Paul in Athens - Turbo Charged Chimps

A Better Way of Life

In Acts 17:24-28 Paul seeks to expand their thinking. Athens was full of temples, and if you go there today you can still see some of them. Paul tells them that God does not need man-made temples. Rather, God created us, and did so with the intention that we should get to know Him. Paul uses the words of one of their own poets to point to the true aim of God’s plan for us, namely to be His children.

The truth is that God’s goodness is greater than we ever imagine, and His plans for us are greater than we conceive them to be.

Atheism tries to pain a picture of a God who seeks to constrict and constrain. Nothing could be further from the truth, for He is a God who gives freedom. Indeed it is atheism that has a poverty of thinking.

The materialist view of the world says that we are nothing more than biochemical machines that came about by random chance. That is what atheism says you are. Consider the implications of this. If you are in love, it has no real meaning, it is just a biochemical response. If you achieve something, whether academically, in sport or whatever, it doesn’t mean anything. It just came about by chance. If you are artistic, whether it be dance, music, literature or art, it is all meaningless. The deep pain and anguish we feel when someone love dies is just an illusion, there is no real loss, no real pain. This is the consequence of the materialist viewpoint.

Indeed, if we are just biochemical machines that came about by blind chance, then any pronouncements we make have no value, no meaning. This, of course, includes the statement that there is no God. As with all contentions of atheism, materialism contains the seeds of its own destruction.

Thankfully the truth is that life does have meaning. There is a God who cares. He created us to achieve things. Just as we feel joy when our own children achieve things, so God rejoices when we achieve things. He also shares in our pain. The loss of someone we love are times when we feel deep pain and loss, but they can also be times when we are supremely aware of the closeness of God, and the cross is the primary demonstration of the depths of God’s love.

More than a turbo-charged chimp

If you want to know what life is about, then Genesis 1-3 is the best place to go. It tells us that we were created in the image of God. We are more than turbo-charged chimps. We are not just more intelligent creatures, we are radically different from every other creature on the planet. And there are seven billion experiments going on in the world today that prove it.

There is no creature on earth that is as self-aware as we are. There is no other creature that seeks to explain, understand or explore as we do. There is no other creature that invents and creates like we do. There is no creature that produces works of art like we do. We are not just monkeys with over-developed brains, but are unique. We are the only creature that was made in the image of God.

If we look at mankind we see two conflicting pictures. On the one hand we see the wonder of humanity. We have already mentioned the creativity and achievements, but we see moral goodness as well. There are famously people who have achieved great things like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Mother Theresa. In times of war or great suffering, ordinary people will make extraordinary sacrifices, they will put their own lives or well-being at risk in order to help others. In all sorts of mundane ways we see people doing good things. Parents looking after disabled children, children looking after elderly parents. Even in your own life you there will be times when you do genuinely good things.

But then on the other hand we can be appalled at what we see in humanity, There are the infamous monsters like Hitler, Stalin and Mao-Tse-Tung who must have been responsible for about 100 million deaths or so between them. In times of war and hardship while some will be amazingly selfless, others will be horrendously selfish. There are parents who abuse their children, children who neglect their elderly parents. Again, if we are honest, there are times when do, or at least think, appalling things.

To say that humanity is wonderful is only part of the story, but to say that humanity is a complete disaster is equal nonsense. This is exactly what Genesis 1-3 tells us. It explains the good and wonderful side of humanity, because we are made in the image of God. We get all the bad stuff because we have rebelled against God, and the rest of the Bible is God’s plan to sort out the problem.

Further Reading

The Reason for God by Tim Keller is an excellent book which explores these and many other themes.

I have also produced a website that explores the issues involved in the creation-intelligent design-evolution debate.

Isaiah 5:1-7 - Vineyard Gone Bad

The vineyard is a common analogy used of Israel. The parable of the tenants (Matt 21:33-44) probably alludes to this passage, and in John's gospel Jesus talks about the vine and His father being the gardener. Paul, too, uses the vine analogy in Romans.

"The one I love" is God, and Israel is His vineyard. The Lord cleared the land of its inhabitants when Israel entered the Promised Land. He planted the nation of Israel there, and she had the Law. The land should have produced good fruit. It should have been a light to the nations, indeed it should have been the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him. Instead it produced only bad fruit.

The Lord then calls on Israel to consider the situation, basically whose fault was it? There is nothing else the Lord could have done, so the fault lay with Israel. So the Lord was going to remove the hedge of protection around the land, it would be open to foreign invaders. Natural disasters too would befall the land.

In verse 7 Isaiah makes clear the meaning of the parable. Israel and Judah were the vineyard, justice and righteousness were the good fruit He looked for, instead He found bloodshed and oppression of the poor.

Paul in Athens - Science's Altars to an Unknown God

Meeting them in their own ground

Paul went to the meeting of the Aeropagus, where the philosophers of the Athens discussed the latest ideas. Now in Acts 17:16 we read that Paul was greatly troubled by the number of idols he saw. So we might expect him to have condemned them for their idol worship, but instead he complements them on their religiosity, and points to one altar with the inscription “To an Unknown God”. Paul met them on their own ground, and took that as a starting point for what he was going to teach them.
Science has its own “altars to unknown Gods”. Let me give you three of them: one from quantum mechanics, one from cosmology, and  one from mathematics.

Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics is an amazing and complex subject. The Nobel prize winner Richard Feynman said no one understands quantum mechanics, so we can count ourselves in good company. Indeed, one can summarise quantum mechanics in three words: “life is weird”.

One of the better known aspects of quantum physics is Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle. This states that it is impossible to know both the position and momentum of a fundamental particle with perfect accuracy. So you can know where a particle is, but not what its doing. Or you can know what it is doing, but not where it is doing it.

Cosmology

We have very complex and sophisticated models of the universe. However, there is a big problem. In order for them to work there has to be more energy and mass in the universe than we can detect. In the wordx of Nasa, “more is unknown than is known”. In fact, it is reckoned that 70% of the universe is dark energy and 25% dark matter. This dark matter and dark energy cannot be directly detected.

Mathematics

In the 1930’s the Austrian mathematician Kurt Godel proved his “incompleteness theorems”. These say that in any logically consistent system there will be some things that are true, but that cannot be proved to be true. This came as a great shock, as it had been expected that we could develop mathematical systems that could explain everything, Godel annoyingly demonstrated that this would never be possible!

So we see that science keeps coming up with limits to knowledge. Now this is not just things that we do not know yet. It could be argued, and I would expect this to be the case, that eventually we will either work out exactly what dark matter and energy are, or we will advance our theories so that the concepts are no longer needed. However, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle is a solid fact, or at least as solid as anything can be in quantum mechanics, and the laws of logic are not likely to change anytime soon.

You see, men are always trying to run away from God, but every attempt is doomed to failure, because the fundamental fact is that there is a God. Far from doing away with the need for God, God is in fact the foundation of all science. It is because the universe is the creation of an intelligent being that science can make sense of it. And it is because we were made in the image of God that we are able to be good scientists.

If you want to read more about God and Science, can I recommend  the book God’s Undertaker by John Lennox.

Paul in Athens - Intro

This is a series of essays based on a sermon on Acts 17:16-34 I preached at Gate Church International on Sunday 27th November 2011. An MP3 of the sermon itself may appear on the Gate website in the near future.

In this section we see Paul going to the intellectual heart of Greek culture in Athens. Here we see that there were three key elements to Paul’s approach:

1. He met his opponents on their own ground, both physically and intellectually
2. He pointed them to a better way of life
3. He led them to the risen Christ

We will see how he did this, and apply the lessons to our own age. Today there is a common notion that science had done away with the need for God. This view is advanced by people like Richard Dawkins and others, but there is a very common belief that now we have scientific understanding we do not need God. This notion is complete nonsense.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul says “we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God”. There are many arguments made against God, but everyone of them contains the seeds of its own destruction. Let’s apply this to the notion that science has done away with the need for God.  

I’ll release the essays in three parts over the next few days:

1. Science's altars to an unknown God

2. More than turbo-charged chimpanzees

3. Raised from the dead

Isaiah 4:2-6 - Redemption

"In that day", this phrase repeats what was said in 3:18. This oracle of redemption comes in-between the condemnation of the superficiality of society and a longer indictment of Israel. It is a reminder that in the midst of God's firm dealings with sin, salvation is always the ultimate goal. The branch is a term referring to the Messiah, and was used by Jeremiah as well (Jer 23:5,6; 33:15,16). 

In that day when the Branch is exalted the land will bear its fruit. If we want to bear fruit we need to exalt the name of Jesus. The sins of the land will be washed away and the people will be called holy. This will be achieved through a spirit of judgement and fire. Remember that John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptise with fire. We need to remember that Jesus brings a judgement upon our ways, He demands change in our lives.

The cloud of smoke and flaming fire point back to the protection that God gave the Israelites when He took them out of Egypt. This offers both guidance and protection. 

Isaiah 3:16-4:1 - Fall of celebrity

Verse 16 reads like a description of our celebrity culture with its obsession with looks and fashion. Such women would be brought low. The superficiality of it all would be exposed by catastrophe. All their beauty, jewellery and perfumes would be taken away, along with all the accessories.

Instead they would wear the garments of disaster. All the things mentioned in verse 24 are associated with being taken captive. And the men they fawned over would be killed by the sword.

In those circumstances any man would do!

We need to be careful not to be taken in by the culture of our times. The world's culture favours those who are "in", but despises those who are "out". It is marked by exploitation, dehumanisation and superficiality.

Isaiah 3:10-15 - Judgement

Verse 10 is thrown in in the middle of all this judgement, "tell the righteous it will be well with them". It is always worth obeying the Lord, even if it seems that no one else is. We will reap the fruit of our deeds.

Then we get back to the deeds of the wicked, and disaster lies in store for them. In middle eastern culture to be ruled by youths or women was a sign of disfavour. 

Then we get the picture of the Lord taking His place to judge. One day we will all have to give an account for what we have and have not done. First He takes judgement against the leaders. They should have taken care of God's vineyard, instead they ruined it. The things we look after, the things we have authority over, are not ours. We are only stewards. In particular leaders are meant to look after the poor, not grind them in the dirt. Now this should not be taken as support for socialism. Both socialism and capitalism in their different ways are guilty of oppressing the poor.

Unbelievable - Origins of the Universe

Another interesting debate on Premier Christian Radio, this time on the origin of the universe.
Edgar Andrews v Robert Stovold.
See Unbelievable for more info on the programme.

PS the end of the podcast has feedback on last weeks programme and includes a letter from yours truly.

Isaiah 3:1-9 - A society in collapse

Judah and Jerusalem would be left utterly helpless, they would have nowhere to turn but to the Lord Himself.

Food and water would be cut-off. The human resources of leaders of various sorts would be cut-off. Skilled people of all sorts would be in short supply. This happens when a society starts to collapse, no one wants to take responsibility. In the case of war there is no left to take responsibility. In the last days of Berlin at the end of the second world war mere youths were being captains in the army. 

People will turn against each other, yet at the same time will long for some leader to come along and rescue them. This is one of the reasons why collapsing societies are so prone to dictatorship: almost anything is better than the mess they are in.

Verses 8 and 9 paint a sorry picture. They parade their sins like Sodom did. This is sadly true of our society today. If we do not change course we too will bring calamity upon ourselves.

Isaiah 2:6-22 - Remember the last day

I think it was G K Chesterton who said "when people stop believing in God they don't believe nothing, they believe anything". Now here it says that God had abandoned His people, but this was only in response to their abandonment of Him. As a result they became full of all sorts of superstitions.

Deuteronomy 17:16,17 forbid the accumulation of excess wealth and horses by the king, but this was what had happened. The land was also full of idols, and the people bowed down to the work of their hands. You see, an idol is something we make, so it is senseless to worship it. When we put God first we become truly wise, when we abandon God we become fools. He is the bedrock of all wisdom. So the end result of abandoning God is humiliation.

Verse 10 is echoed in Revelation 6:15,16. The splendour of the Lord will come, and then all human pride will be brought low, it will be shown up for what it is.

The Lord has a day in store. There is a day of reckoning, it is already in the diary. We need to live our lives with this day in view. On that day only God's wisdom and splendour will remain. All the things that people glory in today will become worthless and they will want to get rid of them.

The chapter closes with an exhortation: "stop trusting in human beings". We can sometimes be intimidated by the apparent strength and power of men, we need to look at all things in the light of the Lord, then we will see all things in their true perspective. When we consider our lives and our actions we need to ask ourselves ,"how will this look at the last day?"

Isaiah 2:1-5 - The final outcome

In the last days, this is looking forward to the final outcome. God is eternal, this means not just that He goes on forever, but that He is beyond time, outside of time. He knows the end from the beginning, and everything in-between. Having described the position of Israel in the present, Isaiah now goes right to the end. Mountains signified government, and Isaiah is saying that the Lord's temple will be exalted over all the earth, and the nations will stream to it.

In Isaiah's day this would seem a very strange and unlikely outcome, for most of the nations despised Israel. Today, western society despises the church and all things to do with God. Yet a time will come when they will long to know what the Lord has to say.

Hoards will come to God wanting to learn His ways. The law will go out from Jerusalem. This has already happened to some extent with the gospel going out from Jerusalem to the Gentiles, and has now reached most parts of the earth. But so far we have seen only a partial fulfilment, there is a much greater fulfilment to come. Christ will even settle disputes between nations and bring an end to war. 

The final fulfilment of this is probably the millennium. The final verse (6) of this section, reminds us of what our response should be. We are to walk in the light of the Lord. We can argue and debate about precisely how much has already happened, exactly what the thousand year rule of Revelation means etc, but the most important thing is that we walk in the light of the Lord today.

If we trust and obey God today we will be ready for whatever happens tomorrow.

Isaiah 1:27-31 - Heaven or Hell?

Having had all the condemnation of Jerusalem, there comes the certain promise of deliverance. We see this pattern again and again in the Bible. The problem of sin is absolutely real, the effects of sin are terrible, the salvation is certain. How can this be? We know that the solution to this lies in Jesus, and the prophet Isaiah reveals a lot about how this would come about.

The most common, and probably most powerful, arguments against God are based on the suffering and evil in the world. They essence of the arguments are: there is terrible suffering and evil in the world, if there was an all powerful good God He would not allow this; therefore there cannot be an all powerful good God. But stop for a moment, and suppose we accept the conclusion, suppose we accept that there is no God, where does that get us? The evil and suffering still exists. So do we just despair at the situation? Do we just shrug our shoulders, hope not too much of the suffering comes our way, and get on with life? We still have no answer to the problem, the problem has not gone away. It is only in the cross that we find the solution. The cross faces up fully to the problem of suffering and evil.

The penitent ones are the ones who will be delivered. Repentance is crucial to salvation. Unless we are willing to humble ourselves before God we cannot be saved.

Those who refuse to do so may boast and act proudly, but they will come to nothing, and will burn in ever lasting fire. You may object that this is harsh, but it is what we are warned will happen. Perhaps we would be wiser to heed the warning, than to argue about whether or not God has the right to do it.

Isaiah 1:21-26 - God requires Justice

Jerusalem was meant to have been a faithful city, and city that honoured God. Instead she had sold herself to idols and to other nations. She had variously trusted in Egypt and Assyria for protection. She used to be full of justice, now she was full of murder. When a nation turns away from God moral decay will start to happen. We see this in our own country. This is not to say that the country was perfect, far from it, but as we have progressively rejected God, the social and moral fabric of the nations has weakened.

The good things in the land became worthless. The leaders became rebels, looking after themselves instead of the people, especially the poor. We see this all too often in our democracies.

So God would turn His wrath on His enemies. God's wrath is not uncontrollable anger, but a considered, careful act of judgement on those who have ignored all warnings.

Note the language here on enemies. Israel would expect God to use this language about the nations that surrounded her, but He was using it against them!

The goal of all this would be to return justice and righteousness to the city. We are mistaken if we thing "being saved" is only a matter of "going to heaven rather than hell". God's goal is always to produce a people who are truly made in His image.

Isaiah 1:16-20 - Forgiveness and obedience

"Stop doing wrong, seek justice". All the religious observance of Israel was a waste of time and meaningless unless they acted justly. We too need to bear this in mind. Salvation by faith or by grace does not mean that it does not matter how we act. The Bible teaches from beginning to end that God cares passionately about how we live our lives, in particular how we treat each other. He longed for the Israelites to act justly and to care for the oppressed and needy.

God calls on the people to reason with Him. God has given us brains, intelligence. If we use our minds aright we can see the truth.

First there is the promise of forgiveness. This is a promise. Then comes a challenge. If they are willing and obedient they will enjoy the best. If not, they will be devoured. Here we can see a parallel in the cross. The cross offers unconditional forgiveness and cleansing, but we need to respond. If we continue to resist then we will go to hell.

Isaiah 1:7-15 - Worthless worship

At the time this was given Assyria was threatening the nation. Jerusalem had not been taken, and indeed Assyria would fail to do so, but they were encroaching on the rest of the country. The place was in a desolate state.

"Hear the word of the Lord you rulers of Sodom, ..., you people of Gomorrah!" Well that is not a nice way to speak to them. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone for their sins against God. God calls on them to listen to Him.

What can we do? I know offer more sacrifices! Well that would not work, God had had enough of their sacrifices. Their various religious festivals were meaningless to God. We need to take care that our "religion" does not become meaningless. We might be very pleased with ourselves,  but what matter is "is God pleased with us?".

God was utterly fed up with their worship services and had resolved not to listen to their prayers. Why was God acting like this? Because their hands were full of blood. They were guilty of bloodshed.

The quality of our lives matters to God. As we have been reading in James, faith without actions is dead.

Debate from Premier Christian Radio on ID

An interesting debate on Intelligent Design

Unbelievable? 19 Nov 2011 - Signature in the Cell - Stephen Meyer vs Keith Fox

Isaiah 1:4-6 - What happens when we turn from God

Remember this is Israel that God is speaking to when He calls them a brood of evildoers. John the Baptist referred to them as a brood of vipers, and Peter says that judgement begins with the house of God.

Verse 4 sets out the basic problem. The nation was sinful and had amassed great guilt. They were given to corruption, and had turned their back on the Lord. Now this is talking about Israel, but the very same criticisms could just as well be levelled at this country. We had a Christian heritage, but have now turned our back on God completely.

Yet all this rebellion did the people no good. Rather it had only brought pain and suffering to them. The reference to heart and head should not be understood in the sense of that we think of it today (ie emotions and mind). The heart was the centre of the will in Hebrew thinking. However, verses 5 and 6 make it clear that their whole being was affected, and all of it covered in sores. Justice in society was corrupt, and the nation was in imminent danger of defeat. Similarly our whole society is sick. Economically we are in a mess, socially we are in a mess. There is corruption and decay all over the place.

This is the result of turning away from God.

Isaiah 1:1-3 - A message to a sinful people

The book is introduced as the "vision" that Isaiah saw. Clearly he saw many visions and received many words, but this emphasises that this majestic book gives a single unified vision of God's plan, and we need to see it as such, not as a disjointed series of words and visions. 

Isaiah functioned during the reigns of four kings, these kings reigned from 792 to 686 BC. Isaiah worked in the southern kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom was about to be defeated by Assyria.

"Hear me you heavens! Listen you earth!" The word is addressed not just to people, but to the whole of creation. 

Israel was a nation that owed its existence completely to the Lord. Without Him there would have been no nation. He gave them good instructions, but they rebelled against Him. Animals are better at obeying their masters than Israel was at obeying God. The place of Israel in God's plans is a controversial topic. It must be remembered that the Old Testament can be described as a record of the sins of Israel. It must also be remembered that every book that is clear on this fact, is also clear about the ultimate redemption of Israel. Any simplistic view of Israel's place in God's plans is almost certainly wrong.

The fact that God managed to raise rebellious children should bring some heart to parents who have rebellious children. It is easy to put blame on the parents, and parents can feel guilty. Now we need to be honest and admit that we and do sometimes get things wrong, sometimes badly so. However, you be a perfect parent, and this would be no guarantee of problem free children.

Isaiah - Introduction

Isaiah is perhaps the greatest prophet in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53 contains the clearest prophecy of the suffering messiah dying for our sins and rising again. The whole book is majestic.

There is, however, great controversy over the authorship of the book. Many refer to deutero-Isaiah and even trito-Isaiah. They view the first 35 chapters has being written by the historical Isaiah. Chapters 36-39 are an historical interlude, with the material largely taken from 2 Kings. Then Isaiah 40 onwards is seen as being written after the Babylonian defeat of Judah. So what is the nature of this debate?

Well first let's look at the evidence for the Isaiah authorship of the whole book (which is what I believe to be the case). First and foremost, the book claims to be written by Isaiah, and no-one else. There is literary evidence that it is all the same author. For instance the term "the Holy One of Israel" occurs 12 times in chapters 1-39 and 14 times in chapters 40-66. The New Testament refers to the second part of the book being written by Isaiah (eg Matthew 3:3, Luke 3:4, Romans 10:16,20; John 12:38-41).

So why is there a problem? Well it is because the second part is referring, at least to a large extent, to the period of the Babylonian exile and the release from exile, and even , mentions a particular ruler, Cyrus. All this about a hundred and fifty years before it happened. 

The most straightforward answer is that God knows the future. Indeed, this point is made on several occasions in the book itself. Moreover, the prophet foretells the cross several hundred years before it happens.
Isaiah himself was married with two sons. He wrote a biography of King Hezekiah (2 Chron 32:32). Tradition has it that Isaiah was martyred by King Manasseh, being sawn in two (Hebrews 11:37).

James 5:13-20 - Prayers of faith

Given what James has been saying earlier, it is nice to know you are allowed to be happy as he instructs anyone who is happy to praise the Lord (rather than to weep and wail instead!). If we are in trouble we should pray. Of someone is sick, they should call the elders, who will pray for them and anoint them with oil.

Throughout this letter James has been very blunt. Here he is equally blunt. If we are in trouble, pray. Our response to the situation is very simple. Following Jesus is actually very simple! We just need to do it.

If the elders pray for a person in faith the person will be made well. If they need forgiveness, they will also be forgiven. So we are to confess our sins and pray for each other. James is utterly convinced that prayer is effective.

Elijah is cited as an example. He prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain. He prayed for rain to come, and heavy rain fell.

If someone wanders from the truth they can be brought back. It does not matter how many sins they have committed. If they truly repent, then they will be saved from death and a multitude of sins will be covered over.

James 5:7-12 - Patience

James calls on us to be patient. He has just castigated the rich. It can look as though others have it easier than us, particularly people who seem to show little regard for others. We are not to be envious of them.

James then draws an analogy with crops growing. When a seed is sown it takes time for it to bear fruit, but bear fruit it does. Now God is the creator of all things, so creation will reflect something of the nature of God and His ways. So just as things take time in nature, do do God's plans. We can be confident that they will come to fruition. Ultimately the Lord will return.

When we are struggling it is very easy for us to start grumbling about things and about each other. James warns us against doing this. Grumbling cuts off God's blessing and leaves us open to judgement.

James then reminds them of the prophets and cites the example of Job. Now we do not normally think of Job as a prophet, but this should broaden our concept of what a prophet is. It is not just someone who says "thus saith the Lord". Moses, David, and Job were all considered prophets. 

Job is also cited as an example of patience. Now he spent a lot of time complaining to God! So our concept of patience maybe needs to change as well. In the end Job received a blessing from God.

James then condemns swearing by heaven or earth. Under pressure we can feel the need to over-justify ourselves and take God's name in vain. Instead we should remain calm and simply answer yes or no.

James 5:1-6 - Do not worship wealth

James does not mince his words here! An earlier section of the letter indicated that some rich people were oppressing the church, so maybe this is a response to that. Whatever the case, the wealthy can easily become proud and arrogant. This is a warning against such attitudes. All material wealth will ultimately become worthless.

"You have hoarded wealth in the last days". In the US there are some silly groups which talk about hoarding gold in response to global crises. This is not biblical! The sensible response in all situations is to trust God, to continue to do good, to be merciful and generous. Ie to exhibit the fruit of the spirit. 

Exploitation of workers is castigated as well. Jesus said things like woe to you who laugh now. We need to take these warnings seriously, and examine our attitudes and actions.

James 4:13-16 - No boasting

Talking too much, judging others, boasting: all these things are a sign of pride, having a wring exalted view of ourselves. James now turns to a further symptom of this pride: boasting about tomorrow. Talking about the plans we have to make money here, make money there. "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow!"

We need to recognise our true state. Think about it. We had no say whatsoever in when or even if we we would be born. We did not choose our parents. Moreover, our parents did not choose us. They may have chosen to have a child, but did not know what it would turn out like! One day we will die, and we have little choice in that either.

Think of the current financial crisis. Men had such big plans to make money, but look where it has got them (and where it has got us!). Bankers still seem to get paid astronomical amounts. We are told we need talented people to manage the financial system. Well recent events seem to show that they did not have a clue, and do not have a clue. They are not the gods they claim to be. 

My little rant is over, but there is a crucial point here. Man tries to live as if he can have total control over things. This is simply not the case. We need to live as if God has total control over things. We then live our lives in humble obedience to Him. The paradox is that when we do this we will find that things go far better and we actually have more control than we had before.

James 4:11,12 - Know who is the Judge

We need to be careful how we speak about each other. It is so easy to get sucked in to doing each other down. This is not a godly way to act. Worst of all it is possible, and happens frequently, for people who get some revelation of the truth to use this revelation to speak against other people, to use it as a platform from which to judge others. James tells them that if they do this far from keeping the law, they are sitting in judgement on it, and putting themselves in the place of judge. This is a complete misunderstanding of our position. 

We are all prone to doing this. Charismatics have done it when they learnt about the role of the Holy Spirit, using this knowledge to judge others instead of living by the spirit. Evangelicals can do it. Whatever revelation or understanding we receive from God, He gives it to us so that we can live better lives, not so that we tell others that we are better than them.

We need to have right perspective on who is the only Judge and Law giver.

James 4:4-10 - Submit to God

The word adulterous is used here in the sense of spiritual adultery. Adultery is often used as a metaphor for spiritual adultery in the Bible. Marital faithfulness and faithfulness to God are closely linked. A key part of being truly human is faithfulness, for we were created in the image of God and He is completely faithful. Conversely, unfaithfulness is a characteristic of a sinful people, and we see the evidence for this all around us. We need to root out this weed of unfaithfulness that still resides in us. 

James accuses his readers of being friends with the world  and enemies of God. The world system is opposed to God, it is fundamentally atheistic. The world system says "we can manage without God", this is going back to the first sin in the Garden of Eden. 

It is also fundamentally proud, exalting itself over God, but God opposes the proud and exalts the humble. 

So we should submit to God, and resist the devil. We see again here that the activity of the devil and demons is taken as commonplace, and again it shows itself up in mundane ways, namely in the proud and self-sufficient ways of the world. Moreover, we defeat the devil by humbling ourselves before the Lord. He will flee from us. The devil and his activity are to be recognised, but not to be feared. Yet again, the key weapon in spiritual warfare is trust and obedience.

The injunction to "grieve, mourn and wail" is a call to repent. Instead of glorying in the world and its ways, we are to repent of all involvement with its ways.

A message for today

At the start of this year I urged you to pray for your government. With the current crisis in the Eurozone can I urge you again to pray for leaders. 

It is clear that leaders are out of their depth. Pray that men and women in power will humble themselves before God. 

In Isaiah 8, Isaiah was told not to fear what they fear, not to call conspiracy what they call conspiracy. Instead he was to fear the Lord. We need to people who fear the Lord, and do not get caught up by the spirit of the age. We need to be lights who shine in the darkness.

James 4:1-3 - Asking Properly

Sin is the root of  our problems. The problems we see in our own lives, in the lives of those around us, and in the world as a whole are all a symptom of sin. Fights and quarrels are a result of wrong desires battling within people. In verse 2 James is using an extreme example, but it does happen. Or maybe he is harking back to what Jesus said about hating our brother being equivalent to murder. We hate someone when we see them as an obstacle to getting what we want. We quarrel and fight with each other because we want something that belongs to someone else.

Then James makes a very simple statement: we have not because we ask not. We need to ask God. We also need to ask with the right motives. The promises on prayer are all given in the context of a heart that is in line with God's heart. We need to align ourselves with God. Asking just so that we can fulfil our own pleasures is not supported.

James 3:13-18 - True Wisdom

Closely linked to controlling our tongue is recognising true wisdom. Most of us are far too quick to think that we are wiser than we actually are, and this in turn can lead us to saying more than we really should. Or at least spouting a lot of nonsense. (I realise this is a risky thing to say when writing a blog!). 

True wisdom demonstrates itself not in the cleverness of the words we utter, but in the quality of the life we live, and a good life is one that lived in humility. Proverbs says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We need to recognise our position in relation to God, or else we have a completely wrong starting point. 

Bitter envy and selfish ambition often show themselves in people spouting forth their "wisdom". A person who is bitter think they know exactly what is right and what is wrong, but in reality it warps our thinking. Indeed we need to be doubly careful, for the thoughts that result from envy, bitterness or selfish ambition are demonic. This should make us aware of how demonic activity most frequently manifest itself. It does not usually manifest itself with people frothing at the mouth. Though these things can happen, they are rare. Most demonic activity is much more mundane. Moreover, most demonic activity does not need exorcism to deal with it, rather it needs repentance and humility. Now I am not saying that we never come up against overt demonic activity, we do, but we need a Biblical approach to the matter. Demonic activity is far more prevalent than we imagine, and is far more mundane than we imagine.

Envy and selfish-ambition show themselves in disorder and evil behaviour. Godly wisdom could not be more different. It loves peace not strife, considers others instead of riding rough-shod over them, submits to God and to others instead of exalting itself, it is merciful instead of judgmental. It produces peace and righteousness.

James 3:1-12 - Hold your tongue

There can be a temptation for people to want to become teachers for the wrong reasons. Now in Hebrews 5:12 its says "we ought to be teachers". So how do we square these two verses? Well all of us should become mature in faith, and as such should be able to help others in understanding the faith, and in living the faith. Teachers as it is used here by James probably refers to more formal positions of teaching. If we teach, we teach in the name of Christ and as servants of Christ. We will be judged more strictly than others, for what we do and say affects more people.

Now all of us do stumble, no one is perfect. Most of all no one is always perfect in speech. All of us sometimes say things we should not say. In fact James says if you have perfect control over our tongue, then we have perfect control over all of our lives. 

Now we are not to take the fact that we do all sin as an excuse for not worrying about what we say. We need to seek to control our tongues more and more, for our tongue has a great effect. Words are powerful. They can destroy or build relationships, they can even start wars.

The same tongue that praises God can curse and do down other people. This is not the way things should be. So we need to guard our tongues, and seek to use it only for good. 

James 2:14-26 : Time for Action

Now James addresses faith and deeds. It cannot be stressed to strongly that there is absolutely no conflict between what James's says and Paul's teaching on salvation by faith. It is clear from Paul's letters that any concept of a faith that made no difference is completely alien to him. James is saying the same.

Faith makes a difference. So if there is no difference in someone's life, then there is no evidence of any useful faith either. Atheists are keen on caricaturing faith as something that is independent of evidence. This is garbage, and the Bible is the most realistic book there is. 

Faith shows itself in deeds. Words that have nothing to back them up are worthless. Faith without works is dead. Biblical belief shows itself in actions, it is not a mere intellectual assent, nor saying a formula, nor an emotional response. All these things may be involved, but if the faith is genuine it will produce fruit.

The demons know that there is one God, but it does them no good. Abraham is the father of faith, the archetypal example of how faith works. His faith showed itself in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. 

Then James quotes the example of Rahab. Her actions overcame her unrighteous life style (that of a prostitute). Faith and deeds go together.

James 2:1-13 - No Favouritism

Favouritism is forbidden. The reason is that Jesus does not show favouritism. James then uses the very practical example of a finely dressed man and a poor man dressed in rags.It is wrong to treat one as more important than the other. If we do this we have become judges with evil thoughts. We have made the judgement that the rich man is a better person than the poor man. This test surely poses serious questions to most of us, and calls on us to examine our own attitudes.

In the Old Testament God shows concern for the poor.Moreover, Jesus said blessed are the poor for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Now in Matthew this refers to the poor in spirit, in Luke it is just the poor. We must not dishonour the poor. 

Moreover, to show preference to the rich is illogical. It is the rich who were exploiting the church. Apparently they were being dragged through the courts in James' time. The fact of the matter is that the poor are more likely to come to Christ than the rich, for they are less likely to be blinded by the deceptions of wealth.

We need to remember that we will be called to give an account to God, not to some human judge. So we need to act and live in the light of this.

James 1:26,27 - True Religion

James has more to say about the tongue later in the letter. Here he says that control of the tongue is a sure sign of true religion. If we cannot control our tongue then we are deceiving ourselves. He then contrasts this "false" religion with "true" religion. True religion shows itself by taking care of widows and orphans.

It is noteworthy that James uses the phrase "Religion that God our Father accepts.." There many people who talk a good game, but actually do very little. Talk may impress others, may even impress ourselves, and in our society there is great emphasis on appearances. God is impressed by actions. 

Along with looking after the poor is keeping ourselves from being polluted by the world. It is very easy to infected or affected by the culture around us. We need to be on our guard against this.

James 1:22-25 - Do the Word

Part of the tragedy of the nation of Israel was that they had all the benefits of the promise of God, the Covenant, the word of God (Romans 9:4,5), but they did nothing with it. They did not believe, they did not obey. James implores them not to deceive themselves again. It is so easy to deceive ourselves. We can think because we have had an experience of the presence of God we are saved. Well the Israelites who came out of Egypt had experiences of God greater than we have, and they all died in the desert. We can think because we hear a great sermon we are blessed. Well people heard Jesus, and most of them did nothing about it. We need to believe and act on the word.
The definitive sign that we truly do believe is the actions that we take. The word shows us what we are like, what God is like, what He has done. But we then need to respond to the word. Jesus called people to follow Him, and He still does that today. We need to repent, to change our ways, and to live life His way. Then we will be truly blessed. The blessing is in the doing, not the hearing.

James 1:19-21 - Beware of your anger

"Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry". This is the antithesis of the caricature of the typical Jew. If we are honest, it is the antithesis of the typical human being! We are quick to speak, quick to become angry. Indeed, it is what our society encourages us to become. These are actions that exalt the self.  Instead we are to exalt God above all, and to give proper respect to others. 

Our anger does not produce God's righteousness. Sometimes we talk about righteous anger, but we need to recognise that most of the time our anger is anything but righteous, it is about exalting self. We need to be on our guard against our anger. It will usually achieve nothing good.

"Therefore get rid of ..." Why does he say this? Because moral filth and anger typically will produce angry reactions in us. We will become angry in an attempt to cover up our sin, or to avoid facing up to it. 

Instead we should humbly accept the word planted in us. Our anger will not save us, but the word of God can and will save us. 

Listen to God's word, and do God's word.

James 1:13-18 - Completely reliable

Trials often bring temptation. We can be tempted to make bad decisions. We can be tempted to do wrong things because we feel depressed or in despair. These temptations do not come from God. The temptation exists because of evil desires that still reside in us. The trials can expose the presence of these desires. 

It is easy for us to think "I cannot be bothered resisting this" and just give in. This is a mistake. If full reign is given to evil desires then in the end it leads o death. We need to be resolved not to give in. Trials are a time to prepare for battle.

God only give good things. All good things come from Him, and He is not capricious. He does not change. He is not kind one minute and cruel the next. God's character is utterly reliable and consistent. So we can rely on Him completely.

His purposes for us are entirely good. He gave us new birth through the word of truth. So we can be absolutely confident that He works through everything for the good of those who love Him.

James 1:9-12 - Persevering

We will all be in different worldly circumstances, and at various times in our lives may experience different things. Here James talks about being lowly and rich. If we are poor, then we should rejoice in our exalted position in Christ. Even if things are difficult in our life just now, we are still in Christ, and as such have the capacity to have an amazing positive impact on the world. 

If we are rich, then we need to recognise that all worldly wealth, whether material, or positional, is transitory. It will pass away. James then uses the analogy of wild flowers. They are beautiful, but this is only a passing beauty. We need to recognise the fickleness of earthly wealth.

Blessed are those who persevere under trial. If we are honest, our natural reaction is usually that we are blessed the sooner we get out of the trial! This is an illusion. If we stand up under the trial then we will receive a crown of life. This is not salvation by works, but if we stand up under trial we will be blessed, our character will develop, we will become more like Christ and will know God better. There is no greater reward. So how do we do this? Well somethings we can do under trial is to pray for others, still pray for people to get saved. Seek out things that we can do to help others.