The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. (Numbers 4:24-26)
A blessing I have just received, may it be for you also.
It is a pity that we do not bless each other more often, this is a very biblical thing to do and a very positive thing. I have been as guilty as any of spending so much time building ramparts around theological conflicts that I forget to take the time to just pronounce a blessing on people. Let this be something we do.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Tut Tut to Those Rich Oppressors
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. (James 5:1-6)
James seems to be written to Christians, is this also written to Christians?
I generally consider everyone in Australia to be rich, but maybe this is an unhelpful comparison which is not at all what James intended. The general perception that we in the West are the "rich" and those elsewhere are the "poor" who need our help may be just that, a perception. Jesus is not so interested in social justice as a "just us" you and me with a good and holy character. We need to personally use what we have to help those who do not have, this is not limited to finances.
There are some social justice aspects of this text however. Taking advantage of people. If you shop for the cheapest product and don't question why it is so cheap you are surely doing this. Perhaps looking for a pay rise can be an example of this too.
I have begun wondering recently perhaps I should fully disclose my income and expenses if I become a pastor. If nobody knows what I earn, spend or give, how can I be a good example? It doesn't make any sense. Lord give me wisdom regarding this.
James seems to be written to Christians, is this also written to Christians?
I generally consider everyone in Australia to be rich, but maybe this is an unhelpful comparison which is not at all what James intended. The general perception that we in the West are the "rich" and those elsewhere are the "poor" who need our help may be just that, a perception. Jesus is not so interested in social justice as a "just us" you and me with a good and holy character. We need to personally use what we have to help those who do not have, this is not limited to finances.
There are some social justice aspects of this text however. Taking advantage of people. If you shop for the cheapest product and don't question why it is so cheap you are surely doing this. Perhaps looking for a pay rise can be an example of this too.
I have begun wondering recently perhaps I should fully disclose my income and expenses if I become a pastor. If nobody knows what I earn, spend or give, how can I be a good example? It doesn't make any sense. Lord give me wisdom regarding this.
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Ecclesiastes
If you read the book of Ecclesiastes, it will tell you to enjoy life. Rather than telling you to accumulate material things so that you can enjoy life, it describes the emptiness of doing this. When Jesus calls on the rich man to give his wealth away, he is not being cruel. By accumulating wealth, the rich man has accumulated fear of losing it. If he found good places to give his wealth to others, he would be poor, but he would be happy. He would only have his needs met, not his wants, but that is all he had before. But now in addition, he has his need for love met as well.
To give your wealth where it is needed and only have what you need, this is not burdensome as long as you have Jesus to enjoy life with.
To give your wealth where it is needed and only have what you need, this is not burdensome as long as you have Jesus to enjoy life with.
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Romans 9:25-33 // Righteousness By Faith
As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: 28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. 31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; 33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (Romans 9:25-33)
Jesus trips Jews up. Jews are offended by Jesus and Christianity, but if they believe on him, and some of them do, they would no longer be ashamed because the Hebrew Scriptures are not discarded but fulfilled in Jesus and Christianity. The Jews tried to obey the law by will power and multiplying rules, they were supposed to obey the law by faith. That is, to submit to the Spirit's leading and ask for the Father's mercy and meditate on the works of Jehovah as played out in the Hebrew Scriptures and not focus on their own sins or virtues but wait patiently for God to do a work in their hearts leading to righteousness. This is what the Gentiles, the Christians that is, have been doing; and they have obtained the righteousness that the Jews failed to obtain. Christians have mostly fallen away from this into antinomianism (doing away with the law) however.
Sometimes it is hard to know in detail what God's law teaches, but to major in majors: to focus on the points his word teaches us to focus on, this is a good place to start.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: 28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. 31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; 33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (Romans 9:25-33)
Jesus trips Jews up. Jews are offended by Jesus and Christianity, but if they believe on him, and some of them do, they would no longer be ashamed because the Hebrew Scriptures are not discarded but fulfilled in Jesus and Christianity. The Jews tried to obey the law by will power and multiplying rules, they were supposed to obey the law by faith. That is, to submit to the Spirit's leading and ask for the Father's mercy and meditate on the works of Jehovah as played out in the Hebrew Scriptures and not focus on their own sins or virtues but wait patiently for God to do a work in their hearts leading to righteousness. This is what the Gentiles, the Christians that is, have been doing; and they have obtained the righteousness that the Jews failed to obtain. Christians have mostly fallen away from this into antinomianism (doing away with the law) however.
Sometimes it is hard to know in detail what God's law teaches, but to major in majors: to focus on the points his word teaches us to focus on, this is a good place to start.
Friday, 21 November 2014
Love and War
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
The desire to fight and win comes from Satan, the wisdom to love comes from God.
The desire to fight and win comes from Satan, the wisdom to love comes from God.
Thursday, 20 November 2014
Romans 9:19-24 // Predestination and Theodicy
Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (Romans 9:19-24)
The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Proverbs 16:4)
So here I am, muddling through the parts of the Bible that most strongly seem to support predestination. It is not because of Romans that I am skeptical of predestination, but because of the rest of the Bible. I am also familiar with another text that I have used to teach predestination, which I have pasted above. So why don't I believe in predestination? Well, I sort of do. I believe in a kind of predestination, but not a kind where God actively chooses some to be lost. Maybe nobody teaches that, I hope they don't. But that is the distinct impression I have got from people and it is also the impression that these texts give. I want to show that the latter of these impressions is untrue.
So the fact that God hardens some people, that could make us feel like we can blame God for our sin and justify ourselves. Paul is not saying this is valid, he is only anticipating this objection to his teachings. Paul meets it interestingly, he breaks from logic for the first time in this book, and goes to dogma, though it is logical dogma. Paul says we should not question God, and hammers that point home. This is very good advice. If God is really all-powerful, all-loving and all-wise, it is just dumb to question him, since we are none of these things. So Paul doesn't address predestination here, he basically says we shouldn't question God on the subject.
So Paul could have replied, God is not unjust because the wicked chose to be wicked before God hardened them and God simply knew this would be the case beforehand, he did not choose it for them.
But sinners who are going to be lost because they will always refuse to be converted are least damaging to God if they are really obviously his enemies. The man who uses profanities and gets drunk every day is less of a threat to God's reputation than the charismatic pastor who teaches lies or is a hypocrite. Likewise sin operating to the full will fill us with a hatred of sin that we would not have without seeing the consequences of it. Without evil consequences of divorce we would not understand why God says he hates divorce. Without evil consequences of oppression we would simply call it good business practice. Well, maybe we do call it that. There are many sins that our society does not see as sinful because the consequences are hidden or compensated by wealth, technology, government and probably other things as well.
God does not choose some to be lost. God does not force anyone to choose him or to reject him. God chooses to save everyone and some choose to avail themselves of this salvation. God is love.
God will pay the wicked back for the wrong they have done to us. God will not let the evil of the wicked be in vain, he will make it an illustration that will help eradicate sin from the universe forever. God's ways are just.
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (Romans 9:19-24)
The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Proverbs 16:4)
So here I am, muddling through the parts of the Bible that most strongly seem to support predestination. It is not because of Romans that I am skeptical of predestination, but because of the rest of the Bible. I am also familiar with another text that I have used to teach predestination, which I have pasted above. So why don't I believe in predestination? Well, I sort of do. I believe in a kind of predestination, but not a kind where God actively chooses some to be lost. Maybe nobody teaches that, I hope they don't. But that is the distinct impression I have got from people and it is also the impression that these texts give. I want to show that the latter of these impressions is untrue.
So the fact that God hardens some people, that could make us feel like we can blame God for our sin and justify ourselves. Paul is not saying this is valid, he is only anticipating this objection to his teachings. Paul meets it interestingly, he breaks from logic for the first time in this book, and goes to dogma, though it is logical dogma. Paul says we should not question God, and hammers that point home. This is very good advice. If God is really all-powerful, all-loving and all-wise, it is just dumb to question him, since we are none of these things. So Paul doesn't address predestination here, he basically says we shouldn't question God on the subject.
So Paul could have replied, God is not unjust because the wicked chose to be wicked before God hardened them and God simply knew this would be the case beforehand, he did not choose it for them.
But sinners who are going to be lost because they will always refuse to be converted are least damaging to God if they are really obviously his enemies. The man who uses profanities and gets drunk every day is less of a threat to God's reputation than the charismatic pastor who teaches lies or is a hypocrite. Likewise sin operating to the full will fill us with a hatred of sin that we would not have without seeing the consequences of it. Without evil consequences of divorce we would not understand why God says he hates divorce. Without evil consequences of oppression we would simply call it good business practice. Well, maybe we do call it that. There are many sins that our society does not see as sinful because the consequences are hidden or compensated by wealth, technology, government and probably other things as well.
God does not choose some to be lost. God does not force anyone to choose him or to reject him. God chooses to save everyone and some choose to avail themselves of this salvation. God is love.
God will pay the wicked back for the wrong they have done to us. God will not let the evil of the wicked be in vain, he will make it an illustration that will help eradicate sin from the universe forever. God's ways are just.
Monday, 17 November 2014
Arguing On The Internet
It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. (Proverbs 20:3)
It is right to stand for truth and justice and to speak for those who cannot. But in doing this we ought to be circumspect, considering whether we are really contributing to the solution or to the problem.
It is right to stand for truth and justice and to speak for those who cannot. But in doing this we ought to be circumspect, considering whether we are really contributing to the solution or to the problem.
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