September 15, 2010
Psalm 11 – Learning the Fear of the Lord
Instead of doing a blog post, because I don’t have time, I just thought I’d stick up the sermon I wrote for preaching class the other day. This was the very first day of a 2 year preaching course and marks a starting point, so apologies if its not terribly clear. Maybe a better blog post will follow soon.
Learning to fear the Lord
Living the Christian life leads us into difficulties and dangers of many sorts, temptations, tiredness and testing, sickness and sadness, doubt and depression, and many unforeseen and unique challenges along the path home. The Psalms deal with a myriad of these circumstances, recording the reactions and the prayers of many saints as they seek to grapple with how their Lord leads them through life.
Many things we know are a result of living in a fallen world or an attack from the enemy, and we know many Bible truths that help us deal with these and pray for strength through them. But many times our difficulties come at the hands of other people, from personal attacks, insults, fear of rejection of even being driven by a desire to please or earn the respect of other people. When the fear of other people determines and drives our behaviour we are not honouring Jesus as our Lord, and the conflict between our earthly experience and heavenly duties can lead us into temptation and sin, and blunt the edge of the distinctive lives we are called to lead as Christians.
In Psalm 11, we see David in the midst of such a conundrum, and as we read we learn from ‘a man after God’s own heart’ how to deal with the trials and battles we face when we encounter other sinners in this world.
A Godly man under attack
David opens his psalm with a rebuke to his counsellors. He says ‘don’t tempt me to retreat’ for the simple reason that he has already taken refuge and hidden himself in the Lord. He quotes his tempters, who pile up misery upon misery in describing his situation, dragging him to despair and fear, persuading him that the worst case scenario has come true and there’s no hope left.
And it is clear that things aren’t great for David; and he makes no attempt to deny the earthly reality of his situation. He seems to be under some personal, secretive attack, quite probably social as well as physical.
It is thought that this psalm was written at the time David was serving in the courts of King Saul, suffering violence as well as character assassination attempts at the hands of the green eyed monster. Saul ‘shoots in the dark’ at David, resorting to surprise javelin throws or suicide foreskin fetching missions to try and get rid of him, never coming face to face with his adversary.
Although the idea of having ‘enemies’ seems unpalatable to us today, we do often know what it’s like to come under attack from other people, particularly as we look to serve God in our lives, as David was doing.
In the workplace we might see exclusion, ridicule and slander, at university the refusal to join in with normal student behaviour could be greeted with hostility, in the media Christians are denounced as ignorant, racist, homophobic.
Isn’t it often the case as well, that in these attacks our enemies, like Saul, wont step out of the shadows to shoot? A work colleague who scorns your waste of money in tithing will never compare the cost of nights out, cigarettes and Sky TV. The family member who presents the newspaper article and demands that you defend your archaic views on homosexuality and abortion will rarely question their own cultural assumptions and stereotypes. The girl or boy who shows their disgust at your refusal to obey the sexual norms of modern teenage life won’t admit to you how hurtful, hollow and dissatisfying they find their relationships to be. Comedians attack and ridicule Christianity, enjoying the immunity from rebuttal that their art form gives them and ignoring the burning questions about their own mortality and sinfulness.
In the midst of all this, we, like David can be tempted to flee to our mountains, taking refuge away from the people, the places, the media and art that threatens us and chips away at our earthly foundations.
For David, the mountains represented safety, to which he did eventually flee when his life was under threat to live as an outlaw hiding out in caves from his pursuer. But for now, they represented a temptation to trust in something other than his covenant Lord for safety, like Saul who consulted the witch of Endor when in fear for his life and kingdom.
David was a man of honour and saw that his place was in the courts, humbly serving the king he always considered to be the Lord’s anointed, even when the same king was the biggest threat to his own existence.
If our place, like David, is one of service in a difficult or dangerous environment, then the temptation to retreat can be similarly appealing as well as wrong.
In our evangelism to those around us we are called to be in difficult situations, living distinctive lives and speaking boldly, risking attack and ridicule as we put ourselves, our reputations and possibly even our lives on the line. It is easy to be overcome by the fear of man, being controlled and paralysed by how we perceive other people will treat us, whether it is a real or imagined threat.
When our foundations are destroyed, when being a Christian looks like the weakest and stupidest thing to do, when your enemies come upon you with the more intelligent sounding arguments, funnier jokes or damning news stories, we might cry along with David: “What can the righteous do?”
The Fear of the Lord
Well David has an important lesson to teach us. From the crumbling foundations beneath his feet he lifts his eyes and sees his covenant Lord, “The Lord is in his holy temple; The Lord’s throne is in heaven”.
Unlike the earthly house that is coming crashing down around him, the Lord’s house is established and firm, beyond the reach of the wicked and their arrows. What is more he sees God in His role as righteous judge of all the earth, His piercing gaze scouring the depths of even David’s own heart and ruling over them from His heavenly throne. David knows the perfection the Lord demands, and His hatred and intolerance of evil and wickedness. What he paints then is an awe and fear-inspiring picture of the God who is. David knows what it is to fear the Lord.
And he wants to teach us, and those who bid him flee a taste of what it is to know such a holy and powerful God.
Edward Welch in his book ‘When people are big and God is small’ describes the problem of the ‘Fear of Man’, which takes many forms and gives other people the controlling power over our lives.
His proposed solution is to know and grow in ‘the Fear of the Lord’, an attitude of reverence, awe and worship that comes from knowing who the true and living God really is. A man who insults you or threatens you can be a daunting thing, but if standing behind him is a real life lion, suddenly his jeering becomes of little concern.
In the same way that Aslan of Narnia ‘is not a tame lion’, David knows that his God is not a safe God, not a domesticated, sentimental old gentleman, but a furiously holy judge, to be feared by all sinners. David felt the Lord’s testing, discerning and piercing gaze upon himself, and under this gaze he had much more reason to flee to the mountains and tremble, than at the hands of any earthly king.
He considers then, the fate of his enemies, and the destruction that will come upon them at the hands of the Lord. The same wicked that shoot at the upright and persecute the righteous will suffer a fiery end. The Lord is on the side of the pure, fighting their corner and David has great assurance that his oppressors will not stand when the Lord rises to judge.
We may be tempted to vindictively and nastily wish hell on our enemies, taking perverse joy in the thought of their punishment, but whatever David’s complaint, he never shows the same vileness of loathing resentment as we do when attacked. It is remarkable, that as David brings these complaints to the Lord and contemplates the true standing place of his enemies, he turns this to pity and great love for them.
He shows us how to obey the commandment: ‘love your enemies’ by turning this anger to salvation-seeking love, through conversing with his Lord over His judgements and punishment.
We often shirk away from considering a God who punishes, thinking it to be ugly and barbaric. But David takes this thought and turns it into one of the most beautiful and profound depictions of this tough commandment, remaining in Saul’s service as long as he dared, sparing his life time and time again and mourning his death even when David himself profited immensely from it.
We can only truly reach into the shadows to embrace those who love the darkness when we have at our backs the Lord who fights for the righteous.
Our mercy
But how can David have such confidence that he will escape this himself? Clearly from the whole psalm he paints the picture of the righteous being unfairly persecuted by the unrighteous, and so we might think it a bit presumptuous for David to place himself on the prestigious side.
To us this speaks across the testaments to a garden many years later, where the other author of this psalm prayed this prayer to his Father. Read the psalm again and remember the righteous one, the upright man who was hounded, insulted and assassinated by his enemies, all in the service of God, entrusting himself to the point of death on a cross.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on hear and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father.”
Christ our Lord, who was upright in heart and righteous, beheld the face of His Father, who loved his righteous sacrifice on the cross.
David hadn’t read the New Testament, but he knew the Word of the Lord that had been revealed to the people of Israel. He knew of the sinfulness of man, knowing that a righteous God rightly should rain down burning coals even upon himself, but still he longed to see the Lord face to face. Knowing that he could never be righteous himself, what does he do?
Look at verse one again, he takes refuge in the Lord. He hides himself in the Lord’s mercy, trusting in God to make him righteous and ultimately being found hidden in Christ, his substitute. He counts himself among, or even within, the righteous, and rejoices that he will one day see his beloved covenant protector and Father Yahweh.
What we learn
Can we follow David’s example then? We are constantly made to fear things every day, how a group of friends perceives us, whether a romantic attraction feels as strongly in return or not, who will hurt us, insult us or reject us, how people will receive us when we come bearing the Good News out of love for them.
We need then to look at our Lord again. See Him as David sees Him, as the Scriptures describe Him. He is high and powerful, unshaken and incorruptible. He sits in the judgement seat and everything is laid out before Him. Nothing wicked or impure will ever enter His presence, no malicious thought will be left unrevealed and unpunished. He is the lion of Judah and the commander of heaven’s armies, from His mouth comes the sharp sword and not even the angels can gaze upon Him. We should tremble and fall down in His presence, and we should expect our swift destruction as we consider our sinful rebellion.
But graciously, unexpectedly and astoundingly we are found hidden in Christ, through no virtue of our own. His righteousness is counted as ours and we are able to stand before our Lord and enter into His courts.
Like Moses we are kept safe in the cleft of the rock as the awesome Glory of the Lord sweeps the mountain. But unlike Moses we see the very face of our God, personally and intimately, as the transcendent Lord makes the earth to be his holy temple and establishes his throne amongst us after the great judgement we have escaped.
When we consider the Lord’s great holiness and mercy, our fear turns from blind terror, to awe, reverence, worship and finally great deep love for our covenant Lord.
David himself knew this loving fear through his life, and the Lord called him ‘a man after my own heart’, walking with him every day with assurance of this everlasting communion.
Let us then like David, put aside the fears, toils and trials that assault us, and rejoice in the Lord who has saved us.
July 11, 2010
These aren’t sandwiches, they’re AWESOMEwiches!
The humble sandwich, with a little bit of care and attention, and admittedly a little more expenditure, can be transformed into a culinary masterpiece with minimal expertise. Below are listed some of my personal discovered favourites, try them out!
Brie, cherry tomato and cranberry
Ingredients: Brie, cherry tomatoes, Baxters caramelised red onion and cranberry chutney.
Bread: Tiger bread, thickly sliced.
I discovered this one at The Coffee House in Aberdeen. Its pretty good, even though it doesn’t contain any meat. Feel free to add meat, but you can’t taste it anyway over the chutney. Until recently I was doubtful about mixing sweet and savoury in a sandwich, but this convinced me. The one problem with this sandwich was that it cost £4.30 at The Coffee House, so I could only afford one at a time.
Chorizo and sundried tomatoes
Ingredients: Chorizo, sundried tomatoes OR sundried tomato paste
Bread: Works on baps
Sundried tomatoes make everything good. We discovered this by accident with Jim Cronin in the kitchen of Grayfriars before the grad ball. Before getting on the bus we flung together some late sandwiches and this genius invention appeared. Amazing.
THE Baguette
Ingredients: 2 roast chicken breasts, sundried tomatoes, mayonnaise, lettuce
Bread: A baguette, big one
Easy to make. Slice the baguette lengthways, spread everything out in it. Chop in the middle probably to avoid bending. This is another case of sundried tomatoes making things amazing. Discovered this one in miniature form at a party, served as canapes. I bigged it up to baguette size and had an amazing lunch one day.
Ham and cranberry Wensleydale
Ingredients: Nice ham, Co-op Wensleydale cheese with cranberries
Bread: Will Lind’s homemade bread sliced thickly
Another hint of sweet in an otherwise savoury sandwich. Very simple but very tasty.
Ham and mustard
Ingredients: Ham, Coleman’s English Mustard
Bread: Warburton’s white loaf
Its ham and mustard innit. Note for Americans, English mustard is nothing like that paltry mix you put on your hotdogs. DO NOT smear it on in big dollops, a thin slither is enough to make your eyes water.
June 18, 2010
Collecting good hymns…
Psalm 46, to the tune of the Dambusters march:
God is our strength and refuge,
our present help in trouble;
and we therefore will not fear,
though the earth should change!
Though mountains shake and tremble,
though swirling floods are raging,
God the Lord of hosts
is with us evermore!
There is a flowing river,
within God’s holy city;
God is in the midst of her -
she shall not be moved!
God’s help is swiftly given,
thrones vanish at His presence -
God the Lord of hosts
is with us evermore!
Come, see the works of our Maker,
learn of His deeds all powerful;
wars will cease across the world
when he shatters the spear¦
Be still and know your Creator,
uplift Him in the nations -
God the Lord of hosts
is with us evermore!
May 25, 2010
Thinking about the Kingdom
Is it just me, or is the Kingdom of God one of the most vast and difficult to understand subjects in the Bible? The language of the Kingdom is used all the time throughout the Old and New Testaments in a variety of different contexts and settings, each pointing and linking to the others in a large web of truth that seems tough to untangle. Jesus preached ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near”, so understanding it is definitely integral to living the Christian life. In many ways though, in today’s church the word ‘Kingdom’ can be overused to the extent that it becomes meaningless and a ‘truism’. Although I’m not advocating that we talk about it less, I personally need to strive to understand it more and talk about it wisely.
So this blog entry is an announcement of my intention to look into it (and to organise my thoughts by trying to communicate them on here). Please chuck in any insights, reading suggestions, Bible verses etc. that you can think of. I know there’s lots of stuff out there, but I own too many books already. Feel free to lend me some though!
My thinking actually started with my post ‘No King?’, which seems to make sense Biblically, as it is our universal ‘starting point’ in salvation history. We have no King and the consequences for us and for this world are dire, as we try to rule by the pleasures of our own sinful hearts. Actually that isn’t the real starting point as the world did once have a King, so maybe here is a good place to explain how we got into the salvation position of the Judges days. It is explained clearly in 1 Samuel 8:6-9, when the people want a real King like the nations around them. The Lord’s response is revealing:
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.”
So the Lord links idolatry, rebellion and sin with the rejection of Him as their king, both at this point in time and continuously throughout their time in the wilderness. Strangely, sin then is both the desire to rule ourselves (“everyone did what was right in their own eyes”) and the reality of giving allegiance to Idols and other gods. The Lord then tells Samuel to warn the people what the human king will do to them, treating them unjustly and bringing strife, poverty and destruction rather then peace, riches and prosperity. This is the consequence of our sin.
The Kingdom of God then is brought in as the answer to this problem, and is particularly prevalent in the Gospel of Luke I find. But how exactly does this work? Could we start by defining what ‘the Kingdom’ is? This seems to have stumped a lot of people and caused many arguments, but is there a simple definition that we can all agree on? As a starting point I would like to propose the following:
The Kingdom of God is the earthly rule of Christ.
Simple, isn’t it? Almost too simple. But it’s so straightforward that it is actually just a rewording of the common phrase, so I find it difficult to argue against. From this though you can see the start of the pattern of the Kingdom in salvation history, the rejection of God’s rule, judgment for sins then redemption through reinstating God’s rule in Christ (but does it work if Jesus is not fully God, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other suggest?) From this starting point there are a number of questions still to answer. So give it a go! Have a Bible study on the Kingdom, alone or with some friends. Here are some starter bits and pieces I think might be relevant:
The Kingdom in the Bible storyline
The books of 1, 2 Samuel, 1, 2 Kings and 1, 2 Chronicles talk about the earthly Kings of Israel and Judah. How do they live up to the standard of God’s King? How do they point to Jesus? What happens when Kings obey or rebel? Who else is important in the King’s life and rule?
The Pentateuch, particularly Exodus to Deuteronomy are the stories, laws and covenant of the people of Israel. They are brought out of Egypt to be God’s people. How is this done? How does God demonstrate His rule? What are the consequences? Who is rewarded and who is punished? What do these books look forward to?
The Gospel of Luke has great and deep things to say about the Kingdom. How is it announced? What does it look like? How does Jesus talk about himself? What has he come to do, and how? How do we respond?
Search the prophets, particularly in Isaiah and Hosea I have found some great stuff on Kings. Keep looking around the Bible and build up a picture of the Biblical Kings. Let me know what else you find!
Key words used to talk about the Kingdom
Obviously the words King and Kingdom are used a lot. Also ‘authority’ and ‘rule’ might possibly be used with Kingdom connotations. Who rules, and what are the consequences?
‘Laws’, ‘Commandments’ and other words to describe the covenant books of the Pentateuch. These might signify God’s rule as he gives good and gracious commandments to his people. Take a look for example at how the Lord’s rule helps the Psalmist in his suffering in Psalm 119.
‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ both mean ‘anointed one’, and are obviously used to describe Jesus in the New Testament. This category stretches back to the Kings, who were ‘anointed’ to rule (eg 1 Samuel 9 and 16) signifying God’s sovereign choice and blessing over that person. The title of Messiah is often used in Psalms and prophecy to talk about the true and righteous King, the one ‘anointed’ or chosen by God. How does this help us read the Gospels?
‘LORD’/'Jehovah’/'Yahweh’ in the OT and ‘Lord’ in the NT are different ways of expressing the ‘name of God’ (one name put through the mill of Hebrew, Greek, Latin and English language differences), and specifically denote the personal, covenant relationship between God, the King and His people. This name has a lot of background, but maybe it could help us understand the Kingdom in some way?
Questions to look at
How does the Kingdom come about? How does the Kingdom come through from the OT to the NT to today? What does it look like today? Where does the phrase ‘now and not yet’ come from? Is it helpful? What does it tell us about the future? How does the Atonement relate to the Kingdom? What are the characteristics of the Kingdom? What are the social dynamics? What are the common misunderstandings?
This is getting quite long, so I’ll stop. Please get stuck in and respond!
May 11, 2010
Little Treasures
At NWA some of us might remember Richard Cunningham talking about the ‘soft skills’ of Christian living. We often think the Christian life is all about ‘getting into heaven’, and write off ‘living well’ as very OT, pre-Kingdom stuff. But the Gospel isn’t as small as ‘where are you going when you die?’. It isn’t less than life-after-death, but it is most definitely more.
I am currently studying ‘The Dynamics of Biblical Change’, which is a pretty challenging topic and has also been quite productive so far. In no particular order here are some interesting little nibbles of wisdom that have challenged me recently. I present them with no explanation or reasoning, just see what strikes you. If I get organised enough at some point I may comment on some of them, however as always I’ll probably get distracted by something new before I get the chance.
“Teach us to number our days aright, that we might gain a heart of wisdom”
Psalm 90:12
“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees
Psalm 119:71
“A fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in airing his own opinions”
Proverbs 18:2
“The good man brings good things our of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks”
Luke 6:45
“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.”
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
“Here is the truly Christian life, here is faith really working by love, when a man applies himself with joy and love to the works of that freest servitude in which he serves others voluntarily and for nought, himself abundantly satisfied in the fullness and riches of his own faith.”
Martin Luther – The Freedom of the Christian
“It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labour to give no offence, and the other to labour to take none. The best men are severe to themselves, tender over others.”
Richard Sibbes – The Bruised Reed
May 2, 2010
Diagrams
An important thing to understanding the Christian Faith is obviously diagrams. Relay training and Wayne Grudem both emphasise the importance of this. Here are a few instructive ones to get you started:
 Figure 1: The boundary-driven church |
Figure 1 shows the Boundary-driven church. Soft, squishy centre often ignored, the important thing is to say what’s in and what isn’t. Not a great way of going about things. |
 Figure 2: Ikon community according to Rollins |
Figure 2 shows the Emergent community of Ikon as described by Peter Rollins. Ikon “has no substantial doctrine centre… just as a doughnut has no interior, but is made up entirely of an exterior” (Peter Rollins, How (Not) to Talk of God (Brewster, Mass.: Paraclete, 2006) |
 Figure 3: A Donut |
Figure 3 shows a donut. It has no center and is entirely exterior. Also has boundaries, a mixture of Figures 1 and 2, but sweet and pink. |
 Figure 4: A Gospel-centred church |
Figure 4 shows a vision for a ‘Gospel-centred’ church. The strong centre, much like a ‘Rock’ or a ‘Strong tower’, allows free engagement with the world without danger of assimilation or loss of distinctiveness. Sweeter than Figure 3, though less pink. |
 Figure 5: Trinity as explained by Wayne Grudem |
Figure 5 Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology explains Trinity with this diagram (after explaining why it is impossible to accurately represent Trinity in a diagram. |
 Figure 6: The transformation of 'savage garden' to 'redeemed garden city' |
Figure 6 explains how human creative effort is redeemed in the new creation, in the formation of a ‘garden city’, and how it is maximally distinct from the ‘empty wasteland’ or ‘savage garden’ before creation. Important theology to grasp before engaging in culture. (watch for next blog post) |
 Figure 7: Savage Garden |
Figure 7 shows Savage Garden the band. Not entirely cultured but also not entirely unredeemable. |
 Figure 8: The 'two trees' model |
Figure 8 shows the ‘two trees model’, which is my course of elective study for the next two months. I don’t understand it yet either. |
Hope these are useful, stay tuned for more diagrams when I get my hands on a scanner!
April 27, 2010
Guiltianity and Emerging Legalism
This is by no means a coherent discussion, it’s just a few connected observations from things I’ve experienced in my life. Maybe it will throw up some questions though.
Guilt is a great idol in our culture. I don’t mean that we bow down before statues of it or anything, but we do offer it sacrifices, allow it to control our behaviour and thinking and let it infect our lives. How often to we put some change in charity tins, change the channel during tv appeals or make endless justifications for our behaviour when we know we are in the wrong. The whole ‘detox’ culture, a pseudoscientific invention of mass media is a fantastically intricate commercialisation of guilt. When we perceive that our eating or drinking habits are unhealthy, rather than change our habits we go for a sacrificial ceremony to appease the gods of guilt with expensive products with clever sounding taglines, or strange ceremonies involving magnets, footbaths and smoothies. Guilt is a powerful motivational force, for good or ill, or arguably just for ill.
Put bluntly, guilt has no place in Christianity, for “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, who “cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” God requires nothing of us to appease him and nothing we offer will make us more accepted and loved. Our feelings of guilt are still heart-longings for that old idol, that tells us we haven’t lived up to our own standards and that we need to make amends.
But guilt-worship sneaks into Christianity, and we get legalistic behaviour and start judging ourselves and each other by external behavioural markers. We’ve been told the horror stories by our spiritual parents since we were young Christians, about how some Christians are so concerned about dressing correctly, reading their Bible every day and appearing respectable, that they lose what is really important. No way we are going to get caught out with that one!
But by caricaturing legalistic behaviour, has it made us complacent about its diverse and subtle forms in our lives? In our modern Christianity there are many books floating around that get great reviews, change lives and inspire people to start exciting new movements and projects. But are their motives and contents really all that helpful?
I know from my own Christian life, that I used many of these books to fan the flames of my Christian guilt. ‘Look at these stories’, they seemed to say, ‘you should do these things to be a better Christian too’. I loved these books, I loved being told that I needed to ‘get out of my comfort zone’, to love sacrificially and radically and to sit and wait for God to prophetically prompt every little action of my daily life. They provided me with a stick to beat myself with, and even worse to beat others with, to try and motivate myself to do the things I was meant to do for Jesus.
The thing is, this sort of behaviour is really at base motivated by guilt. Guiltianity especially feeds off that special ‘middle-class guilt’ that so many in the Western church have today. We know that our lives are more comfortable, manageable and secure than almost anyone other people group in the whole history of Christianity. Certainly there needs to be a waking up to the realities of the world (read some Ecclesiastes), but being motivated by guilt is certainly not the answer. There is a large section of the church that looks at itself and those around and says ‘we are rich and they are poor, shame on us!’. Our little guilt gods are awakened and we start offering the worship of our busybody lives to them.
This legalism is so attractive because it looks so good! When I read and thought about it, and then talked about it (loudly) to anyone who would listen, I felt I looked good in their eyes, as someone radical, exciting and a bit hippie. The strong motivation of guilt coupled with a sincere Biblical morality, a deep heart for the last, the least and the lost and an educated awareness of needs around us can set people to spectacular and showy things, actually really producing good deeds and loving behaviour to those outside the church (although I had only the strong guilt, rather than actually a sincere heart, so my outpouring was all talk and no action). If it produces good though is it necessarily a bad thing? Well judge a tree by its fruit, these movements do indeed produce more authentically engaged, active Christian works, but to what end? As a sacrifice to idols or an attempt to glorify oneself (as I did)? Also, will guilt produce a lasting change in a person’s life, or a quick fire time of religious fervour and busyness? And can it produce real Christian unity and fellowship? In fact it seems to just produce resentment against institutions and authority, lack of humility and arrogance over those who aren’t ‘living radically’.
This is not the Gospel, this is not grace. Just like the Pharisee I was proud and disdainful of my tax-collecting brother, because I thought that being a Christian was about doing stuff. Here is an important maxim: The Gospel isn’t about what we do for God, its about what He’s done for us. We are motivated by grace, excited to live radically, humbled to live lovingly and encouraged to live in suffering and exile. Yes we should expect good works from the Christian life, we should encourage one another on to live and love more like Jesus and sacrificially give of our time, resources and middle-class comforts to serve and bless others. But we do this by looking at the Gospel. As we read the Bible together as believers we see the face of Jesus on every page, in every story, teaching us about his holiness to cleanse, grace to save and power to heal in the world. It is encouraged by knowing God deeply that we go out and love, knowing that He first loved us.
It’s not about what you do for God, it’s about what God has done for you.
April 24, 2010
New Word Alive
Hey chaps and chappettes, hope you’ve been reading even though I’ve not been posting. The holidays were the reason for all that, followed by a good long week at New Word Alive in north Wales.
It was a really good week (if I still had a digital camera I would have taken some photos for you all), catching up with some good old Relay friends, binging on good bible teaching, lazing in the welsh sun and being helpful and humble stewards. Actually I never realised how much fun stewarding could be, even the 7am starts weren’t too much of a chore when I got into it. Although somehow managed to turn a humble, servant-hearted job into an opportunity to joke around and show off a bit. Still learning on that point.
The sticking thing about NWA though was the closing talk by Richard Cunningham. The thought that goes home with me (as intended) is to remember that the Christian life is not about ‘what can I do for God?’, but ‘what has God done for me?’ Certainly an important concept for life, especially when you’re a Relay worker with no students (as I am about to become).
If anyone wants to visit me in Aberdeen by the way, please do! I’m getting to know some of the good places to take people!
Next post will be a deep and thoughtful one probably, if I can get back into deep and thoughtful mode.
April 2, 2010
My current favourite video
As I’m learning a bit of Chinese at the moment (slow going!) this is certainly now my favourite video! Combines Chinese humour and St Andrew nostalgia, enjoy!
March 20, 2010
No King?
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25Thus ends the book of Judges, immortalising the ethic of the day in the free society of Israel, and giving the modern world a glimpse of what perfect political liberty is. What an inspiring thought, that we might live in a world were we individuals are rulers over our own domain, no unelected monarch to constrain us, judge us or smother us. Here we have the Utopia promised by western democracy, secular humanism, Marxism and our modern media and entertainment. When we finally overcome our shackles, our ignorance and our enemies, truly everyone will do what is right in their own eyes and we will have peace and prosperity.
However this freedom call seals up the 21 chapters of possibly the most brutal book of the entire Bible, as God’s chosen people are truly set free to do what they think is right and just. Immediately before this statement, the people of Israel have just finished committing the second of two genocides and orchestrated a mass kidnapping of young girls, in order to make up for the injustices committed in the first genocide. The original genocide was an act of vengeance against a previous injustice, the abusing and killing of a young slave girl, callously given by her master to an angry mob. The disgusting account piles injustice upon injustice, wickedness upon wickedness and completes the symphony of brutality of the book of judges. It is this that the final sentence condemns as ‘right in their own eyes’, and gives us a damning verdict of our Utopian ideal of self-governance.
The democratic process is not the object of scorn here, when faced with the prospect of human government in a fallen world it is the best system of a bad bunch. The problem described here is that there is ‘no King’, no righteous ruler over the land, and so subjective and relativistic morality takes hold as the judicial norm. It is blindingly obvious from this book and from our modern world however that ‘right in our own eyes’ is so often utterly wrong, no matter how relativistic you want to be. The people of Israel had been given a very clear absolute rule from the Lord in the desert, yet had so quickly forgotten about it and instead looked to themselves to judge right from wrong, with disastrous consequences.
But are we not the same? Is this not a stark wake up call to our modern society, in our cultural chauvinism and perceived moral superiority? We trust ourselves to tell right from wrong, rejecting any implication that there is a King in our world and justifying injustices to substantiate our belief that people are ultimately good, and we ourselves possess the key to our redemption. And look around you at the world we have created. Governments, militias and corporations commit atrocities on a scale to make the characters of Judges blush, yet it can by justified as ‘right in their own eyes’. Societies and castes condone racism, degradation and abuse against other groups they perceive as threats. We individuals commit dozens of tiny injustices against each other daily in our driving, shopping, working, relaxing and just living.
‘Right in our own eyes’ is destroying the world by fooling us into thinking the problem is ‘out there’, beyond our inner darkness, found in other people, society, religion, politics, capitalism, communism or any number of demonised targets. We believe the answer is ‘in here’, if we can just tap into the hidden potential of each human being (especially ours) then all wrongs will be righted and the world will be saved. Judges destroys that for us and shows us in no uncertain terms that the problem is within us. It also hints at an answer, from a source which makes us squirm, rile and protest. It points to a King, a King of righteousness who can rule justly and who truly knows right from wrong. We need a King like this to rule us, but can there ever be such a King in this world?
