The Prize

There’s something about a prize that makes us want it. Whether it’s the door prize at social function, an academic award or a sporting trophy – we want to win. Our desire for the prize can push us to amazing acts of focus, self-discipline and self-sacrifice.

But what if we can’t see the prize? What if all we can see are the challenges and difficulties – along with a besetting distraction that is at least visible, as compared with our hoped-for prize?

This can be a real spiritual problem. The Bible holds out the promise of sins forgiven and eternal life in God’s presence if we believe in Jesus (eg Jn 3:16). But, what does forgiveness look like? And just what is eternal life and what are the alternatives? Part of our problem is that we cannot see God’s prize.

Meanwhile, we are called to pay visible costs of discipleship. Some in our church have been ostracised or banished by their families because they left the traditional religion. Others have their careers held back because they refuse to tell lies to clinch a deal or because they leave the work place at a sensible hour for family or ministry priorities. As for the rest of us, we pay the price of repeatedly saying ‘no’ to temptations that wider society indulges in and the cost of giving our time, talents and treasure to follow the Lord.

It can be hard to keep on track with Jesus when the costs are visible and the prize is invisible. The danger is that we become, weary and then fall by the wayside. For a time we may go through religious and churchly actions, but our heart is not with the Lord any more.

We are not the only ones who face these issues. The book of Hebrews is designed to encourage people like us to hang in with Jesus. It does this by highlighting the dread cost of abandoning him (eg 6:4-7), by holding out the secure reality that we already have in Christ (eg 10:32-29) and by mentioning the prize that awaits those who persevere (9:11-15) .

Ours is not a tatty earthly prize. We await the glittering heavenly Jerusalem with its vast company of God’s people and the company of God himself (Heb 12:22-24). This is a kingdom that cannot be shaken by political disturbances. It is a treasure that the markets cannot snatch away (12:28). And this is why we must now be outsiders. We are a people who go outside man’s city to bear the shame and disgrace of Jesus in the hope of his heavenly city (13:13-14).

Let’s stay with Jesus – the prize is worth it.

We Are Not Alone

When life seems tough it’s easy to go into a downward spiral. We may look at our problems (and only our problems), complain that no one has it as tough as us and whine that we are all alone. All this takes an added dimension when our complaint is about the toughness of following Jesus. It’s no wonder that others abandon us when we wallow in such self-pitying misery!

The first readers of Hebrews had grounds for such self-pity. They had found that following Jesus was tough going. Wearying years of self-denial and paying the high costs of discipleship had taken their toll. Ostracism, and even persecution, from their former co-religionist at the temple left them isolated and vulnerable. Where is God in such tough times?

We are not alone! For starters, we have the company of woman and men of faith and courage who also have it tough. Thus the readers of Hebrews are told to look around at the great cloud of witnesses (12:1). We can do the same. Who are the people of great faith and encourage around us and what can we learn from them? Such inspiring examples help us to throw of entanglements and run God’s race with perseverance. They should help us be stickers and not quitters with God.

Further, and more importantly, we are to consider Christ. He is the trailblazer who went ahead to make our life of faith less tough. He is the one who now sits at the right hand of God’s throne to intervene on behalf of his people (12:2; 4:14-16). The fact that he suffered to the point of death for us should help set our problems into perspective – we have not yet suffered as he did (12:3-4).

Rather than complain when the life of faith is tough, we do better to ask what we can learn and how we can grow. This is not mere wishful thinking, but is based on a Christian world-view. Our tough times are not the products of a universe ruled by mad or bad forces to whom we are playthings for their amusement in our sufferings. Rather, the universe is ruled by our good father-God and our tough times are his fatherly discipline for our good (12:5-7).

This dramatically reframes our view of tough times. They are an opportunity for God’s good to be done in our lives and for us to grow in healthy directions. Many of us find that personal growth happens more in tough times than in easy times. Such times are unwelcome, but they are an opportunity for growth. Let’s not waste it!

Finally, the Cross of Christ is the most powerful evidence that we are not alone in tough times. God was there in the vortex of suffering. He is still there. We are never alone.

The Faith That Moves People

Faith works! That’s a simple statement to make after walking through the ‘portrait gallery’ of faithful men and women in the era before Jesus (Heb 11).

Christians have long discussed the relationship between faith and works. Technically, it’s a discussion about justification and sanctification. The modern discussion has been running for over 30 years and is associated with a view called the ‘new perspective’ on Paul. However, whether it’s new or old perspective, Luther, Calvin, Paul or James – one point is clear. Faith is far far more than mental assent to propositions about God or the Cross of Christ.

Faith is a life-changing certainty of what we do not see and is essential to our pleasing of God (Heb 11:1,6).

Look again at Hebrews 11. These women and men did remarkable and risky things because of faith. Abel sacrificed his best for God, Abraham left home and family then became a father, Moses’ mother hid him from infanticide, Rahab changed sides and sheltered enemy spies ... and so on and so on.

There’s a deeply personal challenge for all of us here. What risky deeds have we done simply because of our Christian faith? What big life-changes can we point to? We say we have faith, but where are the faith-works?

Note something else. The faith that works is not faith in faith (positive thinking) nor faith in ourselves (egotism). It is faith in God. Faith can be compared to an electrical lead. The lead must be intact, but what matters is the power source to which it is connected. God in Christ is the object of Christian faith.

Our faith is in the same God as the heroes of Hebrews 11. As the writer points out, they did not see the things that they trusted God for (eg Heb 11:1,13-16, 39-40). However, they did trust God. The faith that moves people is a faith that trusts the faithfulness of God. This is key and it is amplified for us after and in Jesus. In Jesus we see the character of God in a personalised and human form (Jn 1:14; Col 2:9). Thus we are called to be faithful in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:1) and it is faith in the gospel concerning him that brings salvation (Eph 1:13).

There’s another personal challenge here: to what extent is my faith focussed on Jesus rather than elsewhere?

Finally, it’s humbling to read Hebrews 11. These people did so much by faith, yet caught only glimpses of God’s nature. How much more do we see of God in Christ Jesus? How much more should we be moved by faith. How much greater should our faith-works be?

The Problem of Evil - a forethought

The problem of evil is classically formulated in terms of three propositions.

Any two, but not all three, are held to be compatible: ...

God is all good
God is all powerful
Evil exists

Now to the book of Job.

The 'resolution' in the closing chapters is a revelation by God of himself.

The 'why?' question of Job's suffering is never answered to Job (although the reader of Ch 1-2 is well aware if the 'why?' and how it is the inversion of the theodicy advocated by Job's friends).

Note however the resolution: God reveals himself in precisely those attributes that are seen as problematical in the classic formulation of the 'problem'.

Thus, as with the Cross of Christ, the 'solution' is in the puzzle and the problem.

What Matters - 8 May 2010

What matters?

Global; stock markets are in turmoil.

Who knows who governs the UK.

Greece is broke and there are fears for Spain.

Thailand continues with a political crisis.

Headlines in Singapore's Straits Times: 'World Cup TV deal in on'. Yes, locals can watch the soccer world cup (for a fee)

Let Us Not Give Up Meeting Together

Someone has identified loneliness and social fragmentation as a feature of our times. We busily pursue our own agendas and make only passing connections with others – and many of those are electronic and fragmentary anyway.

This can also happen in church. Let’s face it, church gatherings are sometimes dull and church people sometimes ‘impossible’. Meanwhile there’s a great Bible talk that we can download from somewhere elsewhere and absorb through our headphones in a solo experience. Why meet up with real people who are less than perfect when we can create a perfect virtual church of our own tastes?

The Bibles urges that we not neglect ‘meeting together’ (Heb 10:25). The word used is the common term for a synagogue – which was a place and occasion for God’s people to come together.

How can Christian people meet together? The basic meeting is our Sunday time for gathered worship and the associated activities. It’s a great habit to be in church every Sunday. This meeting is complemented by small groups and our gathering at occasions like prayer meeting and church camp. Of course, we can also ‘meet’ through the new e-media, especially in its more interactive forms. However, it remains true that there is no real substitute for meeting face to face (2 Jn 12).

It is one thing for Christians to meet together, but another to use the time well. We sometimes use the word ‘fellowship’ for any occasion when Christians meet up. However, fellowship is more than some believers meeting, eating and having general chit-chat. Fellowship happens when our meeting has a spiritual focus, whatever the immediate topic of conversation. As Hebrews 10:25 puts it, we are to meet to encourage one another in the faith and especially in view of the Lord’s return (Heb 10:25).

There are some timely challenges for us in this:
• Do we individually make it a priority to meet regularly with God’s people, or do we minimise such contacts?
• When we meet with other Christians do we make it an opportunity for spiritual encouragement, or do we fritter all the time away in trivia?
• Do we only meet with people who are less ‘senior’ to ourselves and thus avoid accountability where it is needed?
• Do we, as a church, organise our meetings such that they promote fellowship with one another, as well as a vertical relationship with the Lord?

Let’s heed the encouragement of Scripture to meet together regularly.