Category: <span>Bible</span>

This is not a Daniel moment

This is not a Daniel moment

The first thing that we need to do is understand what is actually happening. I don’t mean that we need to understand the science (I’m not convinced that even the scientists are 100% there yet). What we need to understand is where we stand, so that we know how to walk. Despite the deep disappointment about the closure of church buildings for public worship, this is not a Daniel moment. What I mean by that is that we are not being forbidden from practicing our religion on the basis of religion. We’re not being told, as Daniel was, that the very act of worship is banned. What we are being asked to endure is a ban on social interaction on the basis of public gatherings being dangerous. We can debate the scientific basis of that ban, we can even enquire as to the legality of that ban, but what we cannot do is set ourselves up as having our religious freedom curtailed, we’re not. The basis of the decision does make a difference. So, we’re not being mistreated on the basis of faith (if you believe that it is a mistreatment), and we’re not being singled out because of what we believe.

This means that we should not be calling on the government to reinstate our public worship on the basis of freedom of religion. That’s plainly not the basis of our current lockdown restrictions. We can, and should, no matter our disagreement with the government on their understanding and implementation, accept the rules put in place for the common good in the manner in which they have been given – for the common good.

The second, and related thing that we need to do is to understand how we can work for the common good ourselves. We should be devoting our time and energy, our study, our prayers, and our worship towards seeking how to seek God and share God and to honour him in the current difficult days. The time and energy taken disagreeing with the state and discussing that would be better served in building one another up. Romans 14:19 says  “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.”

As I’ve pointed out above, we’re not, in this case, suffering on the basis of our faith, but 1 Peter 2:20 is helpful:

“For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”

So, let’s stand firm and look to God, trusting in his providence, and seeking to live in him no matter what the rest of the world tells us about our rights. Let’s use every means possible to encourage one another, using walking in pairs, video and voice calls, messaging and sharing what has encouraged you, one with another. But most of all, as Daniel did, let’s continue to take to our knees and pray for this world and for one another. There’s no law against that.

Bible Nine to Five Theses

Of Houses and Tents

“I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.” 1 Chronicles 17:14

When David found his rest, in his own house, in the City of David, Jerusalem, he realised that the same was not true for the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the presence of the LORD was to be focused. So David determined to build a house for the presence of the LORD to rest. The LORD’s answer to David was twofold. First, “I don’t need a house, I’ve never asked for a house, and when I choose for a house to be built I will command.” But, secondly, the LORD promises to build David a house (1 Chronicles 17:10). Now, David had just built his house in Jerusalem, so that can’t be what God is referring to when he makes this promise to David.

God promises to build a house for David that is eternal. This is the real house, the place where God dwells among his people. David was looking at the immediate, but God was speaking of the eternal. We need always to lift our eyes from the immediate to the eternal, and see God’s bigger plans. Solomon’s great temple is nothing more than a memory now, but God’s house still endures, and will endure. This is our true hope, our real goal, our motivation for how we live now. Jesus is the great King, of the line of David, promised a millennium before Jesus was born in Bethlehem; Jesus is the great King whose throne endures forever. And rather than us building a house for him, he has built his house for us, and is even now building another home.

In chapter 14 of John’s Gospel Jesus tells his disciples very plainly that he is going to prepare that final home for us, so that, where he is, we may be too! But, for now, God has promised to be among us who believe here on earth – that is the Church, and all those who trust in Jesus as Lord and King are a part of that body, that temple in which Jesus dwells, until he comes again.

So, lift your hearts and your heads to things above, knowing that that is our true home, now in part, then in full. Live the immediate in the hope of the eternal in Christ Jesus.

Bible General

Light from Life

In John’s Gospel we get a very different take on the Christmas story. Gone are the historical hooks: the census, the trip to Bethlehem, the wise men and the shepherds. Gone is the picture of Joseph and Mary in the stable. Instead, we are given a broader perspective on proceedings.

First of all, we are told that the subject of this whole episode is, and was, the Word – that which was with God in the absolute beginning. In fact, through this Word the entire universe that we inhabit came into existence.

The coming of this Word into his own creation is remarkable. 
 We know that Jesus would later announce that he is the light of the world, and that following his light would bring life, but there’s another element that we tend to skip over without recognising it for what it is. The light itself is not what brings life, but it is the life behind it – that self-same Word.

John 1:4 tells us: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

The light that we receive, that we follow, derives from that very life of God himself, through the Word. The I AM is the life behind the light.  So, the one through whom everything that was made has been made is the same life that lights that first Christmas, and every Christmas since then. It is the power of that life that ensures to us that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t been able to overcome it. Encapsulated in that fragile package who Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and wise men adored was all the power of the Creator of the universe!

And yet, remarkably, in becoming human, Jesus, the Word, became one of us, and ‘came to his own’. How sad then, that so many of us refuse him, not just at Christmas, but throughout our lives. The fantastic news is that this same Word is returning to his creation, but this time in all the power that we read of here. It’s one thing to reject a poor innocent and fragile baby. It’s another thing entirely to reject the One who is life itself and the source of all that was, all that is, and all that will be.

There’s only one thing we can honestly do: bow our knee to the Creator of the universe, made man for our sake, and worship him as the life who brings us light.

Bible General

christmas jesus

Four Threads

No, it’s not the name of a Two Ronnies sketch, but the title of a sermon I preached a couple of months ago at Cuckfield Baptist Church.

Particularly for those who are new to the Bible, it can be difficult to understand context, or to see how all the different bits are a whole. This talk gives some pointers to look for while you read.

Four Threads Through the Bible

Bible General

bible christianity sermons talks

What to do with the coming year…

There’s a gap in our history of the apostle Paul. In Galatians 1:17 Paul himself alludes to it, but gives no more detail than the fact that he went to Arabia for a while. I don’t often speculate, but in this case I think I have fairly firm ground.

Paul was steeped in the law. He knew the Jewish Scriptures inside out. We was versed in all the prophecies. But he was wrong about how it all fitted together. My dad says that prophecy without fulfilment is like having a jigsaw puzzle without having the picture on the lid – you won’t know how it all goes together until you can see the whole picture. Paul had all the pieces, but he didn’t have the completed picture.

When he encountered Jesus on the Damascus road, Paul was given the the whole picture; he realised that Jesus was the Christ, the fulfilment of all the Law, the prophecies and promises. That left Paul with a lot of pieces to rearrange. I believe that Paul left the country until he had put all the pieces of the jigsaw together, according to the picture that he now had. It would have taken some time for Paul to take all that he had known, and make sense of it on the basis of his new found understanding. Paul speaks of this in his letters as ‘the mystery revealed’.

And so, once Paul had got the revealed mystery understood in his own mind he came back so that he could share this understanding that Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s great plan, that Jesus is all the Law and the Prophets. This mystery revealed, this light bulb moment for Paul drove the rest of his life.

In his letter to the Colossian christians Paul says this:

“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:1–3”

Whatever your hopes or desires are for the coming year, this hope transcends all, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is in Christ. Paul’s desire was that all might know, and he struggled with all his might to share this understanding. For us, we should take this for our own. We have the mystery revealed, we know Jesus is the Christ. Let’s do what Paul did. Let’s determine this year to know God and his Son through the Word that he gave us. Let’s put all those pieces together in our own minds and let’s share that knowledge with anyone who will listen.

So, my goal for the coming year is to read God’s word, to prayerfully study and consider, and to put together the pieces of God’s eternal plan in my own heart, and then to pass on what I have learned, to whoever will listen.

Bible

2018 bible newyear