I've been reading Isaiah in the mornings over the last six mornings, what a book! Full of comfort and consolation, but also judgement and devastation. God is the God of victory for His people. He is the God who is crushed, and through that crushing comes victory.
This morning i read 59:16-17. If you came from Mars, and heard of a God who was perfect, and powerful, how would you expect Him to deal with the problem mentioned in verse 16? No one in Israel, not one of God's people interceded, no one was standing. You might expect this sovereign power to rise and rage, the judge and destroy. But, Martian friend, you'd be wrong.
What happens next? 'then his own arm brought him salvation.' God provided a man, who would stand, a man who would bring salvation. There was not a single Israelite with the law written on his heart. Jesus came, with the law written on His heart. There was not an Israelite who kept the law. Jesus came and kept the law. There was not a King who loved the Lord with all His heart, all His mind and all His strength. Jesus came, and Jesus did. He came and brought righteousness, His righteousness upheld Him. There is no one else in all of history of whom this can be said.
What does Isaiah say next? 'He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head.' Well hang on, this is Ephesians isn't it? We all know that famous passage. Jesus wore the breastplate, of His own righteousness first. Jesus can wear the helmet of salvation, because it salvation belongs to Him.
We can't work our way to God. The Gospel is all about Him coming down. And down He came. What does Paul want us to out on in Ephesians 6? Not disconnected truths about Jesus...we need Jesus Himself. His righteousness, His salvation, His good news.
This morning we worship a good God, a rescuing God, a God whose name is Jesus. He comes and gives. He gives His life, He comes and gives righteousness and salvation. Bless the Lord oh my soul, and forget not His benefits...
You really should listen to Glen Scrivener on Isaiah. Really!
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Friday, 29 June 2012
Mephibosheth
Who are you when you read the Bible? You know what i mean. Are you Paul, riding off into the sunset to plant another church. Are you Peter, overcoming past sins to commit your whole life to God? Are you Ruth, trusting God in the face of overwhelming circumstance?
I don't know about you, but i've never been Mephibosheth. Who was Mephibosheth? He was the grandson of Saul, which was a problem when the new king came to town. IN those days, particularly when the throne passed from one house to another, the new king was perfectly within his rights to round up, and at the very least, exile or kill the descendants of the old king. That's why verse 1 of 2 Samuel 9 is such a shocking verse. Is there anyone left of the house of Saul that i might (kill them? Finish them off? Chase them from the land?) show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? David and Jonathan had promised to show kindness to each other's descendants, should the Lord give them a chance, and here is David, fulfilling that promise.
In verse 10 we see this kindness fleshed out. Mephibosheth is given all of Saul's land, his servants, and will eat and drink at David's table. That's some kindness to show to the lame grandson of a former king! What has Mephibosheth to offer David? Nothing! Not insight on the enemy, they've been vanquished. Not strength in battle, he's lame. Not prestige to add to David's house, in a day when defects were attributed to the punishment of God. No wonder Mephibosheth is amazed in verse 8; 'what is your servant, that you should show regard for such a dead dog as i?'
Why does David do it then? You can answer that question by saying, 'for the glory of David's name, for the glory of his love.' Who knew about the pact between David and Jonathan? Not many people, it certainly doesn't seem to be part of Jonathan's family lore, if Mephibosheth's reaction is anything to go by. For the sake of his name, David shows kindness to Mephibosheth even though he has nothing to offer him.
Let's digress for a minute. What are 95% of the worlds relationships based upon? The fulfilling of mutual needs? Why are divorce rates so high? Because many marriages are based on one party meeting the needs of another. Why do some people never get married? Because they don't want to find themselves tied to a person who one day may not meet their needs. What do we mean when we say 'i love you.' Often times we mean 'you, at this moment in space and time, meet my needs.' It is this view of marriage that has so devalued marriage. If met needs + attraction = marriage, then why shouldn't a man marry a man, or woman a woman?
This is not what David means by love is it? It can't be. There are no needs that Mephibosheth is meeting for David. When David says love he means, 'i have set my steadfast favour on you, and you can not fall out of my favour.' It's from incidences like this that we understand how Jesus is King David's greater Son, and King David's Lord.
You and I are Mephobisheth. In the past we stood against God, but he sought us out to do us good. Why did David find a descendant of Jonathan? To keep his promise to do them good. Why does Jesus seek us out? To do us good. What sort of good? Life, and land and prosperity forever. There's even a feast in 2 Samuel 9, just like there is at the end of time. Jesus finds us, brings us into our house, and sits us down to eat and drink with Him.
Why?
Not because He needs us. How does that make you feel, that God doesn't need you? More loved or less loved? More secure, or less secure? If Jesus loves us because He needs us, first of all, He's not much of a God, much less of a Saviour, and we should be wary about laying all our trust on Him. More to the point, what happens when He doesn't need us? Imagine though, Jesus loves you because He loves you! He has set His face on you to do you good, and nothing can convince Him otherwise! We did nothing to earn our salvation, and, as we're faithful to the end, we won't forfeit God's favour. This is tremendous, life giving news.
What sort of life should this produce? Well, look again at Mephibosheth. Verse 8 shows us a picture of humility. None of us want to portray ourselves as a 'dead dog,' but that humility would do us good. It produced a life of favour. Mephibosheth ate at the kings table 'always.' He had constant access to David, as we, through Christ, have constant access to God the Father. I would imagine that all the tea in China wouldn't have stopped Mephibosheth from telling the story of David's kindness to him. Are we as vocal in telling the story of Christ's kindness to us? I wonder how the promise of David effected the way Mephibosheth lived his life. I doubt very much that the fact there was always going to be food waiting for him at the King's table and a kind word from David at the end of the day made him lazy, or complacent. I would imagine faith in this future grace of David made him determined to live in a way that pleased David, and confident that when he failed, there would be grace.
All the Bible testifies to Jesus, and sometimes we're in there two. We're in the Bible as the totally undeserving recipients of sovereign grace. Nothing in our hand we bring, simply to His cross we cling...
I don't know about you, but i've never been Mephibosheth. Who was Mephibosheth? He was the grandson of Saul, which was a problem when the new king came to town. IN those days, particularly when the throne passed from one house to another, the new king was perfectly within his rights to round up, and at the very least, exile or kill the descendants of the old king. That's why verse 1 of 2 Samuel 9 is such a shocking verse. Is there anyone left of the house of Saul that i might (kill them? Finish them off? Chase them from the land?) show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? David and Jonathan had promised to show kindness to each other's descendants, should the Lord give them a chance, and here is David, fulfilling that promise.
In verse 10 we see this kindness fleshed out. Mephibosheth is given all of Saul's land, his servants, and will eat and drink at David's table. That's some kindness to show to the lame grandson of a former king! What has Mephibosheth to offer David? Nothing! Not insight on the enemy, they've been vanquished. Not strength in battle, he's lame. Not prestige to add to David's house, in a day when defects were attributed to the punishment of God. No wonder Mephibosheth is amazed in verse 8; 'what is your servant, that you should show regard for such a dead dog as i?'
Why does David do it then? You can answer that question by saying, 'for the glory of David's name, for the glory of his love.' Who knew about the pact between David and Jonathan? Not many people, it certainly doesn't seem to be part of Jonathan's family lore, if Mephibosheth's reaction is anything to go by. For the sake of his name, David shows kindness to Mephibosheth even though he has nothing to offer him.
Let's digress for a minute. What are 95% of the worlds relationships based upon? The fulfilling of mutual needs? Why are divorce rates so high? Because many marriages are based on one party meeting the needs of another. Why do some people never get married? Because they don't want to find themselves tied to a person who one day may not meet their needs. What do we mean when we say 'i love you.' Often times we mean 'you, at this moment in space and time, meet my needs.' It is this view of marriage that has so devalued marriage. If met needs + attraction = marriage, then why shouldn't a man marry a man, or woman a woman?
This is not what David means by love is it? It can't be. There are no needs that Mephibosheth is meeting for David. When David says love he means, 'i have set my steadfast favour on you, and you can not fall out of my favour.' It's from incidences like this that we understand how Jesus is King David's greater Son, and King David's Lord.
You and I are Mephobisheth. In the past we stood against God, but he sought us out to do us good. Why did David find a descendant of Jonathan? To keep his promise to do them good. Why does Jesus seek us out? To do us good. What sort of good? Life, and land and prosperity forever. There's even a feast in 2 Samuel 9, just like there is at the end of time. Jesus finds us, brings us into our house, and sits us down to eat and drink with Him.
Why?
Not because He needs us. How does that make you feel, that God doesn't need you? More loved or less loved? More secure, or less secure? If Jesus loves us because He needs us, first of all, He's not much of a God, much less of a Saviour, and we should be wary about laying all our trust on Him. More to the point, what happens when He doesn't need us? Imagine though, Jesus loves you because He loves you! He has set His face on you to do you good, and nothing can convince Him otherwise! We did nothing to earn our salvation, and, as we're faithful to the end, we won't forfeit God's favour. This is tremendous, life giving news.
What sort of life should this produce? Well, look again at Mephibosheth. Verse 8 shows us a picture of humility. None of us want to portray ourselves as a 'dead dog,' but that humility would do us good. It produced a life of favour. Mephibosheth ate at the kings table 'always.' He had constant access to David, as we, through Christ, have constant access to God the Father. I would imagine that all the tea in China wouldn't have stopped Mephibosheth from telling the story of David's kindness to him. Are we as vocal in telling the story of Christ's kindness to us? I wonder how the promise of David effected the way Mephibosheth lived his life. I doubt very much that the fact there was always going to be food waiting for him at the King's table and a kind word from David at the end of the day made him lazy, or complacent. I would imagine faith in this future grace of David made him determined to live in a way that pleased David, and confident that when he failed, there would be grace.
All the Bible testifies to Jesus, and sometimes we're in there two. We're in the Bible as the totally undeserving recipients of sovereign grace. Nothing in our hand we bring, simply to His cross we cling...
Thursday, 28 June 2012
The Dentist
No one likes going to the dentist do they? I can't remember the last time i went to the dentist, i've never seen one in America, i never had one in Guildford or Reading...so maybe eight years. I'm just following a long line of Goode tradition. My paternal grandfather hasn't seen one since the 1970s, apparently.
Why do we hate going to the dentist? Rachel's dentist is a lovely, Christian, man, who prays for our family and lets us leave through the back after a particularly painful procedure. His office is clean and comfortable, there's the usual selection of magazines and soft chairs, the staff are always friendly... But we know what's coming. The examination, the guilt for past transgressions, the judgement, the encouragement to do better, the new routine we swear we'll stick too.
I guess that's why people don't like coming to church, but if that's the reason, i think i'm ok with that. As a dentist, you can employ the friendliest people, buy the comfiest chairs and find the most entertaining magazines, but you're never going to make tooth extraction fun. You should all you can about the first, there's nothing you can do about the second.
It's the same at church. Visitors should be welcomed, comfortable, well informed, they should know where their children are going, whose working the nursery. They shouldn't feel left or ignored. We should do all we can to welcome guests. Except...except, being confronted with Jesus, for the non Christian, should not be a comfortable experience. Not because Jesus isn't comforting, He is. Not because Jesus doesn't welcome, He does, not because He isn't lovely, He is...But because of us.
A kid whose diet consists of sweets and soda isn't going to like his dentist very much, until his dentist cures the tooth ache, and helps him eat better. The non Christian shouldn't feel comfortable with Jesus, not until He saves them. Look at Peter for example. They've been fishing all night without success, but when Jesus shows up, they have more fish than they can handle. Peter doesn't offer Jesus a business deal, He falls on His knees and cries out 'get away from me.' He wasn't comfortable, he wasn't safe next to Jesus. And neither should we be.
It would be a bad dentist who gave up drilling and washing because people didn't like it, because in the end, it's good. It would be a bad church who gave up the Gospel simply because people didn't like it, because in the end, it's the best thing there is.
Why do we hate going to the dentist? Rachel's dentist is a lovely, Christian, man, who prays for our family and lets us leave through the back after a particularly painful procedure. His office is clean and comfortable, there's the usual selection of magazines and soft chairs, the staff are always friendly... But we know what's coming. The examination, the guilt for past transgressions, the judgement, the encouragement to do better, the new routine we swear we'll stick too.
I guess that's why people don't like coming to church, but if that's the reason, i think i'm ok with that. As a dentist, you can employ the friendliest people, buy the comfiest chairs and find the most entertaining magazines, but you're never going to make tooth extraction fun. You should all you can about the first, there's nothing you can do about the second.
It's the same at church. Visitors should be welcomed, comfortable, well informed, they should know where their children are going, whose working the nursery. They shouldn't feel left or ignored. We should do all we can to welcome guests. Except...except, being confronted with Jesus, for the non Christian, should not be a comfortable experience. Not because Jesus isn't comforting, He is. Not because Jesus doesn't welcome, He does, not because He isn't lovely, He is...But because of us.
A kid whose diet consists of sweets and soda isn't going to like his dentist very much, until his dentist cures the tooth ache, and helps him eat better. The non Christian shouldn't feel comfortable with Jesus, not until He saves them. Look at Peter for example. They've been fishing all night without success, but when Jesus shows up, they have more fish than they can handle. Peter doesn't offer Jesus a business deal, He falls on His knees and cries out 'get away from me.' He wasn't comfortable, he wasn't safe next to Jesus. And neither should we be.
It would be a bad dentist who gave up drilling and washing because people didn't like it, because in the end, it's good. It would be a bad church who gave up the Gospel simply because people didn't like it, because in the end, it's the best thing there is.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
What Happens When We Read The Bible?
Are you a morning person. I think i am, but to the detriment of being an evening person. It's not much good firing on all cylinders at 5am if you can't hold a conversation with your wife at 9pm! But i like the mornings, the cool air, the grey light getting slowly brighter. I like the fresh, unused air outside, i like the coffee, i like reading the Bible.
It was probably at the beginning of my second year at Reading Uni when i realised that reading the Bible for myself was a good idea, and probably near the end of that time that i started regularly doing it. Now, thankfully, it's part of my life, i miss it when i can't or don't read, not out of guilt, but because i actually enjoy it.
What happens when we read the Bible? God speaks! How can that not be exciting?! The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob speaks across time and space, to me, in the back room of our house in Greenville. That's worth getting up for. When we read the Bible we hear, and see God the Father showing us His Son. Jesus tells in Luke 24 that the whole Old Testament is about Him. The law, the genealogy, the prophets, the songs and the love stories all find their meaning in Him.
Reading the Bible then, puts us in the place of the bride in the Song of Solomon. In Song 3:2 the bride says 'i will rise and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; i will seek him whom my soul loves.' Is that what we do when we read the Bible? We pray and ask God to speak, but He has spoken, we need to pray that God would give us open ears and a soft heart. We need to pray that in Isaiah, in Deuteronomy, in Romans, we'd see Jesus. We'd see His face reflected in the Psalms, His purposes in the history, His work in the characters. We need these things, not for the sake of a snappy tweet, or clever devotion, but for our lives. We should be as hungry to see Jesus as we are for our morning cereal.
Seeking our beloved in the city streets of scripture stops the Bible becoming boring. If you think that the Bible is Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, of course you'll be bored by the genealogies, of course the command not to boil a goat in it's mothers milk (three times! Three!) will seem hopelessly outdated. But if, with all our hearts we're looking for Jesus, then the Bible will never be boring, and never be irrelevant. Jesus is perpetually, eternally, interesting. Jesus is ever-relevant.
Open the Bible, ask for help, begin the search, hunt for morning satisfaction from him whom your soul loves.
It was probably at the beginning of my second year at Reading Uni when i realised that reading the Bible for myself was a good idea, and probably near the end of that time that i started regularly doing it. Now, thankfully, it's part of my life, i miss it when i can't or don't read, not out of guilt, but because i actually enjoy it.
What happens when we read the Bible? God speaks! How can that not be exciting?! The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob speaks across time and space, to me, in the back room of our house in Greenville. That's worth getting up for. When we read the Bible we hear, and see God the Father showing us His Son. Jesus tells in Luke 24 that the whole Old Testament is about Him. The law, the genealogy, the prophets, the songs and the love stories all find their meaning in Him.
Reading the Bible then, puts us in the place of the bride in the Song of Solomon. In Song 3:2 the bride says 'i will rise and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; i will seek him whom my soul loves.' Is that what we do when we read the Bible? We pray and ask God to speak, but He has spoken, we need to pray that God would give us open ears and a soft heart. We need to pray that in Isaiah, in Deuteronomy, in Romans, we'd see Jesus. We'd see His face reflected in the Psalms, His purposes in the history, His work in the characters. We need these things, not for the sake of a snappy tweet, or clever devotion, but for our lives. We should be as hungry to see Jesus as we are for our morning cereal.
Seeking our beloved in the city streets of scripture stops the Bible becoming boring. If you think that the Bible is Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, of course you'll be bored by the genealogies, of course the command not to boil a goat in it's mothers milk (three times! Three!) will seem hopelessly outdated. But if, with all our hearts we're looking for Jesus, then the Bible will never be boring, and never be irrelevant. Jesus is perpetually, eternally, interesting. Jesus is ever-relevant.
Open the Bible, ask for help, begin the search, hunt for morning satisfaction from him whom your soul loves.
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Line Upon Line
I like to think i'm committed to two things that help read and understand the Bible. The first is expository preaching, that is, doing the best you can do to let the Bible speaking for itself in preaching. Not riding a hobby horse, not preaching on a topic, but taking a part of the Bible, and building bridges from one verse to another. The other is the discipline of Biblical Theology. BT seeks to explain the flow of the Bible's story in it's context, in it's place. It's perhaps best understood as a way to read the Bible that speaks about Jesus, 'beginning with Moses and the prophets.' It stops us from thinking that 'blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,' refers to modern day America.
Reading the Bible line by line, and precept by precept is undoubtedly the best way to do it. So why is it condemned by Isaiah in 28:13. Why is this reading of the Bible what leads to falling backwards, being snared and taken? Well, you and I know the answer. Our hearts, then as now, are the problem.
We are proud, idol making, religionists at heart. So we take something good, like Bible reading, and make it ugly. Like those prophesied against in Isaiah's time, we make our faith a religion. We've had our devotions, we've listened to some 'good' preaching, we're not like 'those people,' we're doing pretty good. We don't need to go to the Temple and plea for mercy, we just need to thank God for getting things right. We read, we preach, we understand line upon line, and precept upon precept, but that's not enough.
It's not enough now for the same reasons it wasn't enough then. Why not? Because religious Bible reading for it's own sake never brings us to Christ. Our eyes glaze over as we read our ten chapters a day, our hearts are hard as we exchange our devotions for sermon prep. We miss Jesus when this happens. We're not searching the scriptures to see Him, we're sitting in front of a book to tick a box.
So we must stick to line upon line, precept upon precept, but only to see Jesus, only to enjoy His light, never to tick our boxes. Then we'll avoid falling backwards, and our religion won't be a snare to us. Open the Bible and seek Him whom your soul loves.
Reading the Bible line by line, and precept by precept is undoubtedly the best way to do it. So why is it condemned by Isaiah in 28:13. Why is this reading of the Bible what leads to falling backwards, being snared and taken? Well, you and I know the answer. Our hearts, then as now, are the problem.
We are proud, idol making, religionists at heart. So we take something good, like Bible reading, and make it ugly. Like those prophesied against in Isaiah's time, we make our faith a religion. We've had our devotions, we've listened to some 'good' preaching, we're not like 'those people,' we're doing pretty good. We don't need to go to the Temple and plea for mercy, we just need to thank God for getting things right. We read, we preach, we understand line upon line, and precept upon precept, but that's not enough.
It's not enough now for the same reasons it wasn't enough then. Why not? Because religious Bible reading for it's own sake never brings us to Christ. Our eyes glaze over as we read our ten chapters a day, our hearts are hard as we exchange our devotions for sermon prep. We miss Jesus when this happens. We're not searching the scriptures to see Him, we're sitting in front of a book to tick a box.
So we must stick to line upon line, precept upon precept, but only to see Jesus, only to enjoy His light, never to tick our boxes. Then we'll avoid falling backwards, and our religion won't be a snare to us. Open the Bible and seek Him whom your soul loves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)