to be like missions (Acts 1:8). We are to help those closest at hand, and those not very far away, and our regional neighbours, and all peoples ‘to the ends of the earth’.

Whoever we help first or last, let’s be sure that we echo God’s heart and keep his word by helping the needy wherever his sun shines and his rains fall.

Worldly Holiness

WORLDLY HOLINESS

In some places ‘holiness’ has a bad name. It is associated with prudishness, sanctimoniousness, censoriousness and self-righteousness. Is this what God means when he calls us to: be holy because I am holy (Lev 11:44; 1 Pet 1:15)?

A basic idea in holiness is that we are to be different. We are to be separated from God-denying ways of living in order that we might be separated to God’s way and reflect his character.

Holiness is not a matter of being other-worldly, but being this-worldly in a very grounded and God-pleasing sense.

Worldly holiness is on view in Deuteronomy 14 - 16. God’s people are reminded that they are his treasured children and are to be holy to him. But holiness is to show in everyday conduct.

For starters, certain foods would not be on their plate (Dt 14:3-21). This was not just a matter of (possibly) healthy eating, but also of showing their holy character by being publicly different to other peoples. It is worth noting that Christians are explicitly released from these food laws (eg Acts 10:9-14; 1 Tim 4:3-5). However, we can show holiness by a free choice of restraint in our diet and by helping hungry people to have food to eat.

Holiness also touches our time and treasure.

Time was money in a farming community like ancient Israel. Yet they were to down tools for several annual festivals and trek to the central place of worship (Dt 16:1-17). We are not farmers and nor do we share these religious festivals. However, there is still a challenge here. Can we show Christian holiness by making generous time available for priorities such as family, Christian activity and community service?

Old Testament Israel faced a struggle to build national and personal wealth as she settled in Canaan. Yet part of her holiness was to trust God’s provision by obeying his command for a tithe on income, cancelling all personal debts every seven years, lending to the poor with little chance of repayment, freeing fellow-Hebrew slaves with a generous bonus and giving the first born of their stock to the Lord (Dt 14:22 – 15:21). Once again, Christians are free from the specifics of these commands – but how do we show holiness with our far more vast treasure?

May God give us wisdom to know what worldly holiness is in our terms and faithfulness to show it.

Review 'The Prodigal God'

Review: Timothy Keller, 'The Prodigal God, 2008, Hodder & Stoughton, 138p.


As the title suggests, this is an exposition of the well-known parable from Luke 15.

But what an exposition! Part running commentary, part expansive sermon, this easily red gem of a book uses the parable to lay the gospel before the reader in a winsome and holistic manner.

A distinctive feature is the attention that he gives to the older brother. Both from the context of Jesus' first hearers and from the balance of the parable itself, Keller argues that at least equal focus should be given to the older brother.

As Ketter says, its a parable of two lost brothers. One is the wastrel who is lost 'without' - one characterized . The other is the self-righteous who is lost 'within'. Both need the father's love and the father goes out to both. But where the wastrel accepts the father's love the other son rejects. He is by far the harder case.

Jesus is attractive portrayed as the true older brother who is the 'keeper' of the lost and who reaches out to reclaim him at personal cost.

That's enough to give a taste of this great book. Who's it for? Enquirers or new Christians are obvious readers. But likewise for those who have been believers or even leaders for many years and who could do with a freshening up in gospel 101.

Total Depravity & Total Delight

Some years ago I worked for a company that sold bulk industrial chemicals. I soon learnt the basic sales strategy of demonstrating a need (or creating one!) and then showing how my firm could meet it better any competitors.

We need to see our need of Jesus before we believe in him. Many will say ‘I’m not that bad, I can manage my own relationship with God’. These words betray a fatal self-deception and pride. They are fatal because they keep us from believing in the one person whose help we really need – Jesus.

All this is Paul’s theme in Romans 1:18 – 3:20. He previously spoke of how Jesus was the universal saviour for all and any who believed (Rom 1:16-17. He then demonstrates the universal human need of Jesus.

It’s easy to show how outwardly bad people need Jesus and Paul does that very quickly (1:18-32). But what about those who are religious but lost, or who are what Tim Keller calls the ‘elder-brother lost’ (see his book The Prodigal Son). These are people who are inside places of worship but who are lost from God. Their outward goodness and religion stops them from seeing their need of Jesus. In Paul’s day, these were his fellow Jews, and he gives many words to showing how they fall short of God (Rom 2:1 – 3:20). Who are their modern equivalents?

This is all part of the argument for what is sometimes called ‘Total Depravity’. (Google ‘Total Depravity’ or ‘Five Points of Calvinism’ for the background). This teaching is easily misunderstood, but its dismissal is dangerous.

‘Total depravity’ is not a teaching that all people are as bad as they can be. Few people are so bad that there is no spark of goodness within them. There is more goodness in the world of general humanity than we sometimes admit. However, sin is like a malignant cancer cell – it only takes one cell to be fatal. Thus total depravity is a teaching that left to ourselves we will all follow the habit of denying and defying God. Further, any falling short in thought, word or deed is fatal, for unholy people cannot dwell with an utterly good God (Ps 15).

Let’s get personal. Who among us can say that every thought, word and deed is what it should be and that there is no good thought, word and deed that we have omitted? I certainly can’t say this. Can you?

The gospel of Jesus is total delight for those who see their need. May God give us the ‘sight’ to see our need to Jesus and to act on it by putting our faith in him.

The Place of Worship

THE PLACE OF WORSHIP

The word ‘worship’ can be used in several important ways.

First up, there is our life-worship, in which all of all we are at all times is lived in thankful service to the Lord (Rom 12:1-2). Without this, no other worship makes sense. Secondly, there is gathered worship as represented by our Sunday services (eg Acts 2:42-46; 1 Cor 14:26; Heb 10:25). Thirdly, there is our devotional worship as we give our selves to prayer, praise and Bible reading in our family and private life (eg Acts 10:9).

But, what about the ‘place’ of worship?

That question was easily answered in Old Testament times. Worshipers went to a special tent and its successor - the temple. They were places of guaranteed access to God (eg Ex 33:7-11; 1 Kng 8:27-30). There was a big concern to centralise worship in this one place (eg Deut 12:5,11,13-14,26). In part, this was to ensure that gathered worship happened in a way that pleased God rather than in a free for all that pleased the worshippers. The form of gathered worship is as much an act of obedience to God as anything in the life-worship of God’s people (eg Dt 12:4,8,14,32).

It is doubtful if Old Testament worship was ever totally centralised in one place, despite Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem and the later efforts of Josiah to shut down the other shrines (2 Kngs 22). But the ideal was there: the Lord was only to be approached through the one place of his appointment.

All that takes a new twist after Jesus. He declined argument about the best geographical place of worship and instead pointed to new sense of place and manner for worship (Jn 4:19-24). A concern for spirit and truth must now be central. Further, Jesus was to replace the physical temple as the ‘place’ of worship (Jn 2:19-22). God is still to be approached through the one place of God’s appointment, but the place is now the person of his dear Son. A church building is just a church building, but Jesus is the living temple of the living God.

There is a paradox of singularity and universality here. On the one hand there is only one point of access to God (Jn 14:6) but this point of access is open to all peoples in all places. In the old days, you could not worship if you could not get to the temple. With Jesus, all can worship and we can do so in all geographical places. This is liberating!

So, let us worship God through Jesus. He alone enables our life-worship, our gathered worship and our devotional worship.

Naming

I was recently at a hotel breakfast and watched a girl of two or three years age.

There were impressionistic sculptures of animals on each table. At first she was clueless, then puzzled and curious. With her mother’s help, she ‘named’ one sculpture for the creature that it represented. With a little help, all the names came tumbling out.

Her delight was evident as she ran from table to table amidst the guests repeating the names of each animal.

Various thoughts came to mind:

• Gen 2:19. By naming her world she was gaining understanding and a measure of control. She could talk about her world to herself and with others. In short, naming opened the path to mastery.

• Is naming one expression of what it mean so bear God’s image? To exercise stewardship and dominion over necessitates a measure of mastery? And naming is one means to that mastery.

• Observe how naming enables a child’s development towards autonomous human identity. Correspondingly, note how the inability to name blocks development. Or how a disability that prevents a person from naming there world prevents further development or even catalyses regression.

• In human society, who names what? To what extent does this give them power?

• Witness the habit of tyrants etc to rename places and even the calendar. Witness the Japanese renaming of Singapore on occupation in 1942. Witness the return to Maori names in much of NZ and what they express and create re the status of traditional culture. Witness the Generals renaming of Burma as Myanmar and how that is meant to bolster their claim to legitimacy by linkage to the past.

• Note Freire’s comments on the political import of naming the themes for discussion in language teaching and how the selection of themes and their naming either domesticates or liberates.

• Note how naming links to labeling which is so necessary in taxonomies but once set, takes on a metaphysical as well as an epistemological dimension.

• Note the power of naming and labeling as we humans move up the ladder of abstraction. As we name and label we make and express an evaluation which then frames our perceptions which, in turn, shape our actions and reactions.

Far more was at stake that morning than a girl’s simple delight at having names for the shapes before her.

Blessings, Protection or Forgiveness?

Protection, Blessings or Forgiveness?

Many of our prayers ask God for blessings. And at this time of year many are earnest to ask for his protection. What do we mean by blessing and protection? Are they the heart of our human needs?

By ‘blessings’ we usually mean things like health, wealth and other daily needs. A prayer for protection typically mans we ask gone to protect us from harmful events and forces, whether of a temporal or spiritual nature.

Let’s say that it is good to depend on the Lord to provide for our daily needs and to be content with how he provides. Thus Jesus teaches us to pray that the Lord will give us our daily bread. Note that this is a day to day provision and not a lifetime order. Note also that it is bread (or rice, in Asian terms) and not a gourmet dinner. So, it is right to seek blessings such as food, good health, material provisions. Today’s passage (Lke 8:40-56) tells of an anxious parent and an ill woman seeking such blessings and being rewarded.

Likewise with protection. There are some things against which we cannot protect ourselves and it is good to seek God here too. Thus we think of David when confronted with overwhelming earthly threats(eg Ps 35) or we think of Paul talking about malevolent spiritual forces against which only God can protect (Eph 6:10-18). God is our protector when we cannot help ourselves.

However, our greatest need is not these kinds of blessings and protection. Our greatest problem is that we all sin and fall short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23). Our greatest need is the forgiveness that God provides through Jesus and his atoning sacrifice (Rom 3:22-25).

When God forgives us we have the greatest blessing of all – abundant life now and eternal life with our creator. Likewise, the Cross of Jesus is God’s greatest protective act – protecting us against the effects of our sin.

There are many ways of coming to Jesus and many reasons for coming to him. But we should always be open to the possibility that he will help with needs bigger than the ones we see. Four friends came seeking a health blessing for their friend but he received the greater blessing of forgiveness (Mrk 2:1-12). Others sought their daily bread but missed the greater bread of eternal life (Jn 6:26-27).

Let us come to Jesus with our greatest need and find his greatest blessing in the forgiveness of our sins.

The Cup of Care

The Cup of Care

I am the person who cares for your kids but can’t swim in your pool
Who rides in the back of a truck to make your garden pretty
Who sleeps in a dormitory while I build your home
Who clears the table when you just walk off
Who keeps your place safe, night and day
Who sells you a ticket that I cannot afford
Who drives the taxi to take you to a party
Who takes the trash from your office.
You look at me …
but
do you see me?

Old Testament Israel was the special people of God. They were his church. They had been chosen, rescued, provided for and covenanted with by God. Another people were ejected from the promised land for them to move in. They alone had these privileges.

When we feel special, it is easy to be arrogant, dismissive and oblivious to others. We may even start to think that we deserve our position and that others are fortunate to know us. When this feeling of being special has a religious motive it can become very ugly.

Deuteronomy puts us in our place. Israel was privileged because God loved her, not because of her qualities (7:7-8). She only possessed the land because the Canaanites sinned (9:4-6) and she would lose it if she did the same (4:25-28). Israel was his chosen people, but God made all and was partial to none (10:14&17).

God ‘sees’ the orphan, widow and alien – the three main categories of marginalised people at the time (10:18). God not only saw them, but he was their champion. Israel was the chosen people, but she was not the only people. Witness for example, his provision for care of the needy in his law. Part of this provision was that God’s chosen people were to love and care for them – remembering that they were once in the same position (10:19-22).

Let’s ‘see’ such people and pour them a cup of care in God’s name, for this is pure religion and is a service to our Lord himself (Jas 1:27; Mat 25:40). We are a special people, but the responsibility equals our privilege.

Do you see me?
God does.

A Prayer of Confession,

Dear Heavenly Father,

In all of creation we see your fingerprints. Christians or non Christians alike, you are in the fabric of our lives. In our hearts we know you are there, because you teach us right from wrong.

Yet Lord, we seldom treat you like God or worship you. Please forgive us.

We like to think of ourselves as nice people. We are really not bad. We do not rob or kill, we shake our self righteous heads at adulterers, at backstabbing and ambitious colleagues, and the like.

But are we so good? Envy stabs at our hearts when we meet others better off than us. We cloak ourselves with the obligatory Christian humility, but in reality, we puff up with pride inside at the slightest success or praise. We bicker over matters that reflect the smallness of our hearts. We cheat, sometimes, when we think nobody is watching. We find it natural to bully those weaker than us. Greed gets the better of us, enough is never enough. We want a bigger house, more houses, a bigger car, a second car. More bags, more shoes. More food, better food, more varieties. An endless and aimless chasing after the wind. That’s us.

Forgive us Lord. For it is for people such as us that Jesus came.

Until He came and took hold of us, we had no purpose in our lives. We trade your glory and eternal kingdom for idols made by our hands that do not satisfy. We do whatever we feel we can get away with, allowing our sinful nature to be in charge.

But now, we thank you for Jesus, because through him, we are no longer chained to sin, but are free to live a new life according to your purposes.

So, help us Lord, to leave behind the sinful nature that you detest. Help us do so by allowing the Spirit to do its work in us, instead of depending on our own efforts. We know that when we try to change on our own, we end up testing our strength but achieving little. We become absorbed in ourselves, ignoring who you are and what your Spirit is able to do.
Remind us often, instead, to trust in you and welcome your Spirit’s dwelling in us— so that though we still experience the limitations of sin, we are alive in Christ and our hope and purpose is in our inheritance in heaven.

Even when we tire of our struggles and our aching bodies, we ask that you help us maintain a heart of joy and expectancy, thanking you for the gift of your Spirit who prays alongside us and keeps us present before you.

All this we ask in Jesus’ name.

(Prayed at ORPC 16 August 2009).

All People Need the Lord

All People Need the Lord

Jesus told the first church leaders to make disciples from all peoples (Mat 28:19). We read that heaven’s church has members from all corners of humanity (Rev 7:9).

Likewise Paul writes of his obligation to preach the gospel to all kinds of people and thus his desire to visit Rome so that he could also evangelise there (Rom 1:14).

Paul also tells us why all people need the Lord (Rom 1:18-32 – the passage for our 6pm service today). Every human being knows enough about God to be without excuse (Rom 1:19-20) but we all suppress and pervert that knowledge instead of acting on it. Paul develops this melancholy theme at length and shows how it applies to all people in detail (Rom 1:18 – 3:20). In ourselves, we are all outside of God’s salvation.

However, the news is good! As Paul explains it, the gospel of God’s righteousness through Jesus is sufficient for all and efficient for all and any who believe (Rom 1:16-17). There is no distinction in our need of Jesus, nor in our access to him (Rom 3:23-24).

The flipside of this is that Jesus must be made available to all. And that is where the Great Commission comes in. Every local church and every Christian agency is under the command and obligation to make disciples of all nations.

This means a global vision. We cannot leave other churches to do outreach with this or that people. ‘That people’, wherever they are, and whoever they are, are our responsibility if we have opportunity and access.

This does not mean that we try and do outreach to everyone in every place for we must be realistic about our capacities and concentrate our energies. However, it does mean being open to the Lord’s callings and opportunities locally, regionally and globally. While the command to make disciples of all nations remains in our Bible, missions is a global imperative on us all.

This will sometimes mean big personal sacrifices and a big use of resources. Some of our leaders and members show the way as they give up their time, money and comfort to go and share in our various overseas partnerships. Others do the same as they invest time and reputation to share the gospel at home and at work. This should be the normal order of things for God’s people.

All need the Lord. He came for all. Let’s tell all.

David Burke

Rome Exists in Her Ruins - National Day 2009

ROME EXISTS IN HER RUINS

The Roman Empire was the monolith of New Testament times. All roads led to Rome, all power belonged to Rome and all revenue flowed to Rome. Other powers quaked and fell before her and Roman hegemony threatened to crush all before it.

Many European countries have archaeological and museum projects to study, and preserve the artefacts of the Roman Empire. The effects of her influence can be traced in western civilisation, but it is only vestige. Rome exists only in her ruins.

The same is true of all great empires. Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Greece all had their dawn, noon, dusk and nightfall. The great Khmer empire is now only decaying rubble at Angkor Wat. Where is the Qing dynasty of China, the Vijayanagaran Empire of India or the once-great shogunates of Japan?

All earth’s kingdoms go to the dustbin of history within temporal time and pass to insignificance in eternal time. Augustine summarised it thus in the dying days of the Roman Empire: the cities of men fade while the city of God endures and flourishes.

Meanwhile we live in earth’s cities. Jesus paid his taxes and submitted to civil legal process. Paul teaches us to submit even to bad government (Nero was Emperor when Paul wrote Romans 12:1-7). Peter urges submission to earthly authority (1 Pet 2:13-17) and was probably himself martyred in Rome under these same authorities. Further, we are told to pray and give thanks for kings and those in authority with the goal of being free to live quiet and peaceful lives (1 Tim 2:1-2).

All this helps us relate to national day as Singapore enjoys the noonday sun of history. Christian people should be thankfully and positively engaged with our earthly city – knowing that it is God who has placed us here.

Let us be good citizens of this earthly city. But let us know that Singapore’s day in the sun will pass. Future tourists and scholars will peer at her ruins and vestiges. Can we imagine Shenton Way and Orchard Road strewn with rubble and relics where archaeologists pick and poke?

Above all, lets keep the great love and hope of our hearts on the city that is to come - which is the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Heb 12:22; 13:14). This heavenly city is our lasting nation, for the rest is ruins.

Review: The Priority of Preaching

Christopher Ash, the Priority of Preaching, PT Media & Christian Focus 2009.

This book arises from addresses given the the 2008 EMA in London and is by the Director of the Cornhill Course.

Its a book for those in pastoral ministry or aspiring to be. The topic is preaching, but it is not a story of preachers or a series of 'how to' tips.

Rather it is a carefully argued encouragement for pastors to keep preaching as a central priority in ministry, to make their preaching expository and to preach in consecutive book-length series. The encouragement rests on evangelical assumptions about Scripture as God's living word and on a consideration of the form in which God has revealed himself. He revealed himself in books, so let us preach books!

There's an interesting discussion re the place of small groups verses preaching. Ash argues that being spoken to by someone (preaching) is a culturally universal and equalising experience, whereas small groups are a sub-cultural and possibly divisive experience with their assumptions about literacy, cognitive adeptness and verbal fluency. He also argues that the small group should complement preaching (and thus follow the sermon) by focusing on personal applications and accountability of Scripture and thus avoid the problem of shared ignorance driven by a amateurish efforts at interpretation. This is interesting indeed in the light of present trends to elevate small groups and diminish preaching.

As befits a book building on high assumptions about Scripture, the book is essentially a series of expositions from Deuteronomy. Christopher Ash thus puts his own assumptions and lessons into his words.

This is not a long or difficult book. It could be a great Saturday night read for the discouraged preacher who needs encouragement before the great task of the next day. I read it on a weekend when I preached three sermons in two hemispheres and was moved to bound from plane to pulpit.

Review: The Pastor As Minor Poet

Review: The Pastor As Minor Poet, M Craig Barnes, Eerdmans 2009

This book explores questions of pastoral identity and roles through the lens of poetry.

Its not a book of poems about pastors! Nor is it advocating that pastors give themselves to verse!

Rather, Barnes advocates a pastoral calling to penetrate below the surface of things to get to their meaning. Or, the move beneath naked realism to the truth below.

The book is structured around a series of pastoral scenes in the life of a pastor. These scenes introduce explorations of the nature and craft of the pastor's poetic calling and each scene is discussed in the following chapter. Part two gets down to soem detailed discussion about developing this poetic craft.

I found it a helpful and interesting book to read. Interesting because of the approach taken. Helpful in that it opens up another 'view' of pastoral ministry in a way that is easily understood and which challenges surface interpretations and responses.

Faith Works

Faith Works

The Christian faith has many puzzles that seem to raise ‘either / or’ questions. Is God three or one? Was Jesus divine or human? Is the Bible divine or human? Does God rule everything or are we responsible? Do we need faith or works? Many of these puzzles have ‘both / and’ answers. But we need great care in the order and the balance of the ‘both / and’.

Let’s look at faith and works. Reformed Protestant Christians, such as we Presbyterians, stand on the truth that we are saved by God’s grace which is received by our faith. Starting with Abraham, we say that God’s righteousness is credited to our account through faith (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:1-5). Jesus’ simple statement that your faith has saved you (eg Lke 7:50) is thus expanded and generalised into the teaching that we know as ‘grace alone, faith alone’ (eg Rom 3:21-26; Eph 2:1-9). Thus we have no boast in our salvation and all the credit belongs to God.

At first glance the ‘faith or works’ question seems be decisively answered in favour of faith. Let’s take a second glance. What kind of faith are we talking about?

Abraham’s faith worked. Because he trusted God Abraham left home and headed for a foreign land (Gen 12:4). The same trust led him to Mnt Moriah to surrender his son’s life (Gen 22). Abraham’s periodic moments of disobedience to God (eg Gen 12:10-13; 1:1-2; 20:1-2) are really failures of faith. Because he did not trust God, he acted in his way rather than God’s way.

Faith works or it is not faith. Every act of obedience to God is an act of faith in God. Every act of disobedience to God is a denial of faith. Obedience is part of faith and faith is the necessary parent of obedience. We are indeed saved by grace through faith as God’s gift, but the necessary purpose of this is the good works that God made us for (Eph 2:8-10).

The ‘both / and’ of faith and works is a key balance. If we separate them and favour faith, we easily breed a useless and unproductive faith that is all talk and no walk. If we separate them and favour works, we are in the impossible position of trying to be right with God by what we do and independent of his grace in Jesus.

Let’s challenge each other that faith works. Let’s affirm that we are only saved by God’s grace in Jesus which we receive by faith alone. But let’s also affirm that the faith that saves is faith that works. Let’s stir one another up to such faith, for this is the faith that saves and which fulfils God’s purposes.

Rome exists only in her ruins

While recently on holiday I spent a morning wandering among the ruins of a once great city of the Roman Empire.

The Roman empire sought to crush the kingdom of God as represented by Jesus and his followers.

Rome now exists only in her ruins.

Tthe cause of Christ lives in his living church and its living Lord who reigns from heaven and who sweeps the rermains of once-great empires into the dustbin of history.

Gods of our Own Image or Image of God?

Gods Of Our Own Image Or The Image Of God? 

Who are you? Consider these views:

·         I think therefore I am. (Descartes)

·         I am but a monkey shaved. (WS Gilbert – adapted)

·         I am the master of my fate and the captain of my soul. (WE Henly)

·         I am who I am. (Popeye the sailor man)

·         I think I am.

·         IM therefore I am.

Some views diminish humanity into a quivering mist of uncertainty, indistinguishable from other species, destined for the cosmic dust of passing millennia and leaving only a virtual footprint. Yes others deify our humanity: how infinite in faculty, in form and moving… how like a god (Hamlet).

Who do you see in the mirror?

It’s now common to say that we are an image of ourselves. Thus we are encouraged that we can be whatever we want to be. The makeover industry goes far beyond a new wardrobe, liposuction, hair colouring and cosmetic surgery. There’s a makeover of the heart and mind through various self-improvement programmes to help us be what we want to be from the inside out. We are the gods of our own image.

The Bible points us to see God’s image in our mirror. He is the great I Am. The basic meaning of the Hebrew word YHWH (that we translate as Lord) is that I am who I am (Ex 3:14). God alone can say that and it was the serpent’s lie to persuade Eve that: … you will be like God ... through disobedience (Gen 3:4).

When we see ourselves as God’s creation we are kept from views that either diminish or deify our humanity.

We are not diminished into mere dust, for we alone bear God’s image (Gen 1:26-27). We are each icons of the divine and that gives each of us immense significance. On the other hand, our fundamental reality is that He is God and I am not. We are created and not self-creating. We bear God’s image and not our own. It’s that image which was marred in the fall and which God renews when we are reconciled to him through Christ (Col 3:10).

Always remember whose you are: God is, therefore I am.

9/11

How Long?

This week we looked on our TV screens and saw the door of hell opened. Before us was the evil of a premeditated attack designed to inflict a maximum number of civilian casualties and cause maximum psychological and social pain. This was not a military or industrial target, nor a declared war, but terrorism against ordinary people travelling, at work and so forth. Whatever our nation, race or creed, the only moral response is repugnance at this evil. The sheer evil of the attack has rightly drawn condemnation from American and Arab, Christian and Muslim – despite the chilling sight of a tiny handful cheering on the destruction.

 

This is not the first, and will not be the last, such atrocity and it is far from being the worst.  Even in the last 25 years half the population of Cambodia died while we entertained ourselves in front of the TV; 800,000 were systematically slaughtered in Rwanda while we traded on stock market; countless numbers are still dying in the Sudan while we argue about which restaurant to visit for lunch; and thousands will die in our world today because you and I are too greedy and selfish to share around food, safe water and basic health care.

 

But the events of last week shock us. We imagine ourselves in the planes or buildings. We are affected by graphic TV images that at once drew us into vortex of events, yet kept us separated from them. Some in our congregation have stories that put names and faces to events. There is a family member in the second tower who just escaped down the stairs before his building was hit and who was also in the 1993 attack  – someone on assignment with the US military and based in Maryland – a mother with two children in US military bases in vulnerable locations – someone else whose posting to the south wing of Pentagon had been delayed over the fateful day.

 

And so we are affected by this and seek to make sense of it. Some see this as a sign that Jesus is about to return. Some see the start of WW3. Others claimed to see a fulfilment of a prophecy of Nostradamus only to be embarrassed by the revelation that the quoted words were written as a spoof in the 1990s. In truth, much of truth regarding this will not be known for long time and perhaps some will never be known.

 

Because we are Christians we seek to make sense of this through the mind of God revealed in Scripture. This doesn’t mean looking for secret codes or twisting the Bible to make it speak about 11 Sep 01. Rather it means looking for broad themes in the events of last Tuesday, looking at the consistent character of God and looking for parallel situations. As we’ll see, we can make sense of some aspects of the events, but others defy us – they are beyond our vision. At some points we must listen to Deut. 29:29.

 

In trying to make sense of these events we can usefully look to the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. This book was set in a man-made disaster of Israel being invaded by the dreaded Babylonians about 600 years before Jesus. Incredible violence came swooping out of nowhere and everything was changed that day. One or two phrases from his description can be used for 11 Sep 2001: Hab. 1:8b-9a; 17b; 2:8b.

 

Before trying to make sense of things, it is important to be real about our feelings. Sometimes we think it is Christian or more manly or mature to hold back our feelings and be cool, calm and collected – emotionally untouched by events. This a Greek virtue but not a Biblical one. Nor was it Habakkuk’s way: Hab. 1:2-3,13b; 3:16a. It is good to explore and acknowledge our feelings of denial, numbness, shock, compassion, and vengeance. It is better to acknowledge them to the Lord and ourselves rather than deny or bottle them up.

 

God’s Amazing Act (Hab. 1:5)

Inevitably we ask Habakkuk’s question Hab. 1:3a,13.

 

Why do these things happen? That question can be answered at several levels.

 

At one level there is the failure of US intelligence gathering; failure of airport and aircraft security; and a series of coincidences that were good for terrorists, but evil for their victims.

 

At another level we must face the fact of human sin. Since our ejection from Garden of Eden, we humans have a stubborn and deep-seated inclination to do evil. Jeremiah puts it this way: Jer 17:9. David says (perhaps reflecting on his own experience): Ps 14:1-3. The texts can be multiplied. Sadly, we can also supply proof texts from life: too many stories where individuals and whole communities in certain circumstances have performed a Jekyll and Hyde transformation from good to gross evil in an incredibly short time. Some of the worst evil the world has seen has come from urbane, cultured, well dressed, well spoken, well educated and otherwise well behaved people. As someone observed long ago: educate people without religion and you make them but clever devils.

 

People have stated some mitigating factors in explanation of terrorism: frustration borne of long suffered injustice; brain-washing with twisted ideologies so that people don’t know what they are doing; denial of access to conventional means of making war; the experience of violence from those they later attacked. Yes, yes, yes – but at the end of it, the explanation of the terrorist’s action is in that word sin. All humans are sinful and do sin. Many of us have parallel sinful impulses to the terrorists. However, for many-sided reasons some express their sinfulness in acts like this while most of us do not. This is not a natural disaster or act of God; this is an act of human sin and evil.

 

Only the renewing grace of God in Jesus Christ can deliver any of us from this sinfulness. Only in the cross of Jesus is the sacrificial payment made that can remove guilt for this gross sin of the terrorists, or for our supposedly little, but no less significant sins. Only in the Spirit of Jesus is the power that can remake people such that our sinful inclinations are first limited in their worst expressions, then denied and then replaced with an inclination to do good. The events of last week remind us that salvation cannot ever come from the human heart and energies of human hands - it must come from outside. And so David, having noted universal sinfulness, goes on to say what we must say to one another: Ps 14:7.

 

But even this level of explanation does not answer Habakkuk’s question and our’s. It only pushes it back. If God is all-powerful and all-good why does he allow us the freedom to express sinfulness like this and why did he allow evil in the first place? And that is a point where must be silent and plead Deut 29:29, because the Bible does not tell us the answer to this question.

 

But that does not mean that we have nothing further to say. Scripture does not tell why God let evil into the world in the first place. But it does tell us what God does with evil. When the door of hell opens and evil floods out God is there, diverting and distracting evil so it works to his purposes, to his good and our good. When Rom. 8:28 says that God works all things to the good of those who love him, it means all things – including the most evil and devastating things we face. As Paul goes on to say in the same chapter, none of these things can or do separate us from his love in Jesus Christ. Many of us can testify to the good which God has wrought in what appeared to be evil moments touching us.

 

Once again, the greatest testimony to that is in the Cross of Jesus Christ. On that day when the principalities and powers of evil screeched from hell and so poured their fury that the earth shook and the sky was darkened as the sins and guilt of all were poured upon the sinless Jesus, God was there saving the world. The Cross and resurrection of Jesus forever answer the question as to where our holy and loving God is when we suffer: he is there with us, just as he was there when hell’s fury erupted on Easter Friday.

 

Cling to that: the cross of Jesus shows that God is all-powerful and all-loving, and working for good in all things. It does not explain how he was working for good last Tuesday, but it assures us that he is. Already the internet is abounding with amazing stories of people not being on one of those flights, not being in that building at that time or getting out in amazing circumstances. We should thank God for these things. But what will we say to the young widow of a fireman who was safe and then went into building after first aircraft hit and was incinerated and crushed in the fury? If some had a lucky break in their miraculous escape, what kind of break did these heroic figures have? God’s presence was not just there in the occasional lucky break last Tuesday, but it was there in the event’s totality. Somehow he worked for good in the whole.

 

Something of the same point is seen from Habakkuk who says that God will do something causing people to be utterly amazed (Hab. 1:5). God’s amazing act in this case was to use a more evil nation (Babylon) to punish a less evil nation (Israel). God was there working for good in the totality of that event, although it was amazing and even immoral to the naked eye.

 

Again, we do not know how God was working for good last Tuesday and we should not give ourselves to rash speculation. However, the Cross and resurrection of Jesus demonstrate that God is always working for the good of all his people in all things. Let us focus on that as we sit in silent wonder before mysteries beyond our knowledge.

 

In Wrath Remember Mercy (Hab. 3:2)

How do we respond to the events of last Tuesday? There are a number of different things to work on.

 

The first response comes from Habakkuk and sets the scene for the rest: I will rejoice in the Lord (3:18). We read similar words elsewhere, for Scripture teaches us to always be joyful and thankful: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances … (1 Thess. 5:16-18. Note the words: ‘always’, ‘all circumstances’. We are not to be joyful and thankful when things go as we want or when life is pleasant, but always – even when the doors of hell open.

 

How can we be thankful for the events of the last week? It seems macabre, unfeeling, uncaring to do so. No! With Habakkuk we can see the reality and feel the pain of evil, but still rejoice, because God is there and God is working out his good purposes. Remember that Habakkuk did not see Jesus standing in doors of hell on Easter Friday, but still he could say: Hab. 3:16b-19. His was not a shallow faith- nor is he being driven by his feelings, or making things up – rather he is expressing the Biblical truth that God is always sovereignly working for good. Because of that truth we can rejoice always.

 

It is against our feelings and against what we see on our TV screens to rejoice and be thankful before these recent events. However, it is to walk by faith not sight (2 Cor. 5:7), and it is to set the Cross of Jesus in our eyes as we look out at those tragic events.

 

What other responses can we make?

Compassion for the suffering Just as Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus (Jn 11:33) so we are to weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15). People no more guilty than any of us have suffered terrible losses this week: death; physical and psychological maiming; loss of livelihood. Others, and some in our congregation, have suffered the anxiety of knowing that they had friends and families who might have been there, but who could not contact them. Others in all kinds of places and ways will bear a ripple-down suffering as plans are disrupted, businesses fail and so forth. As a company of Christian people, our hearts and prayers go out to those who suffer. To all and any in our congregation who have suffered and will suffer, we extend our sympathy, love and prayers. Please tell us how we can help you.

 

Justice and kindness to evil-doers The Scripture speaks of God who is stern and kind (Rom 11:22]. Because he is a God of justice, his people desire for justice to be done. Evil cannot remain unpunished. There must be careful investigation, a fair trial and an appropriate punishment for those involved. However, this must be careful and fair. If we surrender high burdens of proof and legal argument, we have surrendered to the same impulses we accuse the terrorists of. Likewise, the punishment must fit the crime and not exceed it. In particular, the focus must be on justice to the planners, financiers, protectors and implementers of the crime, but only on them.

 

There are disturbing signs from the US and other countries that people have already made a judgement about guilt before the evidence is collected and the trial is conducted. Anyone anywhere who is Arabic or Muslim is thought to be guilty and is to be punished. Remember that vengeance is not ours, and in this life it is for governments, not individuals to punish evil and reward good (Rom. 13:4). Ultimately justice belongs with God (Rom. 12:19) and at the end it is the justice of God against evildoers that counts.

 

As some of us heard last Sunday morning, our place is to love our enemies, do good for them and pray for them (Matt. 5:44-47; Rom.12:14, 17-21). Have you prayed for God to do good and bless these terrorists? If we don’t do as God says here, we surrender to terrorism: this is the evil that has conquered us (Rom. 12:21); this is hate begetting hate, violence begetting violence. Our discipleship is on trial here. If we have understood God’s love for us when we were his enemies in sin (Rom. 5:8) and if we have been transformed by that love, we must, can and will love our enemies – even when the evil is as naked and horrendous as it is this week.

 

Prayers for Government The Scriptures tell us that government is a God given institution  - indeed it is one of his common grace blessings (Rom. 13:1-7). It also tells us to pray for those in authority, so that we will have quite and peaceful lives and so that the cause of the gospel may advance. (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

 

It is important for us to be prayerful for heads of government at this time. Especially pray for President Bush as his gives leadership in the recovery of life and hope; as he sets the pattern for investigation and punishment of the crime, and in decisions regarding preventative security measures. Beyond Mr Bush, we need to pray for the leaders of all governments of goodwill – for a common cause across the usual boundaries – a common cause against terrorism wherever it is conceived, incubated and delivered. And let us pray for peace: that the violence already done will be the extent of it and that there will neither be further terrorist action or disproportionate responses from the US that may trigger more violence.

 

Being Ready Let us finish on a very personal note.

 

Many of us imagined ourselves on that plane or in that office. What if we were? Would we have been ready for that sudden violent act that propelled us from history to eternity and saw us standing before the heavenly tribunal at which all are judged (Rev. 20:11-15)?

 

Some people once came to Jesus asking about an episode of state terrorism in which others had died (Luke 13:1-5). What did they expect him to say: that those responsible should have violence done against them, or that the dead were assured of their place in heaven as martyrs? No, instead he gave his hearers a warning. There had apparently been another recent disaster of a building collapse killing 13 people and Jesus drew the two incidents together to warn his hearers and us. It is a warning to repent now and be ready to die at any time.

 

We, like those poor people in Washington and New York, are not privy to the moment of our death, or to the moment of Jesus’ return. But, are we ready?  If, like Habakkuk, we live in fellowship with God, we are always ready and can always sing the song of rejoicing with him (Hab. 3:18). However, if we are not ready, we still die and face judgement (Heb. 9:27).

 

Are you ready?

 

Sermon preached by David Burke at Orchard Road Presbyterian Church Singapore on 16 September 2001, after the terrorist attack on the USA on 11 September 2001.