Psalm 67

In a recent newsletter, Neil R. wrote a really helpful paragraph about Psalm 67.
First a reminder of what the psalm says:

Psalm 67

 ¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
       and make his face shine upon us.
 ² that your ways may be known on earth,
       your salvation among all nations.
 ³ May the peoples praise you, O God;
       may all the peoples praise you.
 ⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
       for you rule the peoples justly
       and guide the nations of the earth.
 ⁵ May the peoples praise you, O God;
       may all the peoples praise you.
 ⁶ Then the land will yield its harvest,
       and God, our God, will bless us.
 ⁷ God will bless us,
       and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

 "Psalm 67 tells us that God's people get God's promised blessings so that God gets the glory among all the other nations. That is the mandate for mission.
The first time the nations are mentioned (Gen 10 & 11) they are under God's judgment at Babel. The next mention (Gen 12), they are to be blessed by God's choice of Abram. Our God, whose nature is always to have mercy, is for ever finding ways to reach out and bless those who deserve His judgment. Thus began the complicated relationship between the people of God and the surrounding nations; forever trying to cling hold to the promise of the Land, forever forgetting that they were to be a conduit of divine blessing to their neighbours. When Israel forgot this calling, the Lord would scatter them among the nations and would use His people as instruments of His blessing in strange lands: Jacob in Haran, Joseph in Egypt, Moses in Midian, Elijah in Zarephath, Jonah in Nineveh, Esther and Nehemiah in Susa, Daniel in Babylon. Home-sick emissaries, who wanted nothing more than to go home to their land, reluctantly found themselves feeding the nations, bringing prosperity to their masters, acting as civil servants, healers, wise men and royal wives."

Thanks Neil!!

Do they really believe in climate change?

Climate change. The new orthodoxy. Fail to believe and you're damned as a heretic - not yet burned at the stake (using sustainable energy!), but certainly the modern equivalent: the BBC will ensure that you're ridiculed and the PM will publicly condemn you as a 'flat earther.'

So fervent are these believers in climate change that 15000 of them went to Copenhagen to forge a legally binding treaty which would limit global warming to 2 degrees.

And they believed their message so wholeheartetdly that 120 of the 193 countries went home before an agreement could be reached. And then 5 countries agreed a statement that, "deep cuts in emissions are required". So, that'll sort it out then, won't it?! They can all get back on their planes and fly home...

If we Christians really believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, that his glory matters above all else, that salvation is found in no-one else, that those who reject him are heading for 'weeping and gnashing of teeth', then what will we do about it?

Try not to kick the cat? Join the church cleaning rota? Be nice to the man who parks across the drive in the hope that he'll ask about the 'reason for the hope that is in you?' Give £5 to the missionary gift day appeal?

Surely if we really believe that Jesus is Lord and Saviour, we will be giving all we can - time, money, skills, energy. We need Christians who will put the Climate Change believers to shame and put their money where their mouth is!


(PS I'm actually a climate change agnostic: I'm not sure if it's caused by man or a natural cycle.)

The God Confusion

If you've not yet heard about the joint convention in London on March 13, get it in your diary now!!

The day, entitled, 'The God Confusion' is for men & women to hear clear, accessible & passionate explanations of the gospel. So start thinking & praying about who you can invite.

For more info: http://www.christianconventions.org.uk/lmc/index.php

(Originally, the plan was to have one session for men, one for women and some children's work. But by popular demand this has been changed, and the whole day will be for men & women together, with no children's work).

Persuading men, pleasing God

Am I now persuading people or God? Or am I trying to please people? If I was still trying to please people I would not be a slave of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)

The task of the Christian is to persuade people and please God, not to persuade God and please people.

But this leads to some difficult moral predicaments. For Paul, it meant not insisting on circumcision and yet asking Timothy to be circumcised. He wouldn't insist on it because it wasn't needed to be right with God - he is the God of gace, not of religious works. And yet, because Timothy was working with Paul amongst Jews (Acts 16), it was better for him to be circumcised - not to please people, but to gain a hearing for the gospel and so persuade them about Christ.

But this meant Paul was open to the accusation of inconsistency. He was furious with the Galatians for forcing Christian men & boys to be circumcised. But at the same time, he himself asked Timothy to be circumcised. Isn't he being hypocritical?  No, because the Galatians were insisting on circumcision as a means to persuade God to be pleased with them., Paul was requesting it in order to persuade people.

We too face difficult decisions which may lay us open to accusations of hypocrisy. But the principle is clear - do what you need to do to gain a hearing for the gospel and persuad people about Jesus. But always and only do what pleases God. We're slaves of Christ and not of people.

Envy

I often start Sunday mornings with a Psalm, and this week it was 73.

Asaph, the author, begins, 'Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.' But then he realises that he's just had a close shave, 'But as for me, my feet had almost slipped... for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.'

And he goes on to list the ways in which life is easy for the rich - they don't have struggles, they have health & strength. They're free from the burdens of others. They don't worry about what God thinks of them - they're carefree and their wealth just goes on increasing. Asaph wonders if he hasn't kept himself pure for nothing, foregoing the pleasure of wealth for no gain.

But then he entered 'the sanctuary of God'. Then he, 'understood their final destiny'. In God's presence (in the OT, the sanctuary was where you came near to God), his perspective changed. 'Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!' The rich are but 'fantasies' (dreams which disappear without trace). The rich cannot prolong life nor escape death and judgement.

But, realises Asaph, 'I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel and afterwards take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven besides you?'

When you're tempted to envy the rich - when they drive past in the Aston Martin DB9, when you see them arriving at the Neville Golf Club, when you can't afford to shop in Fenwicks or Hoopers - when you're tempted to envy, tell yourself, 'I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.'

What are you hoping for?

When we think of the new heavens and the new earth, we tend to think of Revelation 21 - no more tears, death, mourning, crying or pain. Or we might think of the banquet of Matt 22 - they're great things to be looking forward to, but Paul has an interesting take on this in Galatians 5:5:

By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

Are you eagerly awaiting and hoping for righteousness?! That is, pure justice, unsullied goodness, absolute truth, unquestionable integrity and so on. All these things in you and me and everyone else.
And when we put it like that, of course we're all eagerly awaiting these things! And when we live by faith and in the Spirit, we begin to experience these things now - it's as if they come into the present from the future.


PS Do you like the photo?! (Thanks Caz!)

Experiencing the Spirit as conflict

If you were at the Bible study last night, this will be old news to you, but I'm still mulling over the fact that, in Galatians 5, Paul shows that the normal experience of the Holy Spirit is one of conflict.

This is so unlike the experience that is peddled by so many preachers and authors today. They talk of power, tears of joy, overwhelming sense of the love of God, speaking in tongues and so on. Now these things may happen to some people, but Galatians 5 tells us what all of us who are filled with the Spirit experience:

 ¹⁶So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

It's similar to Romans 7 - the idea that deep down we want to live God's way, but regularly fail. But this is the experience of the Holy Spirit - desiring to please God, to live to honour Christ is to live in step with the Spirit.

So if you struggle with sin, and desire to please Jesus, be encouraged! It's a sure sign that God is at work in you by his Spirit.

Nothing on tv again?

I'm 47 (just). I'm a grumpy old man. And few things make me grumpier than the rubbish served up on tv. There are three things worth watching: sport (by which I mean rugby, cricket & golf), serious documentaries and the news (once a day). But whenever I do sit down in front of the box, decent sport is rarer than a panda in the bamboo in the Vicarage garden.

But now there's Clayton TV . Here you can watch Phillip Jensen speaking from Sydney Cathedral, or a talk by Don Carson at New Word Alive, or one of the Keswick Convention speakers. You can see discussions (in the 'Chat Room') on multiculturalism, cloning, art & censorship, and many other topics. There are Sunday services from Jesmond Parish Church (much better than Songs of Praise).
So have a look at Clayton TV.

Stating the obvious

Aren't scientists clever? Take, for example, these two quotes from the Daily Telegraph today:

Dr Neville Owen of the University of Queensland suggests people should simply pay more attention to sitting less. Most of us apparently spend more than half our waking hours on what he describes as "sedentary activities". And the longer people sit, the more likely they are to become overweight, irrespective of the amount of food consumed. [Italics mine].

And all this time, I thought sitting still would help me get thin!

Or,

Some children are just born with ODD - Oppositional Defiance Disorder - a pattern of negative and hostile behaviour that is impervious to the strictest disciplinary sanctions.

Well of course children are born with 'Oppositional Defiance Disorder' - it's proper name is 'original sin'!

Stained glass

Have you ever looked at the stained glass window and reredos (painted panel behind the Communion Table) at St Peter's? If so, have you spotted the common theme?

The verse in the middle of the window is john 11:25f

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

The two repeated images in the window are grapes and wheat. On the right hand side of the reredos are the words, 'I am the true vine', and on the left, 'I am the bread of life'. So the words explain the pictures, and are linked by the theme of life (if you don't remain in the vine, you wither - John 15).

Then, either side of the words from John 11 is a tree. On the left, the fruit is ripe. On the right it's not. Is this the tree of life that stands either side of the river in Revelation 22 (cf Ezek 47:8-9, 12).

So there at the front of church is a window which proclaims life in the new heaven and new earth through Jesus.