Outdoing One Another
So I’ve been reading through the book of Romans recently and I’m staggered at just how much wisdom is contained in Paul’s writings! Chapter 12 of this amazing book starts off with Paul’s instructions on how Christians should live sacrificial lives to God. He then goes on to talk about the gifts of grace given us by the King of all days. Perfectly practical advice from Paul, such as “6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching…” (emphasis mine). God has graciously blessed people with certain gifts. It seems quite simple to me – let’s use what we’ve been blessed with to help those in need.
However, the verse that that smacked me square in the eyes when I read it last night came from the section of the book which describes the marks of true Christians, starting with verse 9. This is it below (again, my own emphasis has been added to show the part of the verse I’m referring to):
“10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour.”
What the? Outdo one another in showing honour? Is this life in Jesus some sort of competition? Outdoing someone means really trying hard. Persevering. Struggling. Triumphing. I had to ask myself this question after reading the verse, “What exactly does it mean to show someone else honour?”. In all honesty I had to Google this one as the phrase isn’t part of my normal vocabulary (though I often sing about God receiving glory and honour, which just goes to show how important it is to understand the words we sing in our worship songs).
What I discovered was that honour is holding someone in the highest regard. It goes hand in hand with respect, and that is showing someone that they are worthy and that that they matter. I find the verse amazing. I try to imagine what my normal everyday life would look like if I tried to outdo those around me in showing them honour. How humbling that would be for me.
Oh Lord, make me a man who is seeking after Your own heart. A man that seeks to see himself as lower than those around me, so that I may show them honour and respect, and in so doing lift up Your name and bring You all the honour, glory and praise You’re due. Amen!
Children
My baby boy, Zac, who’s only just 10 weeks old, has just today got rid of the disgusting cold he’s had for the last 2 weeks! The poor little mite – he seemed far too small to be struggling with the effects of it! One pain always seemed to lead to another – his sore throat lead him to cry, which in turn caused more pain, and more crying. His snotty, snuffly nose stopped him from breathing clearly with a dummy in his mouth, but without the dummy there were tears… What a shame! One thing I noticed through it all though, he wasn’t as big a baby as I am when I’m sick! What he loved was to be rocked in the chair in Mommy or Daddy’s arms, and to be surrounded by his two older brothers, Aidan and Ethan.
Children really are a blessing from God. I’m so thankful for mine.
The Effects Of True Christian Worship
What do you think happens when we give of ourselves during worship? I’m not talking about our physical nature, eyes closed and arms outstretched, but rather, what happens in the spiritual realm? Do we take on board all that can be accomplished and changed by the work of the Holy Spirit of God? I recently heard Phil Pringle of C3 Church in Australia preach from Acts 16, and it really opened my eyes up to an aspect of God’s power that I hadn’t thought about much for quite a long time.
Acts 16: 25-34 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer [6] called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. [ESV]
I’ve read these verses before but never understood them in the way I do now. To understand how this translates into today’s language we need to get to grips with the story in a bit more detail first.
Paul and Silas were in the city of Philippi, which at the time was a leading city in eastern Macedonia. Paul had previously had a vision from God (in a dream) of a man urging him to come to Macedonia to help them. Paul believed that God was calling himself and Silas (along with the newest member of the team, Timothy) to preach the gospel to the Philippians. They were on their way to a place of prayer, and were met by a girl who was possessed by an evil spirit (she had a spirit of divination – i.e. not the Holy Spirit). The woman followed them for many days, proclaiming that they were God’s servants who were coming to preach salvation to the lost. When Paul wearied of her presence (and her nagging voice) he rebuked the spirit, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her” (Acts 16:18b). And hey ho, out it came.
But… (there’s always a “but”…)
Verse 19 carries on, 19 But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
So the evil spirit was rebuked, and in return Paul and his friends were thrown in the slammer. But before being showered with the luxuries that come with a cell in an ancient Roman prison, they were badly beaten with rods. Now these weren’t your ordinary wooden curtain poles. They weren’t small sticks for throwing to your dog. These rods were made up of leather straps, with bits of stone and broken shards of glass in the ends, designed to inflict maximum pain and damage to the human body. When struck with the instruments the sharp ends would rip out the person’s skin and flesh, leaving the bones and innards exposed. Most criminals would only ever be beaten once by this method, the thought of it ever happening to them again was incentive enough to move on to the straight and narrow.
Paul, however, was innocent of any crime. He was beaten because the girl’s owners felt that their plans to make money from their slave were now scuppered. In his letter to the Corinthian church Paul lists his sufferings as an Apostle. Though innocent before God he says that 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, [1] in cold and exposure (2 Corinthians 11: 24-27 ~ ESV).
This little background gives the reader a greater insight into what Paul endured as an early Christian. Beaten with rods and thrown in prison. The dungeon would have been dark, filthy, smelly, rat-infested, rife with sickness and disease, oh yeah, and not to mention having some very friendly Roman guards on watch. It wouldn’t have been a pleasant place to spend an evening or two…
This is the verse I started to ask questions. Acts 16: 25 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them… Praying and singing to God? Why?? It was late. They were beat (literally). There couldn’t have been much to hope for. Surely not…
Yet they worshipped. They worshipped with all their might and all their heart and soul and all their spirit. They didn’t hold back for fear of anything, not the guards, not their fellow prisoners, not the thought of another rod against their gouged out backs. They sang so loud all the other prisoners heard them. Have there been times when you’ve gone to church on a Sunday morning and thought, “Man, I could sure do without this today. I’m beat. Sunday’s my only day off to lie in, and here I am, having to sing and use up my time and energy on God”? The excuse could be anything. Sleeping in late. Hangover. Guilt. Pain. Disability. Whatever. How does your situation compare with Paul and co.?
But that’s not my point. My point is what happened after they started to worship. Verse 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. The foundations were shaken. Not just the walls, or the gates, but the foundations – the very core of the prison. Then, everyone’s bonds were unfastened. The prisoners were set free. Do you get where I’m going with this?
Paul, Silas and Timothy had very valid excuses for not wanting to worship God, didn’t they? They were unfairly judged, and their punishment was handed down unjustly. They shouldn’t have been in prison. They should have been in the place of prayer they were headed out to in the first place! They probably had every reason to be angry at God, even to curse His name. But they didn’t. The God of hope had filled them all with joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit they would abound in hope (see Romans 15:13). And in return they were set free. How gracious a God is the One who gives in return for the act of worship! Romans 8:32 says He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? When we worship God in spite of everything wrong in the world and in our lives, when we worship Him in thankfulness for everything good in the world and in our lives, He responds with love. He responds with the giving of His Spirit, so that we might utter the words of our Saviour, Jesus,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Luke 4:18-19
Human Depravity
On Saturday night I was out at a friend’s 30th birthday party (great night by the way, thanks Reebs!). I got chatting to some guys about public disorder, and more to the point, why nobody seems willing to step in and help someone they can see is in need, or even to stand up to those in society who seem to make it their business to aggravate and annoy the general populous.
This story on Sky News should help to explain why most people I talk to are afraid of helping those in need of help, the downtrodden, and even afraid the aforementioned aggravators, who can quickly turn into murderous pigs, if, it seems, given the chance. The depths that some people (adults and children) will go to in order to inflict maximum pain and damage upon others is, at times, completely unbelievable, yet at other times, in light of what the Bible says about our world, completely understandable.
Romans 1:18-32 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse…
…28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. [ESV]
I am praying that the perpetrators are caught and brought to the fullest measure of the law, but more than that, I’m praying for the victims in the story. The mum, her husband, and their children. Lord, please bring healing and forgiveness.
New Addition!
Well, my son’s a little over 4 weeks old now, and as you can imagine, things have been far too hectic in our house for me to spend much time blogging. (I’ll keep this post short and sweet…)
Zachary Ryan McKenzie was born on 29 June ‘09 at 10h18 weighing in at a massive 5lbs 10oz! He’s a handsome little guy, just like his brothers, Aidan and Ethan. He now weighs about 7.5lbs, so he’s still pretty small. He’s doing great, and Niki and I are trying to adjust to broken sleeping patterns all over again, but we know this phase only lasts a little while, so we’re savouring each day (as much as we can!).
Psalm 127:3-5 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them…
I am a very blessed man indeed, and I praise Jesus every day for the gifts He has given to my wife and I!
What Does It Mean To Worship In Spirit And In Truth?
I’ve led worship at our church in Edinburgh, the Almond Vineyard, for almost 5 years or so now. My wife and I have been the Worship Co-ordinators there for nearly a year, and it’s a job that I love doing and indeed feel very priviledged to do.
Recently I’ve been feeling as though God has been wanting to work on me a lot – my heart, motives and emotions, as well as my theology. The thought came into my head, “What does it actually mean to worship God in spirit and in truth?”
Sometimes we need to be actively in pursuit of the Word of God in order to grasp it’s meaning for us in our everyday lives. In my reading on the subject I came across a great blog post by John Piper. Though I’ve read the story in John 4:16-26 before, I’ve never understood it in the way I do today, and so I am extremely grateful for the post. Piper’s thoughts on Jesus’ teaching have reminded me of a biblical truth that I hadn’t thought of much in a while, but realised, with much joy, that I’ve been doing it all along.
God Seeks People to Worship Him in Spirit and Truth
John 4:16-26
If people are spiritually asleep, you have to shock them, startle them, scandalize them, if you want them to hear what you say. Jesus was especially good at this. When he wants to teach us something about worship, he uses a whore. “Go call your husband!” “I don’t have a husband.” “That’s right. But you’ve had five, and the man you sleep with now is not your husband.” She was shocked. We’re shocked. But Jesus simply sits there on the edge of the well with his hands folded, looking at the woman with razors in his eyes ready to teach us about worship.
Worship and Real Life
The first thing we learn is that worship has to do with real life. It is not a mythical interlude in a week of reality. Worship has to do with adultery and hunger and racial conflict. Jesus is bone-weary from the journey, hot, sweaty, thirsty—and he decides: “Yes, even now, just now I will seek someone to worship God—a harlot, a Samaritan adulteress. I will show my disciples the worship that my Father seeks and how he seeks it in the midst of real life from the least worthy. She is a Samaritan. She is a woman. She is a harlot. Yes, I will even show them a thing or two about how to make true worshipers out of the white harvest of harlots in Samaria.”
Jewish and Samaritan Animosity
Let’s go back to the beginning, John 4:4-6. “Jesus had to pass through Samaria on his way to Galilee. So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about noon.” Before we meet this woman who comes to the well, recall who Samaritans were. They were the remnant of the northern Jewish kingdom who had intermarried with foreigners after the chiefs and nobles had been carried into exile in 729 BC. They had once built a separate worship place on their own Mt. Gerizim and they rejected all of the Old Testament except their version of the first five books of Moses. The animosity toward Jews was centuries old.
Raising the Levels of Amazement
Jesus walks right into this hostility, sits down, and asks for a drink (v. 7). The woman at the well is amazed that Jesus would speak to her. “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” Instead of answering her directly, Jesus shifts the focus of her amazement up a level. He says (in v. 10), “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Jesus says that the really amazing thing is she is not asking him for water. He calls it living water and he calls it the “gift of God.”
But the woman doesn’t rise very high. Her background has not made her a prime candidate for spiritual insight. She was more like the three guys behind Karsten and Benjamin and me at the Twins game on Thursday who kept saying how full of beer they were and arguing endlessly like five year olds about whether Eisenreich should have tagged up on third base. She was simply enslaved to the flesh. Her spirit was dead. She simply says (vv. 11-12), “How can you give me water when you don’t have a bucket? And if you want me to drink water that doesn’t come from Jacob’s well, then you must think you’re greater than Jacob. Well, if this water was good enough for Jacob, it’s good enough for me.” She’s not on Jesus’ wavelength yet at all.
So Jesus again lifts the level of amazement (vv. 13-14): “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The amazing thing is not just that I can give you water without a bucket, but that the water I give takes away thirst forever and, even better than that, it will turn you into a spring that brings eternal life to yourself and others.
Living, Thirst-Quenching Water and a Fountain of Life
What did Jesus mean? Proverbs 13:14 says, “The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life.” Perhaps, then, Jesus meant that the wisdom he gives satisfies the soul and turns a person into a fountain of life. Perhaps the water is his teaching. But the closest parallel to verse 14 is John 7:37-39, “Jesus stood up and proclaimed, ‘If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive.” Just like John 4:14, this passage speaks of a drinking in and a flowing out. But here John makes plain that Jesus is speaking about the Holy Spirit. It’s the presence of God’s Spirit in your life that takes away your frustrated soul-thirst forever and turns you into a person who overflows with life for others instead of sucking up other people’s life like sandy soil.
But probably both these answers are true—that Jesus’ teaching satisfies your thirst and makes you a fountain of life, and that the Holy Spirit satisfies your thirst and makes you a fountain of life. Jesus kept the Word and Spirit together. For example, in John 14:26 he says, “The Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said.” The work of the Spirit of Christ is to make the Word of Christ clear and satisfying to the soul. When we come to Christ to drink, what we drink is truth—but not dead, powerless facts. The Spirit and the Word unite to slake our thirst and make us a fountain of life. (See 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2:13.) The word of promise and the power of the Spirit are the living water offered to the Samaritan harlot.
I hope this encourages you as much as it does me. Sometimes I feel so dead and so sinful that I don’t see how I can be of any use to the church any more. But up till now God has always come to me at those times and graciously shown me something like this—the hope that a worldly, sensually-minded, unspiritual harlot from Samaria can become—not just saved (which would be wonderful enough)—but a fountain of life. She can be used to give life. And I take heart that if I just turn from my sin and keep drinking at the well of Jesus’ words, I may still be of some use to this congregation. And so can you if you just drink deep at the right well.
Deadened Senses and Open Wounds
I think that’s what Jesus wanted her to see. But harlots and beer-bellied baseball fans have hardened their spiritual senses so deeply they can’t taste what Jesus means. So she says (in v. 15), “Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” Beware of giving up on people too soon. This woman seems hopelessly carnal. She can’t see beyond her physical senses. But Jesus aims to make her a worshiper of God in spirit and truth.
So now he touches the most sensitive, vulnerable spot in her life—”Go call your husband.” The quickest way to the heart is through a wound.
Why does Jesus strip open this woman’s inner life like this? Because he had said in John 3:20, “Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed.” Concealed sin keeps us from seeing the light of Christ. Sin is like spiritual leprosy. It deadens your senses so you rip your soul to shreds and don’t even feel it. But Christ has set his sights on this woman’s conversion. So he lays bare her spiritual leprosy. “You’ve had five husbands and the man you’re sleeping with now is not your husband.”
Evasive Irrationality
Now watch the universal reflex of a person trying to avoid conviction. She has to admit in v. 19 that Jesus has extraordinary insight (“You’re a prophet!”), but instead of dealing with her guilt, she tries to suck Jesus into an academic controversy: “O, so you’re a prophet, well, where do you stand on the issue of where people ought to worship?” Verse 20: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you [Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” A trapped animal will chew his own leg off. A trapped sinner will mangle his own mind and rip up the rules of logic and discourse. “Why, yes, as long as we’re speaking about my five husbands and my adultery, what is your stance on the issue of where people should worship?” Brothers and sisters, that kind of double-talk and evasive, verbal footwork is very common. And texts like this incline me to think that wherever I hear it, someone is hiding something. If your conscience is clean, reason can hold sway; if it’s not, you will be instinctively irrational.
The “How” and “Whom” of Worship
It’s interesting, though. Jesus never goes back to the issue of adultery. It was a thrust against the sealed door of her heart. But now his foot is in and he is willing to take the very issue she raised and use it to finish his saving work. She raised the issue of where people ought to worship. Jesus responds by saying, “That controversy can’t compare in importance to how you worship and whom you worship.” How and whom are vastly more important than where.
Engaging the Heart
Verse 21 turns her attention from where to how: “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”‘ In other words, it is not the location that makes an act of worship authentic. Worship is not merely an external act that you can accomplish by going to a place. Jesus said in another place (Matthew 15:8): “This people honours me with their lips but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.” Worship is first and foremost an experience of the heart. Prayer without heart is vain. Songs without heart are vain. Confession and creeds and liturgies and sermons that don’t come from the heart are empty and worthless in God’s eyes. So Jesus says to the woman: Don’t get hung up on irrelevant controversies. How you worship is vastly more important than where.
Knowing the True God
Then verse 22 introduces the question of whom you worship. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” When all our efforts to be gentle and sensitive and respectful of another person’s religion are done, the time eventually comes when you have to say: Biblical worship is true worship and yours is false. That will often be thrown back in your face as a statement of arrogance. But it isn’t. If there is truth, and you have bowed humbly before it, then to try to persuade another person to bow with you is not arrogance. It is love. The Samaritans rejected all the Old Testament except for their version of the books of Moses. Their knowledge of God was deficient and so their worship was deficient. And to tell them so was as loving as telling a person with lung cancer to stop smoking.
Heart and Head in True Worship
So in verses 21 and 22 Jesus directs the woman’s attention away from the external question “where” to the internal question “how” and the theological question “whom.” Worship must be vital and real from within and it must be based on a true perception of God. Now verse 23 sums this up with the key phrase “in spirit and truth”: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” The two words, spirit and truth, correspond to the how and the whom of worship. Worshiping in spirit is the opposite of worshiping in mere external ways. It’s the opposite of formalism and traditionalism. Worshiping in truth is the opposite of worship based on an inadequate view of God. Together the words “spirit and truth” mean that real worship comes from the spirit within and is based on true views of God. Worship must have heart and worship must have head. Worship must engage your emotions and worship must engage your thought. Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of unspiritual fighters. Emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates flaky people who reject the discipline of rigorous thought. True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine.
Fuel, Fire, Furnace, Heat
Therefore, as a pastor I agree with Jonathan Edwards when he said, “I should think myself in the way of my duty, to raise the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided they are affected with nothing but truth, and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with.” I think of it something like this: The fuel of worship is the truth of a gracious, sovereign God; the furnace of worship is your spirit; and the heat of worship is the vital affections of reverence, fear, adoration, contrition, trust, joy, gratitude, and hope.
But something is missing from that analogy, namely, fire. The fuel of truth in the furnace of your spirit does not automatically produce the heat of worship. There has to be fire, which I think is the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus says in v. 23, “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,” some take him to mean “in the Holy Spirit.” I’ve taken him to mean that worship must come from your spirit within, instead of being merely formal and external. But in John 3:6 Jesus connects God’s Spirit and our spirit in a remarkable way. He says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” In other words, until the Holy Spirit touches our spirit with the flame of life, our spirit is so dead it does not even qualify as spirit. Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So when Jesus says that true worshipers worship in spirit, he must mean that true worship only comes from spirits that are made alive and sensitive and vital by the touch of the Holy Spirit.
So now we can complete the analogy: the fuel of worship is the grand truth of a gracious and sovereign God; the fire that makes the fuel burn white hot is the quickening of the Holy Spirit; the furnace made alive and warm by the flame of truth is our renewed spirit; and the resulting heat of our affections is worship, pushing its way out in tears, confessions, prayers, praises, acclamations, lifting of hands, bowing low, and obedient lives. Notice verse 34. When his disciples come back with food, Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” The work of God is to seek real worshipers. Jesus was sent to accomplish this work. Therefore we should see the whole interchange with the Samaritan woman as the work of God in Jesus seeking a real worshiper. In verse 35 Jesus applies his example to us, “Do you not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest? I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest.” There is a white harvest of harlots in Samaria. I have just made one into a real worshiper. That’s why the Father sent me; so send I you. God seeks people to worship him in spirit and truth. Here comes the city of Sychar white unto harvest. If you love the glory of God, make ready to reap.
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org
Upstream Living
I never went to college or university and that’s something that really bugged me for a while. It often left me feeling inadequate as I compared my life to those around me: friends, collegues and family. But God’s slowly shown me that there’s more to my life than degrees and diplomas. His grace has enabled me to be in the job I’m in today, and I’m extremely thankful for His provision in my life. I have a beautifully pregnant wife (who’s due in like 2 weeks), and 2 sons whom I adore. As a family we’ve decided that we’d like for Niki to be a stay-at-home mom, and though she doesn’t earn a salary, she ought to for the work she does!
But my point is that God has provided for us every step of the way, and looking back I can see His hand in it all. I still have ambitions, hopes and dreams, but what I’m pretty sure about (and content with, too) is the fact that I’m a ‘downstream’ guy. I’m not really gonna be the guy working in politics or government, making decisions that affect loads of people around me, and I’m totally cool with that. I know God has other plans for me.
All this said and done, I’m praying for my boys to be those kinds of guys when they’re older. I have 2 boys with a third on the way (what a blessed man indeed!), and I have high hopes and aspirations for them. I want them to grow up knowing Jesus and loving Him, not living off my faith but their own, having their own relationships with God, and I want them to be mighty warriors in His Kingdom. I want my boys to be men who work ‘upstream’, helping to shape and change the landscape of the future, the politics, the country. Imagine if the government in the land (wherever you may be) were filled with men and women who were filled with the Holy Spirit. Imagine they had God’s heart for the people, and God’s will was purposed through them. Imagine the change that could be brought about…
I’d be happy if my kids swept the streets, mowed lawns or changed politics for a living, so long as they did it with all their heart, believed in what they were doing, and did it all in Jesus’ name. I’m praying for upstream living for my lads, and I thank God for the little gems that they are.
The Message Of Christianity
I’ve been thinking about this issue for a few weeks and decided to put pen to paper, so to speak, and try to make sense of what I believe the message of Christianity is. I have to start off with a question though: what is the message of Christianity? Is it a message of life (see John 10:10)? Is it a message of humility (see 1 Peter 5:5)? Is it a message of God’s great love for all tribes, nations and peoples of the earth (see Ephesians 2:4-8)? Is it something else? Is it something more?
Whilst I believe that all of the above are not entirely exclusive of the message of the Gospel, I also believe that there’s more to it than just that. I think that in order to live a life of abundance, in humility and in accordance with the will of God, we must learn something else first – something that will shape our hearts and conform our minds into the likeness of Christ (see Romans 8:29).
We must learn, as Christians, what it means to die – and we have to learn to do it daily. If we do not put our foolish pride, selfish desires, and sinful natures to death on a daily basis, we become more ‘natural’. We follow in the footsteps of our forefathers, right back to our first father, Adam. We continually strive for what comes naturally to us, and that’s basically a life apart from God. A life pursuing self.
But God has always had other plans for us. He sent His son Jesus to live as a man on the earth. He was the only perfect man ever to have lived, sinless throughout His life ( Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin). He faced every trial and temptation that we do, He overcame them and then He took upon Himself the sin of the entire human race, forever, and He died for them, for us, you and I. Jesus died on the cross and rose from death three days later for every sin that you and I have ever committed, past, present and future. And the way to inherit a life with Jesus, an eternal life that starts now on earth, an abundant life filled with His Spirit and His love, grace, mercy and goodness, is simply to repent and confess our sins to Him, to call on His name as our Saviour and to trust in Him for our lives (see the Gospel of John for more on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection).
The message of Christianity is death. We either die to sin or we die to Christ. Which is it going to be?
Swine Flu… In My Backyard!!
So this is all over the news this week – the swine flu pandemic has caused the WHO (World Health Organization) to raise the pandemic alert to level 4. Before yesterday I’d never even heard of swine flu, never mind the fact that it can affect people.
Then last night the news reported that the virus had spread to Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Scotland. A little worrying, even though Airdrie’s about 30 minutes from my front door. “Wow,” I thought, “this thing’s moving really fast”. Imagine my complete shock when, upon arriving at work this morning and logging on to my PC, coffee in hand, sleepiness still ahold, I read on Sky’s news pages that the virus was now in my hometown of Polmont, Falkirk!
As if this wasn’t alarming enough, my wife called me up mid-morning to say that the janitor at our 2 year old son’s playgroup has been asked not to come into work (he’s actually the father of Iain Askham, the scottish man just back from Mexico with his new wife, Mrs. Askham (aka Dawn)). However, it gets better… Iain’s aforementioned new wife, Dawn, works at the Boots store that my wife visited last Thursday. This was only Mrs. Askham’s second day back at work after arriving back from Mexico, and now my wife’s got me worried! (See the Daily Mail’s new pages online)
All this to say, we’re keeping an eye on the kids (we have two by the way, boys, and a third on the way in 8 weeks’ time, so you can understand why we’re a little nervous!). There are no symptoms showing yet, and we’re praying that none start. I feel for those that are sick and, despite what people may be thinking I’m feeling towards Mr. Askham (Snr.), I can hold no grudges as these poor people are really ill. I can only hope they recover soon and that this pandemic alert doesn’t get raised to a level 5 or 6!
It’s Not About Being Rich, It’s About Righteousness…
This for me really comes out of a week of budget reports from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, living in times of global financial meltdown, and the response of the general public to these events. I am by no means a financial expert, neither am I a great theologian. What I am though is a follower of Jesus Christ and as such have tried looking at the current events through a biblical lens.
There has been much debate between myself and other friends on Facebook over the last few days regarding the issue of the rich either A) losing millions as their investments take a tumble, or B) whether it’s right to feel aggrieved by the government taxing the high earners by 50% from next year (those earning over £150,000 p/a).
Before I express my points of view on these matters (and please bear in mind that’s all they are, my points of view – not the gospel), I need to make myself clear from the outset. For me this isn’t a discussion on Rich vs. Poor. The bible doesn’t teach about either being good or bad. It’s about Righteousness vs. Unrighteousness. Was the money earned truthfully, through hard work, diligence, prudence and wisdom, or was it earned through cheating, lying, stealing and ripping off the poor – righteous or unrighteous?
I understand that there are unrighteous rich people that have gained their millions through unfair and unbiblical means. Equally I understand that there are righteous rich people who have worked very honestly to get what they have. Who should I feel sorry for if they lose money? That’s not for me to judge really is it? Doesn’t God alone know the hearts of man (1 Kings 8:39 For You, You only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind)? Isn’t it God who gives and takes away (Job 1:20 The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord)?
In order for us to explore the topic more fully, and through the biblical lens I mentioned, let’s look briefly at the lives of three men from the bible: Joseph, Job and Jesus.
Would anyone say that Joseph, being the Prince of Egypt, was unrighteous with his wealth, or in the gaining of his wealth? Was it not God who blessed him and put him in a place of authority over all the people who brought their taxes to him (see Genesis 41:37-57)? Was it a sin that Joseph was a governor of the land of Egypt (see Genesis 42:6) and wealthy? No, God used Joseph and the wealth He had given him for His plans and purposes – ultimately for the deliverance of the nation of Israel (see Exodus 13 & 14).
Job is described in the Bible in this way: “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil…he possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels…very many servants…this man was the greatest of all the people of the east…” (Job 1:1-5). He was a very rich man and was sifted by Satan (see Job 1:6-12) who wanted to see if Job would curse God to His face when all his health and wealth was taken away. Job did not curse God and remained righteous throughout his trials and God blessed him in the end so that he had more wealth and possessions than before (see Job 42:10-16).
In the New Testament I’ll go straight for the big cheese. Jesus Christ is God. We’re told that He had no place to rest His head (Luke 9:58 Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head). He was homeless, yet He is God.
Was it wrong for Joseph to be rich, Job to go from rich to poor to rich again, for the Lord Himself to be poor? Does it say anywhere in the Scriptures that being rich or poor is either an act of faith or sin? No. The Word refers only to their righteousness. They may have been either wealthy or poor, but these men were righteous, and that’s what counted in their favour.
I don’t believe in Prosperity Theology, i.e., if you’re poor you’re living in sin and don’t have enough faith. That’s nonsense. Equally, just because you’re rich it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. There are people in the world starving, homeless, helpless and dying, and that’s a terrible thing. There are also others who are stinking rich, with more money than they would probably ever be able to spend in one lifetime. But God alone knows their hearts. Who’s to say the rich man, who believes in Jesus, and lives by his convictions, isn’t giving a lot of money away to good causes? How could we possibly know whether they give their money to support orphans in India, missionaries in China or their local communities? We don’t. Isn’t it a great thing when a righteous rich man uses his money to create employment and bless his workers by treating them well, paying them fairly, showing them respect and encouraging them to reach their full potential? Boaz is a perfect example of this in the Bible (see the book of Ruth). Was it not Joseph of Arimithea, a wealthy man, a disciple of Jesus, who , because of his high standing in the Jewish society of the day, was able to gain access to Pontius Pilate and ask that the body of the crucified Jesus be laid in his own tomb (see Matthew 27:57)?
Again, we don’t know what the unrighteous rich man spends his money on and what the desires of his heart are. We don’t know how the unrighteous poor man tries to earn money, or what the moral compass is that governs his path in life. Is he lazy? Does he want to work? Equally we don’t know what the story is of the righteous poor man. He may work long hours in a low paid job, he may be on the lower rungs of the social ladder with regards education and opportunity, but if he comes home at night, kisses his family, spends time with them and praises Jesus, then how can we assume that we know better than God?
I think the matter is rather greyer than black & white, and the discussion needs to allow for that. I truly believe that God is the one who gives to us and takes away from us. Why does He give to some (lots in certain instances) and take away from others (again, lots in certain instances)? I don’t know. What I do know though is that as long as my eyes are on Jesus, He’ll work out the things in my life that don’t always make sense to me. They may never make sense to me while I’m here on earth, but one day I’m positive His plan and purpose will become known. I’ll trust in Him for that.
God’s given us all brains and intellects to use, and in so doing we’re able to create opportunities to work hard, be creative, earn money, give money away, be generous, be selfish, live righteously, or not. It’s a choice we all have. I’ll use what He’s given to move forward in life. Does that mean that if I get promoted or find a better paid job in which my employer deemed I was worth a salary of £150,000 it would be wrong for me to accept or pursue that position? I don’t think so. However, if I achieved that and my motives changed whereby I became selfish and only pursued money, not righteous living, I believe that would be wrong. Money in and of itself is not the root cause of all kinds of evils. The love of money is (see 1 Timothy 6:10).
We serve a God who is infinitely greater and far beyond what we could imagine or envision Him to be. I don’t have the answers. But I don’t think that it’s right for people to criticise the rich just for being rich or for feeling aggrieved when, for example, they find out that 50% of their salaries are going to be taken away in taxes from next year. In just the same way people who are made redundant and face losing everything will probably feel hard done by when things turn bad for them, and who are we to judge them for that? Equally, those that work hard but constantly struggle to make ends meet may have the same feelings as mentioned above.
The issues brought up by such debate are bigger than we may have allowed for. If those that work hard know that their taxes are going on just / worthy causes and not being wasted they may not feel as aggrieved (those that are righteous at least I’m sure!). There’s obviously an imbalance in society, and that is a global issue. But like I said before, the matter is rather more complicated than people may think.
I’m not pro rich or pro poor, I’m pro righteousness. That’s what I’ll strive for in life. What do you think?
Psalm 37:16 Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous
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