Ruth 3-4: A step too far?

I've been following this discussion with interest. How Jesus is revealed in the Old Testament, the contents of the Luke 24 Bible study is surely one of the most, if not the most important question when it comes to reading the Old Testament Christianly. I've been thinking about this as i've been preaching through Ruth in Teen Church. Here are some thoughts on Ruth 3-4, is it a step too far?

First, I love the book of Ruth. Don't you? It's mixture of the obvious and the subtle, the tragic and the magnificent, the love the flows through it, the grace which drenches it. The fact it's so obviously the Gospel.

Chapter 3 is a great example of all of these things. It looks awful on a first reading: 'Ruth, make yourself look beautiful and go creep up on Boaz in the middle of the night when his heart is merry and no one can see you. But it's beautiful. Spread your wings over me, says Ruth, basically i want you to ask me to marry you. I want you to do for me what God does for Israel, spread your wings over me. Protect me, provide for me, lead me and guide me. Ruth comes to Boaz for redemption with nothing, just like we come to Jesus with nothing.

There are problems for Ruth and Boaz, just like there are problems for us and Jesus. Boaz wants to marry Ruth because he loves her, not because he's legally bound to. He's only a redeemer in the loosest sense of the word, redeemers were brothers of a dead husband, Boaz was an uncle or a cousin at best. He has no legal need to marry her. He wants to marry her because he loves her. This other 'redeemer' might not. That's their problem. Our problem is different, but it's still a problem. Our sin is what separates us from Jesus. Your sin, my sin, our rebellion stops us from being in relationship with the Father through the Son. That needs an answer, just like Boaz and Ruth need an answer.

Jesus is our glorious Boaz. Jesus and Boaz deal with these problems. Jesus dies on the cross, Boaz gets the other redeemer out of the way. Because Jesus loves us, because Boaz loved Ruth. not because they had to.

And then what? A marriage! Revelation 21:1-5 sees the holy city descend from God like a bride prepared for her husband. Jesus has dealt with every problem to prepare us for the Wedding of weddings. Boaz has dealt with every problem to prepare Ruth for their wedding. How Ruth must've loved and trusted in Boaz, and wanted to give her life to him, what else then can we do, but give our life, in faith, trust and joy, to Jesus.

Driscoll on ABC Nightline

I don't mean to turn today in 'Driscoll Video Friday' but i've just spent a very profitable time watching Mark Driscoll, Deepak Chopra, Carlton Pearson and Annie Lobert debating the existence of the Devil.

I think Driscoll does very well, although i suppose i would. I thought he did pretty well not to just get up and hit Pearson on a couple of occasions. It's very, very sad to see and hear Carlton Pearson and, to an extent Deepak Chopra, falling over the same problems that can be well answered by some high schoolers i know. Very sad. I'm so sick and tired of this lazy, subjective, 'real to you' junk that these guys come up with. Also, somewhat illuminating to see that Deepak and Pearson get angrier and more defensive than Driscoll. Top work. I'm glad the Gospel is true, i'm glad that the whole of life isn't a system of enlightened feelings and knowledge. Thats very sad...and the Gospel is good news. I want it to be true...

Christus Exemplar?

One of the first, and best, Biblical Theology articles i've read was this one by David Gibson on Luke 3 and 4. What follows is not so much the oak tree that grew from Gibson's acorn, but more a leaf, on a branch of that mighty tree.

The various accounts of Jesus' time in the wilderness can either be of great encouragement, or of nearly always condemnation invoking moralising. Preaching or listening to this text can either serve as a fresh coal on the fire or an idea that can squash the life out of our battle against temptation. Text + Context = meaning, so if we want to understand what's really going on in the desert we need to read the account within in it's place in scripture (Bish taught me that in February 2004 and it's still about the most important thing i've ever learnt about how to read the Bible)

Luke 3:21-4:13

Goodness, is there a more unfortunate chapter division in the Bible? I might cast the Numbers 7/8 hat in the ring, but this comes pretty close. Luke 3 ends with a genealogy...boring. Or in fact, key to our understanding of what follows? Why is Adam called the Son of God in 3:38? Jesus is the Son of God right? Luke draws us to the parallel between Adam, son #1 and Jesus son #1. Where Adam failed to be obedient, Jesus succeeds. Where Adam disobeyed God, Jesus obeyed. Jesus is the better son, the perfect son. But there's more in Luke. Every time the Devil comes to Jesus, he is beaten away with scripture. So we use scripture to fight temptation right? Well that works, and wonderfully so often, but often it doesn't, and i don't believe that was what was on Luke's mind when he was writing this. Jesus fights from Deuteronomy...from the desert book, from the time Israel wondered in the wilderness. Jesus is the better Israel, the perfect Son of God.

Matthew 3:13-4:11

Matthew follows the same pattern. There's no genealogy, but Jesus is out of the water, hailed as the prophesied suffering King, goes into the desert and assaulted by temptation. Did he want bread? Of course he did, but the bread of heaven, the real, true manna; the words from the mouth of God, not just loaves that would go stale with time. Matthew records Jesus quoting the same verses as Luke. The same desert verses from the old, failed son.

Mark 1:9-13

I love the way Mark starts his Gospel, no extended reflection, so Christmas story, lets just get on with it. Again the water, the voice from Heaven hails Jesus as a king who will rule and suffer and is driven into the wilderness where He is tempted. There's no record of the temptation itself, Mark seems to see this as a part of the story of Jesus' baptism...but the images are there.

On his death bed Machen wrote 'so thankful for the active obedience of Christ, no hope without it.' I'm glad he didn't write 'so thankful for the moral example of Christ.' Jesus is the perfect Son, everything Adam never was, everything Israel never was, everything you or i will never, ever be. Jesus is our substitute, the Father 'looks on Him and pardons me.' If we read carefully, we can be so encouraged, so fed, so warmed by the wilderness temptations. If not, we risk reading it as just something else we should do, but very much struggle to. I think 'Christ our example' is right and encouraging, but if we get it from the desert, we'll be struggling, and discouraged.

Regeneration is bigger than we think

Regeneration is bigger than i think. Regeneration is bigger that 'a personal relationship with Jesus', regeneration is bigger than starting to go to church on a sunday instead of watching the Hollyoaks omnibus. Regeneration is bigger than you and me.

Regeneration is global, nay universal. Regeneration is getting in touch with nature (maaan). Paul writes to Titus that: he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. We are saved by the washing of regeneration of the Holy Spirit...we are saved by being made clean and new, by being born of water and Spirit.

But, and here's the huge, heart expanding, humbling news, it's not just us that gets regenerated. The word Paul uses in this verse to Titus for regeneration is palingenesias (according to John Piper anyway), and the only other time that word gets used is in Matthew 19:28 when Jesus says: 'truly i say to you, in the new world (in the regeneration/palingenesias) when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne...'

So what is the regeneration? What gets saved and made new? Creation. You and me, sure, but everything else. The stars, the grass, the oceans, the planets...everything. Jesus is Lord of all, not just Lord of human hearts. This is further mentioned in Romans 8:20 creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of Him (God) who subjected it in hope... This was the plan from the beginning, and in the end will lead to renewed men and women, with renewed hearts, living on a renewed earth with Jesus as it's King in glory.

This then makes sense of 'all of life discipleship', of the vision of men like Francis Shaeffer. The church is not a bomb shelter. When we get saved we don't just attend service and mark off days on our rapture wall chart. When we get saved we live! We see what there is of human culture that can be redeemed and we redeem it to the glory of God though Jesus Christ. We don't hide from culture, we engage, redeem what can be redeemed and reject what should be rejected. We rescue people out of slavery to culture by making culture point to Jesus, which is should be easy most of the time, since that's where it's heading anyway!

Will there be art in Heaven? Or music? I really hope so. I really think so. But whether there is or not, Heaven, thank God, will not be sitting on a cloud playing a harp, it will not be some conscious but ethereal state, it will be physical, and real. There'll be rivers, and trees, and goodness knows what else. Christians shouldn't hide from culture, from the material like Gnostics, because culture and the material, like the Christian, is being born again.

Christians and Culture (2)

So what are the options that Christians have when it comes to cultural engagement. We need to be engaged, we need to be visible, but more than anything we need to have lives that submit to scripture. We can't throw out our Bibles when we switch on the TV. There seem to be three options in front of us.

Monastryism

Christians hide from culture and from the world. The church becomes a refuge rather than...well a church! We become like Tolkien's Hobbits. We expect non Christians to meet us on our own terms, not on theirs, we don't take any time to think about what unsaved people are thinking about. There are some positives to this approach, at least Christians are distinct from the world. In some places the only way Christians can be distinct is to take more radical steps than the great moral majority. At least Christians are protected...but probably at the expense of effective evangelism. We've tried to be monks before, and it's not worked.

Overengagement

To make sure that churches don't become monasteries we become over engaged. Not wanting people to think that Christian's are weird we watch the same tv shows, go to the same films and listen to the same music. We don't think about how the Gospel effects any of those things, we don't look to see the truth of the Gospel in our culture, we just turn our minds off, put our Bibles away and watch. Instead of having a mind renewed by scripture, we have a mind bathed in Christ minimizing culture. From the outside looking in the church looks no different. In the west our danger is not so much persecution as jellification. We need to be interacting, but not like this.

Professionalism

Some people are clearly gifted in this area. The church needs people who can really engage with culture, who can do apologetics and subvert and persuade people that the Gospel is true. God has given has these people. So shall we just leave it to them? Buy Tim Keller's books and say what he says? Well, that might not be a totally bad thing, but the Bible doesn't seem to leave it just up to the eyes of the body to do this work. We are all called to share the Gospel, so we all need to be aware of how to do that in a relevant manner.

The problem, as Paul Huxley said, is that sometimes we end up running before we can walk. We try to engage but end up being assimilated in thought and deed to whatever is around us. We need to protect ourselves, but we need to be out in the front line. We need to armour ourselves with the word of God, the Gospel of peace, the sword of the Spirit, the helmet of salvation. We need eyes like Edwards' or we risk our hearts shrinking as they soak in sitcoms. The the Lord won't attract us, and the Great Commission won't appeal to us. 

We need to fight and run. We need to move quicker than we can. We need to feed our minds with the word, present ourselves as a living and reasonable sacrifice, and engage and persuade. We need to make sure we're doing all of these things.

Christians and culture (1)

Tom Price asked, in response to Carl Truman's article that i linked to a couple of days ago whether 'he was saying we shouldn't do cultural engagement, we should do more Bible basics?'

This appears to be the conclusion from Trueman's article, which raises the old question again: 'how much should Christian's be 'a part' of secular culture?' Should we be listening to the latest CD's watching the newest movies regardless of content, should Christian's have no problem behaving outwardly as many non Christians do, if it's in the name of engagement. How much 'in' the world can we be without becoming 'of' the world. This has become more of an issue for me since moving to North Carolina, where engagement with secular culture looks very different to back in England. In this post, and probably one more, i'll try and look at what the Bible has to say about the issue, and then how we can respond to it.

First things first, lets not let hopeless legalism suck life out of us. We're saved by Christ our passover lamb, by his blood, by His bearing our sins and being punished for our sins on the cross, by His dying and being raised three days later. Not the movies we do or do not watch. In any discussion of, i guess, Christian liberty, that fact must be our foundation stone, or we will be hopelessly off kilter to start with.

Romans 12-14, the great application of the great letter. After page after page of mind bending, heart expanding truth, Paul starts to apply. He starts to drive home what he's been talking about.

Straight away we're told to present our bodies as a living, or reasonable sacrifice. We're told to respond in a costly manner to what we've heard in the previous eleven chapters. Paul tells his Roman readers not to be conformed to the world, but rather transformed by the renewing of our minds. Why? So that we might be able to discern what is good and acceptable and perfect. This is important, we'll come back to it.

Romans 12:9 says that we are to abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. This tells us that there is indeed something called 'good' and something called 'evil'. Contra post modernity, there are not standards that differ for every person. There is Good, we must hold onto it. There is Evil. We must hate it. 

Romans 14:1-9 is the next passage that this comes up in. Romans 14 starts with Paul telling the strong in faith not to pass judgement over the weak in faith. Who are we to judge? The one who doesn't eat vegetables stands or falls before his own master. Let it be that way. We learn in verse 5 that whatever we do, whether we observe days or not, we should be fully convinced in our own minds about what we do. Verse six makes the point that we do it all for the Lord, this is where integrity lies. This is the way it should be, since, verse 7-8, we neither live or die to ourselves, but to the Lord, who lived and died for us. We are the Lords. So whatever you do or do not do, however you engage or do not engage, be convinced, and do it for Jesus.

The natural result of this occurs in 14:13-23. Do not cause others to stumble by how you exercise your freedom. If someone doesn't think that Christian's should eat meat, then don't make him stumble by eating meat. If one Christian doesn't agree with going to the movies, don't make him go. Why? Because we are the Lords. And because we are to love one another. This is how we fulfill the law (13:8-14)

What have we seen so far? That there is something called Good, and something called Evil, but that within those parameters Christians are free to honour the Lord in the way they feel they should. In what they eat or drink, observe or fail to observe, watch or don't watch. As long as we do what we do for the sake of Christ and don't fall into Colossian asceticism. 

'For the sake of Christ', can of course mean watching a good movie, reading a good book, or enjoying good music simply because they are good, and enjoyable and reflect something of God's creative, joyful image, rather than just reading, watching or listening to improve our apologetics.

I think to sum up this part we need to go back to Romans 12:1-2. Romans 12 comes after 1-11. It's only after 11 chapters of glory that Paul starts to really answer the 'how then should we live' question. Maybe there's something in that. Maybe we can only have the loving, Christ exalting freedom to engage when we've sorted out what we believe. How will we be transformed by the renewing of our minds if we don't know what to be transformed by or into. 

Solid doctrine must underpin cultural engagement. 

Musn't it? Or else how will we respond Christianly to films? If our minds are not being renewed don't we risk being entertained by the very things that sent Jesus to the cross? We have a vague idea that sex outside marriage is wrong, but we'll raise a smile when we see the situations it got Lloyd, Liz and Steve in to, we know that sex outside marriage is wrong, but it worked for Monica and Chandler right? 

So the issue seems to be about Christian freedom, some people genuinely have a problem with Christians going to the theatre, some don't. But maybe, since this is Romans 12, not 1, we could all do with some more 'Bible basics' to help us think Christianly about culture.

To be continued...

In the beginning...

This morning, like i suppose many Christians, i started my Bible reading plan for 2009. I've gone chronological this year, and i was in Genesis 1-3. There are so many wonderful truths revealed in these short chapters i can hardly think of a better way to start 2009. These aren't very original, but they touched me this morning nonetheless.

God just is

Genesis 1:1 doesn't follow an apologetic on the existence of God. God is just there. 'In the beginning God.' He is the One who was there before there was anything, He is the One who has always been there. There is no explanation for this at the start of the Bible, Genesis 1-3 just starts with God. And it has to, because if God wasn't there at the beginning then he's not God, but He was, so He is. I AM in fact!

And it was good

Can you read Genesis 1-2 and your heart not simply long to be back in the Garden? Or indeed, in the city that needs no lamp? It was good. So good. The Word though which God executes His will is good. Everything that proceeds from God's lips is good. There's no poison, no death, no sweat and toil. Only good, because God is good. And He's gracious, as we'll see.

The problem is within

I hate the prosperity 'Gospel' but the 'search for the hero inside yourself Gospel' is probably just as bad. But the Bible subverts this totally. The problem is not out there, the answer is not in us. It's exactly the opposite. Who falls? Man, not nature. Snakes speaks, Eve listens don't listen Eve. Snake lies, Eve believes. Bad. Adam, Eve, and all of us since have used our free will not to glorify God, but to rebel against Him. Did God really say? No!

Right away, there is Christ

Genesis 3:15 sets up the question for the rest of the Bible 'who is the seed'? In peril, in rebellion, in punishment, in despair, there is the Promise. And it's the Promise that echoes down the ages, it's the Promise that gives us hope today. The Serpent Crusher, the One who will crush the Devil under our feet. Jesus, the hope from the beginning, the hope today.

Hession on humility.

Sometimes you hear of a book, and either because of the author or the title you can hardly wait to get your hands on it. Sometimes it's different, sometimes you've never heard of a book that someone gives to you highly recommended, and you only read it because Norman Grubb has written the forward to it.

The Calvary Road by Roy Hession is one of those books that somehow you know you'll be reading over and over again. One of those books with a message so important, and yet so simple that you never really want to stop reading it. 

It's message is simply that revival starts in the individual Christian hearts, and that there is no great and deep secret to it. Revival is what happens when men and women humble themselves, admit the horrible, proud states of their hearts, and ask for the Holy Spirit to be shed upon them, that they might no more of Christ.

One of the major theme running through the book is the need for the Christian to be humble before God, to repent of our pride and to curve the sinful I into a C...The author devotes a whole chapter to the parable of the servant in Luke 17:7-10. Hession draws out five applications for humility for Christians today:

1) He must be willing to have one thing upon another put on him, without any consideration being given him.

The servant went from all day in the field, to preparing his master's supper, to waiting on his master, and at no time was offered a rest or food. And at no time did he complain.

2) He must be willing not to be thanked for it.

How often i serve someone just for the credit it accrues. Not this servant.

3) Having done all this, he must not charge the other with selfishness.

It seems as we read the passage that the master is cruel and inconsiderate. But this doesn't seem to be the opinion of the servant. Indeed, Christians exist to worship Jesus, and obey Him. The same is true of the servant in the parable.

4) We must confess that we are unprofitable servants.

At no point does Jesus commend the servant, at no point does the servant stop for self congratulation. He knows that he is unprofitable.

5) We must admit that having done and borne all that we have in meekness and humility, we have not done a stitch more than was our duty.

We are saved to do good works for the glory of God. We are saved BY Him For Him. What can we offer Jesus that is 'above and beyond'? Nothing. This should fire up our humility.

Romans 6 and the empty tomb

I sometimes wonder if, when our great grandchildren look back at us, they will conclude that, with a few exceptions, the doctrine of the resurrection was one of the most over looked in our day. It's obviously hard by definition to write about what our blind spots are, but having just spent about a week in Romans 6, i've seen, maybe even for the first time what a huge impact the resurrection is supposed to have on the daily life of the Christian.

Romans 5 ends with the comparison between the 1st Adam and the 2nd Adam, Jesus. Just as Christ was greater in every way than Adam, so His gift is greater in every way than Adam's 'gift', which was death. Paul then goes onto counter the claims that we should continue in sin so that grace may abound. And he does this by talking about Christ rising from the dead. In 6:4 Paul says 'we were buried with Him therefore by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from that dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life'. 

Why don't we sin so that grace might abound? Because of the resurrection. Because we were baptised into Christ's death 'in order that' we too might walk in newness of life. This is stunning. Paul doesn't start with the wages of sin being death, he starts with the positive, he starts with the obvious implication of the empty tomb. If we've been dead like Jesus, we should be alive like Jesus.

But there's more. In verse 5 Paul says we shall 'certainly be united with Him, in a resurrection like His.' Our old self has been crucified, we've been set free from sin because Christ died on the sin. As Jesus, our substitute died for sin on the cross, we died to it. When He rose death no longer had dominion over us, because he was dead to sin. Jesus has done this, so we are to consider ourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Him. Because He rose.

Paul finishes up this section of his though in 6:12-23. Don't let sin reign in your bodies. He rose and was dead to it, so you must count yourself as such. And the implication is that we are slaves to God. Sounds harsh but it's only right. Once we were slaves to sin, we went where sin called, for as long as sin wanted. Now we're slaves to God. Because Jesus is risen, and we live that new life with Him, we are slaves to God. 

On the cross Jesus was punished for our sins. He died for our trespasses. He died that we might worship God. Jesus walked out of His tomb for our justification. (4:25) So that we could live a life free from the chains of sin and alive to God. Christ rose to buy us new life, to give us new life. So that we might not only be forgiven but justified. Just as he not only died, but also rose...

Romans, concepts and categories

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished

Romans 3:25

One of the many things i love about reading the Bible slowly, and in order is that is shapes our categories and creates our concepts. If you asked many, perhaps even most, evangelicals, why Jesus died on the cross, the answers would probably range from 'because He loved me' to 'so i can have a personal relationship with Him' to 'so i can go to Heaven.' Hopefully some would say 'so that i can worship Him'. 

Now all those answers are true enough, and glorious, especially the last one, which is far closer to the grand, ultimate, Biblical answer than the other three. Few people, myself normally included would say that the reason Jesus died on the cross was to answer the greatest problem in the Old Testament. Few would say to demonstrate His righteousness first and foremost.

The biggest problem in the Old Testament is 'how can God be good, and just, and yet simply put away the sins of His people. Sure there was the exile, but what about after that? Is civil war and a kingdom split enough to punish the adultery of David?' I mean, most people would say it in a better fashion than that, but you know what i mean. God the Father sent His Son to die to demonstrate the righteousness of God. This is why Jesus was laying down His life to show the world that He loved His Father, not us. Not primarily.

This gives such tremendous freedom in Christian counselling and discipleship. It means that when a student comes to me and says 'i am a terrible person,' i can say, lovingly and Biblically, 'yes you are a terrible person. And so am i. Welcome to the Gospel.' Christians need this Gospel! There is little to no freedom in the 'i'm so lovely Christ just couldn't help but die for me Gospel.' It doesn't work, it is not true. 

The Bible is so radically, dangerously, consistently, persistently God centered that it ends up reshaping our categories, it ends up creating our concepts of what happened at Calvary. Can you imagine the impact if Christians read it, and took it seriously, and acted upon it?

Jesus is better than faith

I've been thinking recently about the Gospel. Good, well done Ed, you should think about the Gospel. But i mean, i've been thinking about why it's good news that what makes the good news good is Jesus. Does that make sense?

Ok, well, what is the best and highest good news of the Gospel, of the 'Good News'? It's Jesus. We get Jesus. We get Him, the greatest reality, the greatest Person there is or was or ever will be. The Good News is not forgiveness of sins, as infinitely necessary as that is, the good news is not God will give me a happy marriage, the Good News is not that i get a whole bunch of new sunday morning friends or something else to do other than sit through the Hollyoaks omnibus. Now, all those things are good, but they're not why Jesus died on the cross. Those things make us the apex of the Gospel, which, quite simply, we are not. Those things make Christ our servant, our means, our way of getting something. It makes an idol of forgiveness. And how sick the human heart is that we can make an idol of something as beautiful as forgiveness.

But whats new about that? I've written and spoken and thought and rejoiced in that before. This week i tried to start going on a bit in my thinking to try and see on a practical, broken down level why this is good news. Why the fact that God is the Gospel is better than forgiveness being the Gospel. There are the obvious reasons of course, obvious and glorious. It's not Heaven if Jesus isn't there...there's not an ounce, not a scintilla of joy or peace or love or happiness apart from Him. It just doesn't exist.

That can be quite an abstract concept.

God is the Gospel is better than my faith in Jesus is the Gospel, because sometimes i won't be faithful. Sometimes i'll deliberately sin, sometimes i'll be in a pattern i can't get out of. My faith isn't good news then, in fact, if i'm relying on my faith then what have i got to rely on. God is the Gospel is better than sanctification is the Gospel for the same reason. But if we, as Spurgeon has it, flee to the wounds, then we will never be turned back, never lose hope.

God is the Gospel is better than a nice life is the Gospel because sometimes the Christian life is not nice. It's not meant to be. 'Take up your cross and follow me'. Where then the good news that your life will be better if you follow Jesus. So often my Gospel presentations turn into a sort of spiritualised prosperity Gospel. Thats nothing short of cruel. Jesus is wonderful and all satisfying, why promise someone a lie. The wounds. The wounds.

God is the Gospel is better than church is the Gospel, because sometimes being part of a church is not good news. Or, at least, it doesn't feel like it. Church is still great. We'll be hurt, let down and sinned against in the church. If we look for our hope, security and satisfaction there, we won't find it. Where is it to be found? In Christ's blood bought communion with Himself.

Christ knows what we need. Himself. He is all our hearts long for, He is what we need. And He knows that, so He died on the cross that we might have that relationship with Him that we need. Now forgiveness, sanctification, the church and deep non circumstantial spiritual joy are all good things. Very very good things. But their not The Good thing. They can't be.

He is.

Joker Joshua Jesus

I'm so glad there's a thing called Truth. I'm even more glad that the thing called Truth is real, and true. I've been thinking about this a lot recently, with regard to the Joker in The Dark Knight. Then today, for reasons that still sort of escape me, Paris Hilton became a semi important figure in the election of the Leader of the Free World. News channels seem to be guilty of this too. Turn on Fox News, and there's McCain, loved by Texas, turned on MSNBC, and there's Obama, folks in Europe like him. Neither station has much time for the other man. There is precious little objectivity. On Law and Order last night a baby was described as 'the produce of conception'.

But the thing is, unless there's truth, unless something exists that is true, there's nothing wrong with any of this. Or nothing surprising at least. Why shouldn't a crazed criminal blow up a hospital;, why shouldn't civilians kill hundreds of prisoners, or indeed vice versa, why shouldn't a society heiress be an important figure in the election campaign. If there's no truth, new channels are free to show what they want about who they want. And does it really matter if micro truth is lost if there's no macros truth? Why should anyone prefer the scratching of their finger to the destruction of the universe?

Of course, the common good. So what when your common good is someone's common evil? Democracy? Then why are jails overcrowded?

No, there has to be truth. When Moses died truth continued. Yaweh held back the Jordan for Joshua as He had held back the Nile for Moses. They had the Book. The Commander of the Lord's Army demanded the same respect as the burning bush. There was continuity. Ai routes Israel for the sin of Achan...there is still truth. This wonderful Truth from above.

Jesus said, i am the truth. The truth is not a collective, or an ideology, or a system. The truth us a person. The truth is what He teaches, the truth is what He's done for His Father and for His people. I'm so pleased about that.

We should preach the Gospel so that people want it to be true even if they don't believe it. We should preach the Gospel by placing before people Jesus, the Truth. Jesus who is the answer, both to the needs we feel, and the often more important ones we don't. Jesus, who's very life as the Truth gives human life it's worth, places a responsibility on those who report news not to make it and demonstrate the evil of murder.

Thats Truth, and i'm glad it's so.

In compassion creation and trust, Jesus is the champion

I'm loving my slow mornings in Matthew. I was in 15:29-39 this morning.

No doubt Jesus was tired by this point. Not long had passed since the feeding of the five thousand men, He walking on water, clashing with the Pharisees and healing the Canaanite woman. In His humanity he probably wanted nothing more than to sit and pray quietly with His disciples. But sure enough word got out that Jesus was on the scene, that the Healer had shown up. 'Great crowds came to him'. Maybe hundreds, maybe thousands, but a large number. Did Jesus turn them away? No, He healed them. These people were Gentiles. Did He refuse them help? No, He healed them. Did He send them away hungry? No, He fed them. What a God to worship. What a challenge to us when we tire, when we need rest, when hope for time with our friends. Jesus had compassion on the outsider.

It is probably impossible that the disciples had forgotten that Jesus had just fed five thousand men. Their question in v33 must be read as a request for help. They give Jesus all they had, and He responded. Another great lesson of faith for the twelve. There was more food this time, perhaps more leftovers, but we mustn't reckon that Jesus power to create was limited be His resources. This was simply a lesson, a demonstration. What a lesson it was. Jesus is the champion in providing for those indeed here. Jesus could have done all this without the help of the twelve, but here again is amazing evidence of his use of fallen man to do His work. He could call those who will respond without the use of preaching, and yet preaching and preachers He uses. Here is the Lords grace to those who love Him and will serve Him. He has compassion on those in need, on those with no hope. He can be trusted with all we have, all the time.

After Jesus healing work, the Gentiles praised the God of Israel. This surely is to be the goal of all our work, be it explicit Gospel ministry or not. All our labours in the scripture are to show Jesus as mighty that people would worship. All our visits, all our long days, all our preaching, all our work where ever we are should be that people would worship. That was Jesus' goal here. That must be our goal always, that through us, amazingly though us people might hear and see what an incomparable treasure Jesus is, and worship Him with their whole lives.

What i learn from goodbyes

That the Gospel is true, or better, worthwhile.

Now, of course if the Gospel was neither of these things i'd have never gone to Bulgaria in the first place, but saying goodbye to people and places that i love teaches me that the Gospel is worth doing so. If it wasn't i'd stay in a church i love, doing a job i love with people as close to me as my family. But the Gospel is worth the tears, Matthew 24:14 is true, so we press on.

That we weren't meant for broken relationships.

Look at Genesis 1-2, any broken relationships? Any goodbyes? No. The reason saying good bye to people is hard and feels wrong is because our hearts weren't made for the transitory. They were made for the eternal. They weren't made for saying goodbye, but for enjoying extended fellowship that never ends. Our sin, my sin has broken that, and for a while, a short while, we must live with the consequences. And yes, a million times yes, it's not Heaven if Christ isn't there, but i'm looking forward to not saying goodbye to my friends ever again!

That Church is a great idea.

If you care about the spread of the Gospel, you care about the local church. I would never want to be in a church that i didn't weep for the last time i pulled out of the car park, never want to follow men who i didn't hate saying goodbye to. Never want to be part of a SUPA team that wasn't more about 9AM banter than chairs. I'd never want to do this Christian thing on my own, thank God i'll never have to.

That there's a world outside England and my career.

The world's getting smaller all the time. But it's still huge. Phone calls make us feel like we're in the same room, but four thousand miles is still a long way. But the nations are out there, and they need reaching, the world doesn't stop at the Bristol Channel, there are people needing salvation everywhere, and how will they hear unless we tell them. Why not stay in Reading? Earn a few more quid and build a proper life there? Why not do a long term job, my dream job in many ways, with a mission agency i adore. Because there's a world outside of it, because God has called me there, and because my 'career' or being somewhere that people value my opinion on things ultimately doesn't matter at all. When i look into His face, i'll only ever wish i'd given Him more.

That in all these things, Christ is magnified.

No cross, no good things to be sad about saying bye to. No cross, no good things to look forward to. No cross, only Hell forever. The Gospel is worth it because Christ is worth it, moving is worth it because Christ is worth it. And something else. Through all these punctured relationships, one is unchanged. One is still the same. Christ is with me, for comfort, vision, hope, strength, joy and best of all, salvation leading to Himself. And in the final reckoning, He is all anyone needs.

Anxiety and loaves

I just read this: 'five loaves plus Jesus equals 10,000 loaves, or something like that.' Which ends in a call to remember this story and trust that God wil, in accordance with Phillipians 4:19 abumdantly supply all our needs in Jesus Christ.

Whcih got me thinking about nthe way i've been feeling for the last couple of weeks. I've been really anxious about getting my visa to live and work in the USA next year. The sort of anxiety that ties itself up in your stomach and doesn't let you sleep...that sort that made me worry that my greatest treasure was going to be a piece of paper in my passport rather than the Lord of Heaven and Earth.

But the most worrisome and deceptive thing about this feeling was that i didn't really notice it until it was gone. It was replaced, not by another feeling, but by a pleasant lack of feeling, a sunny void where the ball used to be, a good nights sleep. Jeremiah tells me, and he's right, that my heart is deceptive above all things, desperately sick...who can understand it? My heart is so sick i don't know when it's sick. My heart is so broken i don't even recognise it. I don't know that i'm worried about something until i'm not worried any more.

How neccesary is the psalmists cry to the Lord to search me and know my heart, to declare me innocent of hidden sin. The problem is not that i sin, although that is a problem, but that i am sinful. My heart needs the Word, it needs prayer, it needs guarding, it needs the blood, or it will never be clean. Without those things i'd never even know it was dirty...

Fixtures

The fixtures for the new football league season were released today. Wycombe start at home to Morcambe before trekking to Chester on the second weekend of the season. Exeter at home and Gillingham away over Christmas and Notts County at home on the last day of the season. Not bad, but it's all a bit underwhelming. When you could have been playing Leeds United and Leicester, home games with Bury and Barnet seem less attractive somehow.

I guess that's how if feels to support wycombe wanderers at the moment. it's too soon yeh? I still see Liam Dickinson firing stockport into the play off final in May i still see Tommy treading on the ball and Leon not getting back quick enough, and then, in a moment, the season's gone. We'll never look as beautiful as we did heading up the M6 that day. Not for a while at least.

Recently another set of fixtures were released as well. ECU Pirates start away at Virginia Tech and then at home to Virginia, they play at UAB in Alabama on the Thanksgiving weekend, and finish off at home to UTEP (no idea who they are). Those are their Conference USA games anyway, there are some 'Bowl' games as well apparently. I don't really know what they are, but i do know ECU won the Sheraton Bowl away in Hawai'i last season. Now thats an away game i could get excited about...surely i deserve a trip there after all my away games to Mansfield and Rotheram!

Here's the nub though. I don't really understand the different between the C-USA games and the Bowl games. I can sit and tell you why i think the late 20s early 30s Wycombe team was better than the team of the fifties, but not the seventies team. How i'll always be biased towards the early nineties team because i grew up watching them. I can also give you a little parenthesis about how interesting it is that Wycombe's glory years coincide with the best periods of English domestic football (fifties, seventies and nineties) whereas the eighties were generally a horrible write off ( we were awful in the eighties).

So when it comes to sporting life in eastern North Carolina, i haven't much got a clue. Everything's different. Even North Carolina's one pro football team (Carolina Railhawks) have a section in their websites FAQ entitled 'what happens if it rains?' They 'play on' apparently. Well yeh. And they play somewhere called the SportsMed Park or some sort of other silly franchised name. So everything different. Apart from one thing. The Gospel.

Hey, people in North Carolina still need to be called to repentance, still need to be baptised, still need to gather with other believers for worship and instruction. The Gospel's still true. People get squeamish about the Gospel. They'll say that we can't possibly call people all over the world, in every tribe, tongue and nation to believe on Jesus. How western, how white. How Republican. But, Reading or Washington, RG1 or 27889, the Gospel is true, Jesus is the only way to the Father, and people need to hear about it. Jesus is still providentially ruling for His glory and His people's joy.

What hope, what joy, what security we endanger when we think about throwing out the uniqueness of Jesus. What silliness.

The Lord is in the detail

Before i started Relay i wasn't that systematic in my Bible reading. I'd read it every day more or less, almost always going through a book, sometimes new testament, sometimes old, but there was never any grand plan, any route i was following to help me see Christ through a sixty six book lens. When Relay started i began to follow the Mccheyne reading plan that takes you through the whole Bible in one of two years, or in my case, something like fourteen months! And that was really good, and very helpful in seeing the grand scheme of scripture unfold.

One thing i did miss was the chance to linger over a passage and soak it up though. That's what i'm doing now, in Matthew, with the help of the very excellent John MacArthur commentary series. Normally i read about four or five verses a day, which seems very slow (and is) but its helped me to see some of the detail. And the Lord is in the detail. Jesus oozes through every crack in Matthews gospel, His truth and light shine brightly from every part of the story. So here are some things i've learnt so far.

Chapter 1
Jesus is a royal King and a gracious King. The King of the Jews had to come straight through the line of David, and Jesus did. And look at some of the people in Jesus genealogy. Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes, Ruth was a Moabite, and yet Jesus had them in His line. Jesus was descended from them. In chapter one we see so clearly the work of God in our salvation. What does His name mean? The Lord saves. Who announced His coming? The Holy Spirit. Who's plan was it? The Fathers. God is all over the plan of salvation.

Chapter 2
We begin to see more clearly that Jesus was no ordinary child. The magi were eastern King makers. Who would rule next was up to them in their land. They called Jesus 'the King of the Jews'. Herod's upset reaction to this is more evidence that this baby was special, this baby was to be a King. The Gold signifies His regality, the frankincense His divinity, and the myrrh His humility. What a birth! What a Son, The true Son as his calling from Egypt and the fulfillment of Scripture demonstrates.

Chapter 3
The King has a herald, and opposition. The herald will soon decrease and the opposition be sifted like wheat. Jesus is supreme. And humble. Jesus approaches John to baptise Him that all righteousness might be fulfilled. Jesus will go about things in the right way, there's no doubt about that. I love how Trinitarian this part is. The Spirit descends, the Father speaks, the Son is King. The Father is well pleased. No other sacrifice pleased God. This one will. The King is truly here.

Chapter 4
The King is tested. He overcomes because of who the Father is. He is a trustworthy God. He is a God worth suffering for. All the Devils riches do not come close to relationship with the Father, all the bread in the world will not taste as sweet as doing the Father's will. Jesus succeeds in the desert where Israel failed. He is the perfect Son. Jesus starts His ministry, at the right time, in the right place with the right words. I'm struck by His sheer majesty. Always moving to the tick of the divine clock. And what is His message. Repent. Change your mind, turn your mind around. Turn your actions around. He calls men. Fishermen to be fishers of men. He calls them with absolute authority. Ordinary blue collar men, not leaders or teachers. Fishermen. And they follow Him.

The first four chapters of Matthew reveal so much glorious detail about Jesus, i can't wait for the next twenty four...

Revolution and reformation

I guess the link between evangelism and discipleship, or, better put, what to do with new Christians after they're saved has been a problem since Acts. Too often i've been involved when the approach has either been 'well, you were saved by grace but now you need to do this stuff', or people have ended up thinking 'i'm not saved by anything i do, so it doesn't matter if i live in the same way now that i used to'. Both with some obvious glorious truth applied in a horrible way.

And this is a serious business. Luke tells us:

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.

"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters

"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first."

The devil here is depicted as a strong man, someone who can look after himself and doesn't have too many worries about secutiry. His house is his domain, and he rules it without opposition. And yet, when a stronger man comes, the first man is disarmed. Suddennly his arnmour is useless to him, and he has no defence. he was been overthrown. Revolution has come to his house. This is the work that Christ has accomplished on the cross. He has disarmed the strong man, by his death and ressurection, he has overthrown the devils rule in the hearts of many, and rules there. Revolution has come.

But revolution on it's own is not enough. It's not just enough to have the devil overthrown. Our previous passion for the evil one must be replaced with an ardour for our new King, for our savior, the One who has overthrown. Look at the next paragraph. The evil spirits leave the house and can not find rest. So he returns. And what does he find? Not a fortress of love for the new ruler of the house, not a well defended refuge built at the foot of calvary, but instead a house 'swpt clean and out in order'. A house no longer under the devastating rule of the devil, but not aflame with anything else. Just well swept and put in order. Like a show home.

So what happnes? The enemy returns to the house, and the state of it is worse than before. Seven times worse. There was no defence, no home was made for the new King, no preparation made for the hardships to come. On the outside the house looked ok, but it was empty and void. A sitting target.

Our love must be replaced, we must fall for and commit to Jesus wholeheartedly, and more importantly than that, we must make sure that the people that respond to the Gospel in mission week season experience not only revolution, as one king is overthrown for the real King, but also reformation, as the affection and dedication for one king is replaced by affection and dedication for the real King. This is an impossible taks, which is why 2 Corinthians 3:17-4:6 is one of my favourite and most encouraging passages of scripture. We can't make the light shine, God does. Whats our part? preaching the Gospel. Not just to the unsaved but, since the Gospel is God's appointed means of salvation and sanctification, we teach new converts too. And people who have been Christians all their lives. And ourselves. Then, when this light shines brighter than any other Christians will understand why 'don't sleep around' is not a proscription but a prescription. Not something to steal life away, but to impart life and joy. Then we will see not just converts but disciples, people ready to give their all for thier new, revolutionising, reforming, saving, mission enabling King.

Doctrine

Of course it is Jesus who saves, not the doctrine. And so our faith rests decisively on Jesus. But the doctrine tells us what sort of Jesus we are resting on and what we are resting on Him for. Without this, the word Jesus has no content that could be good news.

John Piper: 'The Future of Justification' P86

I'm reading Piper's new book on justification at the moment. I'd seen a review that said if you weren't really part of the debate yourself, not a pastor of a church where this was a problem, not someone torn between the new Perspective and orthodoxy, or not someone with an academic interest in the subject, it's probably a work to be avoided. I'd have to say that since i don't fall into any of those categories, but am still enjoying and gaining much from the book, i'd have to disagree.

Anyway, Piper, in the above quote, makes the distinction between saving faith in Christ, over above saving faith in doctrine, which doesn't actually exist. And thats right, but it got me to thinking not that 'all we need is love' or that if we say we're Christians we'll go to Heaven, but that it makes the study and belief of sound doctrine all the more important. If i just say i love maths, but do no work in the study of maths, and then just make up a load of random junk on my maths exam, i'm not going to get very far. A football team that tries to pass the ball from hand to hand isn't going to do very well, despite how much they claim to love the game.

Last year saw serious controversy over, and defence of the doctrine of, penal substitution. And that was right and crucial controversy, not because we are saved by believing the doctrine, but because the doctrine helps us to know and see how we are saved and what from. If i don't believe that all my sin was punished in Jesus on the cross, my sinful heart will naturally waiver and worry and try to work to deal with sin itself. But if i know that all my sin has been dealt with by Jesus forever, then there will no such problems. In theory at least.

The same with that foundation stone of the church, justification by faith alone, something at stake in 'The Future if Justification'. Not that believing in the doctrine saves me, but that it shows me what sort of Christ i believe in, and shows me how i'm being saved. If i didn't have faith in this doctrine i'd be trying to do all sorts of Christ diminishing work to make myself right with God, whether it was being nice to people or running backward down the high street at full moon. Knowing, loving, studying, communing with God and trying to defend this doctrine teaches me that none of that is true. That i was delivered from the curse of the law by the One who became a curse for me. That Christ died as a ransom for many. That if i'm saved by my works i make the cross of no benefit.

Sound doctrine is vital. Vital because it shows us what sort of Christ we believe in. Vital because it shows us what He's done. Vital because it shows us what that means. There's little more important in life than those truths. Nothing actually.

The Legalist Within

I'm preaching on Exodus 12:1-29 on sunday, something which i'm very excited about. it's not often one can exhort people to have a 'blood soaked year' and hope to be well received. One of the most shocking and gracious things that i've come up against when studying this passage has been the total lack of requirements God made of Israel. All they were to do was to kill a lamb, and trust in it's blood. They were to have faith that God would see that blood on the door frame and 'pass over' them the night before they left Egypt. And He did.

This really struck me today when i was writing my conclusion. i was keen, desperate even to write some sort of command, to get people to do something as a response to what we'd been looking at. But there were none. Search high and low through Exodus 12 and the closest thing you'll get to a response command it seven verses on remembering the Passover by having a feast. Not exactly the burdensome 'go and make your life better' type of thing that i was after. It's just not there, it's all about the blood. Which should be good news, and in reality of course, is the best news.

But why does my heart seem to hate grace so much? I so desperately want to be given something to do, something to validate me. Pathetically i want to have something i can hold up in front of the Almighty and say 'look at me, aren't i good?' But in fact i'm not, there's nothing good in me that the Lord hasn't put there. But my proud heart doesn't want to be confronted with that, and certainly doesn't want to present it well. And i want to be well thought of after i've spoken. And for whatever reason i think that polluting the Gospel and giving people things to do is the best way to do that. A few days before he died Jim Elliot wrote in his diary 'confession of pride, as suggested by David Brainerd, must become an hourly pursuit'. As it is with me.

Grace is a funny sort of upside down thing. Ask the diligent Muslim how his relationship with God is and he might say something like 'great, i prayed twenty-one last week'. Ask the Christian and he might say 'well...i don't know, i seem to keep on sinning'. Yes! You keep on sinning because you are a person, and thats what people do. But you are under the blood of the ultimate passover lamb...and in on that great and terrible day God will pass over you, because as He killed the first born in the darkness of Egypt, so He killed His firstborn in the darkness at Calvery.

This is grace, hard to grasp, wonderful, upside down, counter cultural. And wholly, infinitely necessary...