A tough prayer

In school assemblies, we've been going through the Lord's prayer.
The opening line, 'Our Father in heaven' isn't too difficult even for 5 year-olds to understand. And once we'd talked a bit about respect, it wasn't too difficult to grasp the main point of 'hallowed be your name'.
But in a couple of weeks' time we get to 'forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us'. On the face of it, this is quite straightforward, and there are plenty of easy illustrations.
And yet this is one of the hardest things to say to God with complete honesty. Are we really content that he forgives us as we forgive others? Don't we really want him to forgive us more easily, more quickly, more fully that we forgive others? But Jesus is uncompromising:

If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

People sometimes talk too easily about God's unconditional love. But here there is clearly a condition attached to our receiving forgiveness from God - we must forgive others.
But then Jesus is talking to people who have begun to understand that God gives us

...strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

And surely such forgiveness as Jesus expects us to show is only possible because he has begun a work of grace in us, and has begun to give us the knowledge of the full extent of his love for us.

So it will be one thing to talk to the children about forgiving each other, but quite another for them to fully appreciate and experience the forgiveness and love of Christ so that they are empowered to forgive as they would like to be forgiven. My prayer is that they will indeed experience the grace of God.
But my prayer also is that adult Christians will be able to model this kind of living and forgiving.

Now and not yet

For all you SPA and CY people, here's a chapter by Don Carson on the eschatology of Ephesians. If that sounds too scary, it's just a clever way of saying, 'a chapter about what Ephesians says Christians can expect to experience now, and what we have to wait until the recreation to enjoy.'

I've not read it yet, but D A Carson is, in my opinion, the most capable and realistic Bible teacher today.
Now, I must download it to my Kindle...

Hope and Joy

1 Peter 1:3-9

We don't write letters like we used to, but there are still times when only a letter will do – bereavement, serious illness, divorce and so on.

And when you write you want to say something helpful – to strike the right tone: you don't want to make matters worse.But if you're too positive, it might come across as patronising and trite.

If you're too negative – well, what help's that?

Peter writes this letter in front of us to groups of people who are really suffering for being Xns:

• In ch 2, we hear they're being beaten up by their bosses when they've done nothing wrong.

• In ch 3, we hear that some of the women are struggling to live with unbelieving husbands.

• Ch 4 tells us that they're surrounded by people who delight in drunkenness, adultery, & idolatry. And because the Xns don't join in, they're insulted and abused.

So how do you write to people in this kind of situation?

How would you write to the church in Kazakhstan where just a fortnight ago their service was interrupted by drunk police officers & their pastor, his wife & children taken in the back of a police van?

Would you say what Peter says in v8, 'you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith – the salvation of your souls'?

And can you say that your own faith and life are full of an inexpressible and glorious joy?!

I'd be surprised if many of us here this morning would say that our lives are like this.

So as Peter speaks of having such joy in such suffering is he being hopelessly naïve?

Well, if he was hope-less, then yes, he's being naïve.

But in fact, hope, says Peter is the source of Xn joy – a joy that non-Xns simply cannot understand let alone possess.

This means that if we are going to experience the fullness of Xn joy, we must have a genuine Xn hope. Knowing genuine Xn hope is the way to experience genuine Xn joy.

So we'll start with the genuine Xn hope.

Imagine you're a committed supporter of Tunbridge Wells FC. Your great hope is that one day, they'll play in the Premier League with Spurs.

But before that, they've got to gain promotion from the Kent League. Isthmian League 1, Isthmian Premier, Conference South, Conference Premier, League 2, League 1, Championship and finally the Premier League. 
That's a minimum of 8 years – starting next year because this year they only finished 7^th.

So, realistically, TWFC are never going to play in the Premier League. To think that way is hopelessly optimistic – pointlessly optimistic.

And yet as Christians we hope for nothing less than the recreation of the heavens and the earth – the removal of all evil – a perfect world.And we hope that we ourselves will have a place with the LJC in this perfectly renewed world. Isn't this just as hopelessly optimistic as the TWFC supporter's hope of becoming a premiership team?

No!

Most Xns think of their future like this:

There is a disconnect between where we are now and where we hope to be – a massive gulf between what we are now, what this world is now, and what we hope for ourselves & for the world. And as long as we think like this, our hope will lack assurance and certainty.

But in v3, Peter says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade'

When you became a Xn – assuming you did – you were reborn into a living hope; into an inheritance.

So our relationship to hope is actually more like this... 

 

When Jesus spoke about eternal life, he said that we already possess it: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life – John 3:36

and, I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life.

In Colossians, Paul says, God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In Ephesians, he says that when we came to faith in Christ, 'God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace...'

So we are already with Christ, already in Christ, already in the Kingdom of God. Yes, there is much we don't yet have, but we are already heirs – and nothing and no-one can take away our inheritance. So, v4, our inheritance can never perish, spoil or fade – it is kept in heaven for you.

Your inheritance is there already, it is just waiting for you to go and collect it.

So we could picture it like this..

But how can I be sure that this is how it is and will be for me​​?

Have a look at v4 again – this inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who by faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

If you have received God's gift of faith in Jesus Christ, then you are shielded by the power of God himself – and no-one can break through the power of God to take away your inheritance. And so, says Peter, v6, in this you greatly rejoice.

Therefore, Peter is saying that genuine Christian hope brings glorious Christian joy.

And it's when people suffer that hope is at its most powerful. When what little you have is forcibly taken from you, you cling to what cannot be taken away – your hope, your inheritance - the LJC.

So let's read v6 in context: in this – that is, your inheritance - you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that you faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when JC is revealed.

The grief and trials help to prove that faith is genuine. 
 

Over the years, my support for Spurs has been proven genuine. The last time we won the league was 1961, & the FA cup, 1991. I could have given up on Spurs. I could have switched my allegiance to one of these clubs that's been bankrolled by a foreign investor. But no. My support is genuine. Whether I will once more enjoy glory, honour and praise as a Spurs supporter is debatable, but one thing is certain, when my faith in Christ has been tested and proved genuine, I will enjoy praise, honour and glory.

Yes, it seems as if v7 is talking about us – that we will be praised and honoured for our perseverance when Jesus returns, and then we will be glorious as he is glorious.

Now if, even in the midst of trials and suffering, we can grasp the enormity of our hope, then we can rejoice. 
But how much are you aware of what awaits you?

How often do you meditate on heaven?

Do you allow yourself to imagine what the Bible says heaven will be like – how you'll never have to remember your keys (or apologise profusely for taking your wife's house keys as I had to on Thursday!)

Imagine a world without money and no bankers because no-one is greedy and everyone shares generously.

Imagine a world with no hospitals, no doctors waiting rooms and no prescriptions.

A world with no police, no lawyers, no courts, no prisons.

A world where all the effects and consequences of evil have gone.

A world where work is pure delight and you love everyone equally (so it won't matter that you're reunited with friends or family because you'll love everyone equally!).

When you carry than kind of hope around with you, then you also have joy. And yet there's even more than that. Yes, hope, by definition, looks to the future. But vv8 & 9 remind us that by God's grace and through faith in Christ, we begin to receive now something of that future blessing: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

So we come back to where we started.

We can be certain about the future because we've begun to experience it in the present:

• Whenever we pray to our Father in heaven, we experience something of the future blessings of knowing God as our Father.

• Whenever we read our Bibles and hear God speak to us, we experience something of what it will be like to hear God's voice in heaven.

• Meeting together as Christ's church is a foretaste of heaven (and, by the way, why it's so important to be here week by week - if we're not, then others are missing out).

• We experience the power of the Holy Spirit steadily changing us into what one day we shall full be - like Christ himself.

But all of this isn't the only reason for our hope and joy!

Remember in vv1 & 2 that our faith also rests on the authority and reliability of the apostles' testimony.

And it rests on God's election and foreknowledge.

It rests on the work of the HS who has set us apart for obedience ot JC.

And it rests on the death of Jesus which makes us God's own covenant people, his special possession.

And yet... do you really experience that inexpressible and glorious joy day by day? 
If not, why not?

Well, if hope is the source of joy, then placing our hope in the wrong place will diminish our joy. And that's what we do all-too-often.

Some of us place our hope in our children or the relationship with our spouse. But neither can bear the weight of that responsibility and expectation. We cannot expect our children or our spouse to fulfil all our hopes and therefore our joy. Of course they'll let us down - they're human - just as we let others down because we're sinful and human.
Only Jesus Christ is an adequate and sufficient object of our hope. Only he will not let us down. Only the promise of inheriting all he offers can bring us glorious joy.


Meanwhile, some of us place our hopes in the latest tech, or fashion or beauty treatment. 
But beauty fades, fashion is fleeting, and technology fails. None can satisfy our hopes and dreams. Only the promise of the new heavens and the new earth; of meeting the Lord Jesus Christ can satisfy our humanity. Only his amazing promises can bring us true hope and real joy.

Glorious things of you are spoken,

Zion, city of our God!

He whose word cannot be broken

formed you for his own abode.

On the rock of ages founded,

what can shake your sure repose?

With salvation’s walls surrounded,

you may smile at all your foes.

See, the streams of living waters

springing from eternal love!

Well supply your sons and daughters,

and all fear of want remove;

who can faint while such a river

ever flows their thirst to assuage?

Grace which, like the Lord, the giver,

never fails from age to age.

Round each habitation hovering,

see the cloud and fire appear

for a glory and a covering,

showing that the Lord is near.

thus they march, the pillar leading,

light by night and shade by day;

daily on the manna feeding

which he gives them when they pray.

Saviour, since of Zion’s city

I, through grace, a member am,

let the world deride or pity,

I will glory in your name.

Fading is the worlds best pleasures,

all its boasted pomp and show,

solid joys and lasting treasures

none but Zion’s children know.

John Newton

Psalm 40

This is a complicated Psalm, with loads of important truths, but one thing stood out for me this morning.

The Psalm begins with David praising the LORD for hearing his prayer and rescuing him, and the hope that many others, seeing his own rescue, will come and put their trust in God, for in him is great blessing (1-5).
Verses 6-8 are hard to understand, though Hebrews 10 tells us that they're really speaking of the Christ, Jesus, and in 9&10, David remembers how he has told everyone of God's great deliverance - he hasn't concealed what God has done for him.

But it was vv11ff that made a big impression on me this morning:

11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain

your mercy from me;

your steadfast love and your faithfulness will

ever preserve me!

12 For evils have encompassed me

beyond number;

my iniquities have overtaken me,

and I cannot see;

they are more than the hairs of my head;

my heart fails me.

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!

O Lord, make haste to help me!

14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether

who seek to snatch away my life;

let those be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt!

15 Let those be appalled because of their shame

who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

16 But may all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who love your salvation

say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

17 As for me, I am poor and needy,

but the Lord takes thought for me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

do not delay, O my God!

David says that even though he's surrounded by evil and his iniquities have overtaken him and they are more than the hairs of his head, yet the LORD will not restrain his mercy or his steadfast love & faithfulnes.
And when he concludes, 'As for me, I am poor and needy', King David can't mean that he hasn't got any money. Instead he's saying that he's poor and  needy spiritually - his prayer life and his loving obedience to God are lacking - and yet, 'the LORD takes thought for me.'
So, though I too often feel overwhelmed by my sinful actions & failures, the LORD God will not 'restrain' his mercy or love; God doesn't become stingy in his mercy & love even when I fail him. Why not? Because he is 'my helper and my deliverer'. And David prays that God would not delay in coming to complete his salvation because then he will be free from sin and failure.
And, significantly, in the middle of this section (12-15), there are again pointers to the Lord Jesus and his death (especially if, 'my iniquities' in v12 is understood to mean the iniquities that Jesus has taken upon himself on the cross). It's Jesus whom God rescued from his sneering enemies (15), and in rescuing Jesus, God rescues me.
'You are my helper and deliverer; do not delay, O my God.' (17)  'Come, Lord Jesus!' (Rev 22:20).

For everyone who teaches the Bible

I would love to have gone to the Gospel Coalition Conference last month. Fortunately the talks are available at their website .
Here's the first session - and everyone who teaches the Bible - whether to children or adults - needs to hear and understand this:


Studying The Scriptures and Finding Jesus - Albert Mohler - TGC 2011 from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

How do we use the Bible?

It's an old cliche that we're all theologians, and the only question is, what kind of theologian are we? Some of us are lazy, others are rebellious; some are dead & dry, others are fluffy and unclear, and so on.
But I was reading yesterday "Life in the Trinity" by Don Fairbairn, and he was suggesting that too often we read the Bible to find things to do or doctrines we must believe, and while each has its place, there is a more important search to be undertaking as we read.
If God is calling us to a relationship with Christ, surely we should be reading our Bibles to find out more about him - the one to whom we relate. Doing may be an important outworking of our sonship in Christ, but what we do flows from, and is motivated by, our knowledge of, and intimacy with, Christ. Sound doctrine is important, but only in that it describes how and why God has brought us into relationship with Christ. There are those who like to dot the 'i's and cross the 't's of their - or more often others' - doctrine, but one sometimes wonders if they've actually met the Trinity who is the author and subject of their sound doctrine.
As an historical theologian, Fairbairn has a high regard, and extensive knowledge of, the church fathers, and his emphasis on the importance of our relationship with Christ over-above doctrinal argumentation for its own sake seems to have come from Gregory of Nazianzus who begins his First Theological Oration with a long (and at times lol funny) polemic against those who spend their time asking theoretical questions out of idle curiosity rather than engaging with Christ himself. [The on-line version I've linked to here is not the easiest to read - Williams &Wickham's translation is a little easier, but you have to pay for it!].
Historical theology of this kind is not my usual reading matter, but I've been sent a long reading list in preparation for the Cambridge Summer School of Theology at which Fairbairn is speaking. It promises to be a stimulating week, but I've only got a couple of months now to read: Gregory of Nazianzus, Fairbairn himself, Grudem, McGrath, and various historic confessions. Hopefully they will provide further stimulating thoughts...

Extreme moral relativism

So Morrissey (singer - formerly of The Smiths) says that killing a stag is like killing a child.
Such extreme moral raltivism is very worrying. Morrissey is, of course, saying that to kill a stag is just as serious as killing a child.
But what if you're a huntin', shootin', fishin' kind of guy and you take it the other way round? To kill a child is only the same as killing a stag...

Knowing God

What does it mean to truly know God? How can I truly know God?
I've just been re-reading the Old Testament book of Job, and it strikes me that one of the most important questions in the book is not so much that of suffering per se but of how we can know and understand God - in Job's case, in the midst of suffering, and in his friends' case, when observing the suffering of others; but also for anyone in any situation - how can I truly know God and his ways?
At the beginning we discover that there's something going on about which Job and his friends know nothing; there is a heavenly, spiritual dimension to the world in which The Accuser ('Satan') asks for, and is given, permission to test Job's faith and godliness.
Then, when Job's suffering begins, he himself and his friends begin to look for answers. But the problem is that they start from the point of view of human wisdom & understanding. This is what's made clear at the end of the book when God himself answers Job.
The friends are dismissed as not having spoken wisely - yes, they have said some true things about God, but they haven't understood the subtleties of what's going on in the interraction between God, The Accuser and Job. They are ignorant of what's really happening.
And even Job is accused by God of speaking with mere human insight. So God asks him repeatedly, 'Do you know...?' 'Is it by your understanding that...?' 'Have you seen...?' etc. And the answer, time and time again is, 'No, I haven't seen. No, I don't know. No, I don't understand.' And finally, in chapter 42, Job realises that some of what he's said has been arrogant and foolish because, 'I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.'
Job's fault was to try to answer his own questions rather than turning to God and accepting God's answers. No, the answers did not come quickly, and the waiting period was unimaginably hard for him. But in the end, Job had to admit that he himself could not answer ultimate questions about God and life and death, but that he had to allow God to speak for himself. And he hadn't done this because he was imprisoned by The Accuser who is the 'the king over all the sons of pride.' (41:34).
Now there's a lesson we must all learn. If we're to know God, we must be humble enought to realise that by and in our own mind we will never find God. Instead, because God has spoken by his word and especially in the Lord Jesus, we must humbly listen to what he says about himself. Too often we try to know God by our own thinking and supposition. When God seems far away, when life seems to complex and difficult, we need to learn to spend more time listening to God in his word, the Bible. Then we will know him better and understand his ways and his world.

Jobs for the boys

This is getting very, very silly.
Only it's not silly. It's an dreadful commentary on these appalling times for the C of E.
The new Bishop of Salisbury has been announced: Nicholas Holtam. And yes, you guessed it, he trained with all his bishopy mates at Westcott House, Cambridge.
But there's real irony here. Holtam is a gay rights activist because he believes that no matter what anyone does in their sexual life, there should be equality. And yet he's just accepted an invitation to join probably the most exclusive club in the world - the house of bishops.
One assumes that he will be fighting hard to get some of those who have been deliberately excluded from that club appointed i.e. conservative evangelicals who didn't go to public school or Oxbridge... But don't hold your breath.
The last conservative evangelical to be appointed a Diocesan Bishop was probably Maurice Wood in 1971. But guess where even he was educated? Yup, private school, then Queen's College and Ridley Hall, Cambridge!

If you think all this is fantasy and conspiracy have a look at the list of current Diocesan Bishops in the Canterbury Province (below). (Since Ripon Cuddesdon is not a proper Oxford College, though it is linked to the Uni, we'll put the bishops who went there with the non-Oxbridge lot). Now add them up: there are 7 non-Oxbridge and 30 Oxbridge bishops. In the Province of York, there are 10 Oxbridge and 3 non.
What's even more astonishing is that the Archbishop of Canterbury told me personally, face-to-face, and without a hint of sarcasm that the process was, "democratic"!! While we have people like that in positions like that, this nepotism will continue.

Current Diocesan Bishops in the Province of Canterbury:
Rowan Williams: Oxford & Cambridge
Peter Price: Redland College & Oak Hill!!
David Urquhart: Rugby School & Oxford
Mike Hill: Cambridge (twice)
Stephen Cottrell: Oxford
John Hind: Ripon Cuddesdon (linked to Oxford)
Christopher Cocksworth: Manchester & Nottingham (but was Principal at Ridley, Cambridge & is the son-in-law of a bishop).
Alistair Redfern: Oxford
Stephen Conway: Oxford & Cambridge
Michael Langrish: Cambridge
Geoffrey Rowell: Cambridge (twice)
Michael Perham: Oxford
Christopher Hill: London
Anthony Priddis: Cambridge
Tim Stevens: Oxford & Cambridge
Jonathan Gledhill: Bristol
John Saxbee: Bristol & Durham
Richard Chartres: Cambridge
Graham James: Oxford
John Pritchard: Oxford & Cambridge
Donald Allister: Cambridge
Christopher Foster: Cambridge
James Langstaff: Oxford
Christoper Chessun: Oxford
Alan Smith: Oxford
Nigel Stock: Durham & Ripon Cuddesdon (linked to Oxford)
Tim Thornton: Oxford
Michael Scott-Joynt: Cambridge
John Inge: Oxford

Get reading!

If you want to know God better and grow to maturity in your faith, you must  read (and/or listen) to good books (and especially the Bible).
But there are hundreds of thousands of Christian books out there. Some are great, others are thoroughly misleading. How do you choose?
Well, having a bookseller that only stocks reliable books is a great help. To my knowledge there are just two of these: The Good Book Company and 10ofThose.
St Peter's has set up a linked website to 10ofThose.com, where you'll find some of my personal recommendations. Not only that, but they're very good value, St Peter's gets 3% commission, and no, you don't have to buy 10 of them!!

But back to reading. Where do you start?
First, you need to hear God himself speaking to you in the Bible. So you need a good translation - the English Standard Version is my personal preference: it's a good translation, it's clear and precise. Next best would be the New International Version - not quite as precise, and often misses important linking words ('for', 'because', 'so that' etc.).
But don't just buy a 'plain' one, get one with cross-references which really help you to explore topics further, and to see, for example, where the Old Testament is quoted in the New.
Better still, get the ESV Study Bible (this is much better than the NIV equivalent). Here you'll find great introductory articles, maps, footnotes which begin to explain the text and access to the online Study Bible. If you can possibly afford it, get the hardback because it will last much longer!

As for other books, take a look at 10ofthose and see what I've recommended!