Luke 19:28-44 - The king enters

Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem as king, but not as a king in anyway known to man. He would enter on a donkey and would enter in order to be killed.

Preparations for this time had been made long ago and everything was ready. Two of his disciples were sent ahead to get he colt.

Jesus entered Jerusalem to loud cries of acclamation because of all the miracles that He had done. This would include the raising of Lazarus and the healing of blind Bartimaeus. 

The Pharisees objected to the crowds shouting out, but Jesus declared that if the people kept quiet the stones themselves would shout out. The world was created out of God's glory and for God's glory. Man may try all he likes to stop God being praised but he will not succeed.

Then Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He knew what was about to happen. His sorrow is not for what He would go through, but for the people. The messiah had come, the One who would save them. If they had only turned to Him they would have had peace, but instead destruction would come. This is an allusion to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in AD66-70, as maybe v27 as well.  Note the implication that AD70 was a consequence of Israel's rejection of Christ.

Luke 19:11-27 - Ten Minas

This parable is found in Matthew 25:14-30 but Matthew does not mention the subjects hating the king (v14). The point seems to be to highlight the futility of their rebellion.The essence of the parable is twofold. First we are stewards of all that we have. Everything we have, be it talents or material wealth, we have only because God has given it to us. Just think about it, you had no say in whether or not you came into existence. We are dependent beings. And God will demand an accounting for what we do with our wealth. 

Secondly, we are to put our talents to good use, and what we do here will affect what happens in the future.

As we all know the one who got it in the neck was the servant who got one talent. He "played safe". Now there are several significant things about the parable. One is that Jesus, as He often does, surprises us. The ones who had a lot benefited most, the one who had least gets judged most harshly. We have a terrible habit of swinging from one extreme to the other. On the one hand there is the "prosperity gospel" merchants, and on the other the "God loves the poor" people. You know what we should do? Read the whole Bible and take it all on board! Prosperity is Biblical and following God will make a difference to your financial life (including being more generous towards others). God does love the poor and have a special concern for the oppressed, if we are Christlike then so will we. Money can be a dangerous snare. Wealth is not guaranteed and most certainly must not become the primary goal of your life. There are many things way more important than money. If we have food to eat and clothes to wear we should be content. And of course the Bible says much more, the point is read all of it, get the whole picture.

There is an important point here for the poor, and this applies to spiritual poverty as well as financial poverty.We have a responsibility to make the most of what we have, even if it is little. Charity (and socialism) has a habit of engendering a dependency culture and this is demeaning of humanity. We need to make the most of what we have.

Sermon - Following Christ, learning from Abraham - Part 1

You can find a sermon of mine on learning from Abraham, Follow Me - Part 1.
Part 2 comes next week.
There are three key points:

1. The centrality of knowing Christ
2. Living with our mistakes
3. Equipped for anything

Luke 19:1-10 - Zacchaeus

Now back for the final stint in Luke. 

Chapter 19 begins with Jesus meeting Zacchaeus the tax collector in Jericho. He was also wealthy, though a fair chunk of his wealth had probably come via illegal means. Tax collectors were hated because they worked for the occupying power and because they often took additional money from the people. Even so Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Now why is this? Clearly he must have recognised something about the ultimate worthlessness of his life. Money may bring short lived pleasure, but if it is ill-gotten money then this pleasure will not last. At best it will leave you hollow, and quite possible with a gnawing guilt. 

Zacchaeus was a little man, so he had to climb a tree to see Jesus.

Not only was Zacchaeus looking for Jesus, but Jesus was looking for him. Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus' house, and Zacchaeus welcomed him gladly. Probably it was a rare occasion for anyone to want to see Zacchaeus. Indeed the crowds were put out by this. Zacchaeus at once repented, nor was this just words but was followed up by action. 

Jesus declared that Zacchaeus was a true son of Abraham and that salvation had come to his house today. So we see two key elements of the gospel at work. Jesus seeks out those who are considered worthless by society, but those who are sought also have a responsibility, they need to repent and believe. We should also note the reaction of the people. Jesus does amazing things, changing lives. Sometimes we will be offended at the people who Jesus loves.

1 Chronicles 29 - End of phase one

1 Chronicles ends with the final hand over from David. Again the stress is on continuity. David is laying the spiritual foundations for the temple.

David has made ample provision for the building of the temple. We could perhaps see  a parallel here with Jesus having made ample provision for the real temple. For we are all temples of the Holy Spirit. God's plan was always that man would be His temple.

David also gave of his own wealth to the temple. This encouraged all the leaders to make offerings for the temple. There was great rejoicing for the free and wholehearted giving. Giving should be a joyous part of our worship, not a reluctant duty.

David breaks out in a psalm of praise to the Lord, then he recognises the place that we have. There is nothing in our own merit to commend us to God. All that we give to the Lord comes from Him anyway. 

Then David  notes how all this is fulfilment of God's promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

Solomon was then acknowledged as king and David dies.

1 Chronicles 28 - Continuity

The account of the transition from David to Solomon given in Chronicles has a very different flavour to that found in Kings. In Kings we read of David's old age and the palace intrigues and plots. Here we see God's plan working very smoothly. What are we to make of all this? Is it a contradiction? Is the writer of Chronicles telling a pack of lies? No. Rather it gives an understanding of how God's plans work out in life. At one level there can be be much confusion and conflict, we all encounter this is our own daily lives. Yet through the confusion and mayhem the plan of the Lord is being fulfilled and it is His will that will prevail. So despite all the intrigues of men, there was a plan for the temple, and the plan was fulfilled. So, in the current situation in Jerusalem which was messy to say the least, the people could be confident that the Lord's will would prevail and His plans be fulfilled.

So it is with church life. At times it is very messy, but we should not lose heart. Rather we should continue to seek to obey the Lord, confident that in the end He will smooth everything out.

So here we read of David making a clear declaration to the nation of how God had worked in the past and what the next steps were, namely Solomon building the temple.

David gives a charge to Solomon to obey the Lord, and gives detailed instructions. The writer is stressing the continuity of God's plan, as well as the importance of obedience.

1 Chronicles 23-27 - Lists

David made Solomon king, though from the machinations that are recorded in 1 Kings it seems that this was not made public. He also assigned priestly work for the temple. We then get a long list of names. The point that the writer is stressing is the continuation of the Levitical priesthood for ministering in the temple.

Chpater 24 gives us even more lists of priests.

In chapter 25 we come to the musicians. That this was also linked with the ministry of prophesying. There are two factors here that are relevant today. One is that music and prophecy are found together in the Bible. Elisha sometimes had a musician when he prophesied. There is also the fact that prophesy is a lot wider than what we traditionally think of as prophesy (eg the Isaiah's and Jeremiah's). In the current debates about cessationism the cessationists seem determined that all prophecy must be "high level prophecy", ie Canonical level. The Biblical evidence does not seem to support this view.

In Psalms we see a number of them attributed to the Asaph (eg Psalms 73-83).

Chapter 26 continues the lists with gatekeepers, treasurers and other officials.

Chapter 27 goes on to army divisions, tribal leaders and overseers.

It will be apparent that I do not find these chapters that inspiring, but that is my shortcoming. However, one thing that we can learn is that God is aware of all that we do in the kingdom, whether the role is prominent or not. Jesus said that anyone who gives so much as a cup of water will be rewarded.

1 Chronicles 22 - Operation Preparation

Although David himself would not build the temple he did make preparations. Foreigners were free in Israel but had very limited political rights, so could be easily exploited. The Law had various rules on not oppressing foreigners. Verse 5 tells us that David made preparations because he realised the importance and size of the task ahead, especially for Solomon who would be a new and therefore inexperienced leader.

David called Solomon and gave him the charge to build the temple. Note that Solomon's assuming the throne was not straightforward. So even if we have been given a task by God we may still encounter difficulties and opposition along the way. 

The reason why David was not allowed to build the temple was because he had fought so many wars and had blood on his hands. This implies that David was in some way defiled by the bloodshed. In contrast, Solomon would have a time of peace.

David urges Solomon to keep the Law and to be encouraged. The temple was to be a home for the ark of the covenant.

1 Chronicles 20-22:1 - David's sin and the ground for the temple

The start of chapter 20 deals with the time when David committed his infamous sin. Following this sin there are various victories.

Having ignored David's sin with Bathsheeba the writer does not ignore David's other major sin, namely taking a census of Israel. The account here includes some material that is not found in 2 Samuel. 

The text says that Satan incited David to take a census. David had all that he needed, for he had the Lord, and all his victories were given by the Lord. So he had no need to take the census and doing so betrayed a lack of trust. Joab seemed to recognise this. Note that although Satan incited David, David is still responsible. We may be tempted, but we have no need to give in to temptation, and if we do we can blame no one else but ourselves.

So David persisted with the census. After it was completed David seemed to realise that he had sinned. Quite possibly he realised it was wrong all along, but our depravity makes us carry on doing something even when we know it is wrong, then after the deed is done we "repent". Why do we behave like this? Two reasons. One the depravity of our soul, and secondly the deceitfulness of sin. Sin always fails to deliver what it promises.

Gad the seer gives David the three choices and David entrusts himself to the Lord. David accepted full responsibility for what he had done.

The latter part of chapter 21 (and 22:1) is concerned with David buying the ground that would become the site of the temple. Note that the temple is built on ground associated with repentance. 

1 Chronicles 19 - Unreasonable opposition

This chapter follows 2 Samuel 10-12 fairly closely, but omits David's sin with Bathsheeba. 

David sought friendly relationships with Hanun, the Ammorite king, but his overtures were rejected. The Israelites who had returned had not sought to cause trouble to anyone yet were encountering much opposition. Similarly, there are times when we as individuals and as churches seek to be helpful to others or to society but just get accused of all sorts of scurrilous motives. This is normal!

The Ammonites realised that they were now considered the enemy by David and bought help from Aram to attack Israel. David's army, under Joab, went out to meet the enemy and adopted reasonable military tactics. Joab won the battle. When the Lord is with us sometimes there will be miraculous intervention, at other times normal or natural means will be used to give us victory.

The Ammonites sought to counter attack. This time David was involved in the battle and won the victory. The Arameans learnt their lesson and would not help the Ammonites again.

The key lesson to be learnt from all this is that opposition and unreasonable behaviour is a normal part of life. When we encounter it we need to engage in battle instead of becoming discouraged, and God will give us the victory. Although not a point from this chapter, we also need to ensure that we ourselves continue to act in an upright and reasonable manner.

1 Chronicles 18 - Winning victories today

David achieved many victories. In view of the writers intentions there are two key points. The first is that it happened "in the course of time", and secondly these victories occurred before the temple was built. God's victories in our lives do not occur instantly, they take place over time. When He took them into the Promised Land God gave them victory "little by little" (Deut 7:22). Often we don't like where we are, we know where would like to be, and may even have some idea of where God wants to take us. We would like to be there instantly. We need to learn to live in the inbetween times, for all our life in this age is an inbetween time.

Then the victories happened before the temple was built. The Israelites who had returned from exile needed to realise that the lack of the completion of the temple did not mean that God could not work through them. Likewise, there may be major things lacking in our life, major things that still need to be accomplished or put right. That may be so, but we can still win significant victories today. God is used to working with the imperfect (eg you and me!).

Moreover, these victories lay the foundation for the future. Some of the stuff that David captured was used in the temple that Solomon built (v8).

The most important things was that "David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people" (v14). So it is with us. Today, no matter how imperfect the situation seems, let us do what is right today. In doing this we will win victories and lay down a foundation for the future.

1 Chronicles 17 - Our ideas, God's ideas

David had always wanted to build a temple for the Lord. This was motivated by good reasons. David himself had a palace yet God was "living in a tent". David told Nathan the prophet of his desire, and Nathan encouraged him to go with it. However, God later told Nathan that David was not the one to build a temple.

As an aside note that Nathan was in no way infallible. He was certainly a man of God and was not afraid to confront David when necessary. Yet here he was mistaken. At the time of writing this (29 Nov 2013) there has recently been a degree of controversy over the Strange Fire conference and much debate about the role of spiritual gifts today. It has been very interesting to listen to debates between sensible charismatics and reasonable cessationists. Eg beteen Michael Brown and Sam Waldron  and between Adrian Warnock and Doug Wilson. While I agree with many of the concerns of the Cessationists (eg health and wealth merchants) I cannot find any Biblical support for their arguments. One of their planks seems to be that prophets always spoke the infallible word of God. The incident here is just one demonstration that faithful prophets could get it wrong.

God's word to David is that He could manage quite well without a temple, and He never commanded the leaders to build a temple. Building a temple may have seemed important to David, it was not of immediate concern to God. 

In fact God seems more concerned with making David's name great! Moreover, God would build a house for David. Now just think about this and realise how amazing it is. it is very easy for us to start deciding such and such a way is the way that God is going to be honoured, even if God has no interest in being honoured that way! A temple would indeed be built, but it would be built by Solomon.

This revelation results in David humbling himself before God and praising Him all the more. We need to be so careful that we do not try and foist our own ideas on God, and that we joyfully accept His ideas for ourselves. That is the path that leads to true worship and joyful service.

1 Chronicles 16 - The importance of worship

The ark was placed inside a tent. In many ways these seems a most inauspicious place for the ark of the covenant, which represented the presence of God, to be placed. 

David then appoints various Levites to specific roles in worship. Praising God is an essential and vital part of our lives. We were created to worship God, and whatever the circumstances we find ourselves in, no matter how well or badly we are coping with them, no matter whether we haven't a clue what to do next, it is always worth worshipping God, it is always the right thing to do.

Sometimes in churches the preaching of the word and worship can seem to be out of balance. Sometimes there is such an emphasis on the word that the worship is seen as just a prelude to the really important part. Conversely, at other times the worship can be seen to be the be all and end all. Both are absolutely essential.

David's psalm of praise given here was a guide to how to worship God. We praise the Lord and proclaim His name, ie proclaim who He is. Moreover, this includes making known His deeds among the nations. There is a link between worship and evangelism. Worship of God is not a private matter.

Notice the emphasis on what God has done. Sometimes we say that we should worship God for who He is not for what He can do for us. Well this is OK as far as it goes, but it is actually unbiblical, for God demonstrates who He is by what He does.

God's covenant and associated judgements are another element of worship. We need to understand what God has done. So worship and word go together and enhance each other.

David praises God for His acts of salvation. How much more are we able to do this now after Jesus' death and resurrection!

Then there is God's protection and care for His people, and the fact that He is the only true God.

Worship us what we were created to do.

1 Chronicles 15 - The Ark returned

The ark was placed in a tent. Perhaps this is a reminder to the people who were seeking to restore Jerusalem that this was not the first time that God had not had a "proper" temple. Having learnt his lesson from the falling ark incident, David followed the Law and ensured that only the Levites were to take charge of the Ark.

The Levites were assembled for the  dedication of the ark. Verse 13 emphasises the reason for the failure of the initial attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem. This is a reminder that it is God who decides how things should be done, not us. Atheists in particular are very fond of deciding how God should behave. However, all of us are prone to this. David was a godly man, but then he followed his own ideas which were contrary to God's. We too can easily do the same. As it says in Proverbs, there is a way that seems right to man, but it leads only to death (Prov 14:12, 16:25).

Music was given great prominence in the worship that was associated with the ark. It always seems strange to me that some parts of the church seem to be so against music, and others seem to think that all church music must be ancient. Now it is true that some modern "worship" songs are pathetic, but there are also many excellent ones. Moreover, not every worship song or hymn needs to have a long life, some may just be for a season. As in all things, we need to use discernment.

It is interesting that Michal is referred to as Saul's daughter, but not David's wife.

1 Chronicles 14 - Defeating the Philistines

David's kingdom was established and he received help from the king of Tyre. We are also told that David took several wives and the children he had by them are mentioned. This included Solomon.

The Philistines went to try and defeat David, emphasising again that opposition is normal. David's response to the opposition was to go and meet the opposition. He also asked the Lord for guidance. So David had an attitude of boldness and a humble trust in the Lord. We have a tendency to either go out in our own strength without inquiring of the Lord, or to do nothing and just ask the Lord.

So David defeated the Philistines and he also destroyed their idols.

The Philistines attacked again. The enemy will not often be satisfied with just one attack. In Jesus' life there was constant opposition. David inquired of the Lord again. The Lord gave him the military tactics to use in the battle. Note also that the Lord was active in the battle as well (v15). The Biblical pattern is that God works with and through us. We have a part to play, but God is doing other things as well. It is about us, but it is not just about us.

Once again the Philistines were defeated.

1 Chronicles 13 - Setbacks are normal

Now we read of David bringing back the ark to Jerusalem.

David sends a proclamation throughout the land to come and join the nation in bringing the ark back. So there is again an emphasis on the whole nation working together. Verse 3 is also very important. Saul inquired of mediums and idols instead of inquiring of the Lord, and this is the key reason for all the defeats.

The incident of the ark falling and Uzzah's death are reported. So David was deeply discouraged. The writer is making the point that discouragement and setbacks are normal. David was seen as the great king, yet even he got things wrong and suffered setbacks. So the people should not be too downhearted that they were suffering their own setbacks. 

Note also the point that though the ark was sort of sidelined, it brought blessing to those who were looking after it.

1 Chronicles 11,12 - Uniting behind the task

The people recognise David as king and acknowledge that during the reign of Saul it was David who was responsible for their victories, and that God had anointed him as king to shepherd His people. There is an obvious parallel with Jesus here. Even under the Law it was Jesus who was responsible for all the "good things". Victories that were achieved, salvation that was granted, were all given by the grace of God. And, of course, God has appointed Jesus as shepherd over us. He is our ruler and the One who cares for us. Note that in all this the writer of Chronicles is assuming that the readers know about all the stuff in 1 and 2 Samuel and Kings. He is in a sense interpreting the history.

David then captured Jerusalem, this was despite the Jebusites declaring that David would never get in. Moreover, there was a reward for the one who led the attack. The message here is that although the task of rebuilding Jerusalem seemed daunting and there were many voices telling them they would never succeed (see Ezra and Nehemiah) they did succeed. Moreover, there is an encouragement to commit themselves wholeheartedly to the work.

The list of mighty warriors expands on the list in 2 Samuel 23:8-39. There appears to be a copyists error in verse 11 where it says 300, whereas it says 800 in 2 Sam 23:8. The list in 2 Samuel ends with Uriah, Chronicles expands the list.

Chapter 12 continues with lists of people who joined David. The writer is stressing commitment to David and the unity of the nation in the great task. He is trying to engender the same commitment in the people of his day.

1 Chronicles 10 - Not the end

The narrative account begins with the death of Saul, this is very similar to the account at the end of 1 Samuel (1 Sam 31:1-13). 

Verse 13 here is the most important, stating clearly why Saul had died. He had been unfaithful to the Lord, did not keep the word of the Lord, and consulted mediums instead of inquiring of the Lord Himself. So the Lord killed him and gave the kingdom to David.

There is a parallel here with the history of the nation as a whole. The whole nation had repeatedly been guilty of the same sins as Saul. This was why first the Northern kingdom of Israel, then Judah had fallen to other nations, and Israel had in a sense died in being sent to exile in Babylon. 

So the first message is that they needed to realise the source of the problem, their sin. This is something all of us need to realise. The second part of the message is that God had not actually given up on Israel. He handed the kingdom over to a faithful king, David. In fact we know from 1 Samuel that God had anointed David long before Saul's reign was finally finished. 

The immediate relevance is that God had not given up on Israel, and that they needed to be faithful to God. The ultimate message is that Jesus is the One to whom God has given the kingdom. He is the Messiah.

When the Philistines found Saul dead they hung up his head in the temple of Dagon, making a big show of boasting of their victory and humiliating Israel. Israel was a whole now felt humiliated and shamed because of her exile. There may be times when we feel the same, and sometimes it might be utterly deserved, but it is not the end. Our future depends on whether or not we turn to the Lord and trust in Him.

1 Chronicles 1:5-9:44 - Genealogies

Chapter 1 covers the time up to Jacob, with many of the offshoot tribes such as Esau (Edom) being listed as well. The pattern is apparently very similar to that used by the Assyrians in their list of genealogies. Much of the material is taken from Genesis. Note that at several points the list diverge between the chosen line and those that are not. Abraham had Ishmael and Isaac, Isaac had Esau and Israel (Jacob).

Chapters 2 and the start of 3 take us to David and his sons. After Solomon we get a whole list of the kings of Judah. The list then continues after the exile.

In Chapter 4 we get the prayer of Jabez which received much attention a few years ago. It was common to put brief historical notes in genealogies. Maybe to liven things up a little and break the monotony of it all! Jabez, whose name means "pain" cried out to God to be free from pain and for God to enlarge his territory. Interestingly Isaiah tells the widow to enlarge the place of her tent. 

We get genealogies of all the tribes of Israel.

Chapter nine includes lists of various people and officers in the nation Finally we come to an end of this lot at the end of chapter 9.

Apologies for giving so little spiritual insight into this, that is because I have none on this matter!

1 Chronicles 1:1-4 - Genealogies

Chronicles starts with several genealogies. Now I have to admit I do not find these very exciting, so we will move through these opening chapters fairly quickly. Before we do that, just a word on the "boring" bits of the Bible. I guess we all have sections of Scripture that we just don't understand, that don't appeal to us, that we find boring. How should we deal with this? Well the first thing is to admit the reality of the situation. Then we need to recognise that the problem lies with us, not with God's word. All scripture is there for a reason, it is my lack of spiritual insight that is the reason why I don't appreciate parts of it. Finally we should ensure that we do read all of the Bible, ie we don't just ignore the bits we don't like or understand. If we do this, then at some point the Holy Spirit may give us the insight that we currently lack. I remember when doing this blog and the next book I was due to do was Leviticus. Now up to that point Leviticus was not one of my favourite books and I was not looking forward to going through it. However, that time I found I had a new appreciation of its meaning and its significance in the way that it pointed forward to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. So let us make sure we read all the Bible, one day we will be rewarded for it!

The writer is emphasising the continuity of God's plan, and God's plan is enacted through people. The destruction of the temple and the exile of many to Babylon had been traumatic and a great disruption. The writer is wanting to emphasise the continuity of God's plan. So we start right back with Adam. We should also note that genealogies in the Bible (and in general in antiquity) were usually given for a purpose other than a purely chronological record. That is why there are sometimes gaps, and why two genealogies referring to the same person may have differences. The genealogies in Matthew and Luke are an example of this.

So here we start right back with Adam and verses 1-4 cover the period up to the flood. Note that Cain and Abel are omitted. This is because it is the chosen line that the writer is concerned with, ie the line through which God was working.

1 Chronicles - Introduction

Like Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles form a single book in the Hebrew bible.

The books were written sometime after the exiles returned to Israel from Babylon. There is a tradition that the author was Ezra, though we cannot be certain about this as the book does not state who the author was.

It was written around the middle of the fifth century BC. The Israelites had returned and there was much rebuilding to be done, both of the temple and the city itself. The author of Chronicles was concerned that Israel would learn from the mistakes of the past. 

Chronicles covers much of the same ground as 1 and 2 Kings, but from a slightly different perspective. Material is taken from Samuel and Kings, and other books of the Old Testament, including  Judges, Ruth, Psalms and some of the prophets. In addition there is reference to non-Biblical sources such as the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, or Judah and Israel.

One concern was the lack of a king, as Israel now existed under Persian influence. Part of the purpose of Chronicles is to show that the Law, the Prophets and the Temple were far more important, especially obedience to these.

David and Solomon's lives are dealt with from a very idealistic point of view, with no reference to the "bad" episodes in their lives, eg David's adultery and murder. In doing this the writer of Chronicles is painting a picture of what the Messiah would be like. He is looking forward. So he is not writing a book to assess the overall value of David or Solomon as a king, but rather to see what they show us about the coming Messiah.

Proverbs 20 - The depths of the human heart

There are some themes that are repeated several times in proverbs. Verses 3 and 4 contains two of them: (i) the value of avoiding quarrels; and (ii) the folly of laziness (also v13).

Proverbs also recognises the depths of the human heart, verse 5 being one example of this as does 27. Proverbs also recognises the relationship between the human soul and mind and the mind of God. 

People often claim to care (v6) or declare that they have undying devotion to someone or something, but the reality is often very different. True love and commitment is a rare thing and is to be greatly valued when it is found.

Honesty (v10) is another repeated theme.

Proverbs demonstrates an astuteness about business and the human heart. Christians are not meant to be naive. 

Proverbs 19 - Wisdom

There are many fine nuggets in this chapter.

Verse 3 is so true. When things go wrong we always look for someone else to blame, and if we cannot find anyone then God will do. Atheists rage against the Lord (who doesn't exist according to them, so why bother raging against Him?), but our own folly is responsible for most of our troubles.

Worldly relationships are so shallow. A wealthy person will have many "friends" (v4) as will a ruler or someone who gives gifts (v6). Conversely a poor person will find he has few friends (v4,7). God's relationship with us is infinitely deeper, and He wants us to have a similar commitment to each other.

Wisdom and understanding bring life and prosperity (v8). Wisdom yields patience and a wise person is not always looking to get even or get his own back (v11).

Jesus said that what we do for least we do for Him. This is an echo of verse 17. It is a Biblical principle that surest financial foundation we can lay is to be generous towards others.

While wisdom will bring prosperity, the chapter is also clear that it is better to be righteous and poor than rich and wicked (1, 22).

Hard work bears fruit, but laziness will lead to ruin.

Proverbs 18 - Listen

v1 reads quite differently in the NIV and ESV, though the meaning is not that far apart. We were made to live in fellowship with God and with each other. Sin separates us from God and causes us to isolate ourselves from each other. 

Speech is a clear sign of fools and wickedness. It is characterised by causing quarrels, lies, gossip, and lots of it!

The rich think that money protects them, but the righteous trust in God, and is a far surer source of security.

The condition of our heart is crucial. A proud heart leads to our downfall, but humility brings honour. This goes right against what society teaches us, but think about it. A godless man thinks that he is the one who determines his destiny, so he seeks to exalt himself. A godly man knows that everything is in God's hands, so he humbles himself before the Lord.

Casting the lot settles disputes. Why is this? It is because the decision is given to something else other than the two sides of the dispute. Men are constantly seeking to become their own judges, but then we end up judging against each other and disputes arise. We need a higher authority. Our society is quickly abandoning all higher authorities, but this will lead only to ruin.

Proverbs 17 - How to appear wise

Back to Proverbs for a while. Interestingly enough the chapter starts off with two proverbs that kind of follow on from what we have just read Jesus say about who and who will not enter the kingdom of God. Peace and quiet are worth more than material wealth if there is strife, and it is better to be a faithful servant than a disgraceful son. Likewise mocking the poor may seem a safe thing to do, but in fact it is extremely dangerous. For all were made by God and so we show contempt for their maker. This is consistent with Jesus' words that whatever we do for the least of people we do for Him.

There are several other themes in this chapter.One is our attitude to strife and quarrels. Some people love to stir up trouble and take pride in doing so, this is a foolish attitude. Love will seek to overlook an offense. A wise person is one who learns from a rebuke. Starting a quarrel is a dangerous thing, one has no idea where it might end. In fact to love a quarrel is to love sin.

Our words are another common theme. A perverse tongue leads us into trouble. A sign of wisdom is to use words with care.

Finally verse 28 is on of my favourites, even a fool appears wise when he remains silent.

Luke 18:31-43 - The Man who came to die

Always remember that the section headings (and indeed the chapter and verse numbers) were not part of the original text. Jesus is about to tell His disciples that He will be handed over to die. This comes immediately after verses 29 and 30 where Jesus has told them that those who have left homes and families will be amply rewarded. We need to hold these two sides together. Similarly on the matter of prosperity we need to beware of becoming unbalanced. There are some who focus unduly on the prosperity verses in the Bible, ignoring the rest. This can lead to serious error. But we need to beware of ignoring what the Bible says about prosperity. The Bible talks about prosperity, it talks about the realities of life where things go wrong (and we go wrong!), and, perhaps most importantly, it talks about us sharing in Christ's sufferings. We need to hold all of this in balance. The best way to do this is to read the whole of the Bible!

Jesus knew where He was going. He knew that the plan was for Him to go to Jerusalem and be handed over, for the prophets had clearly foretold this. Jesus would be flogged, killed and then would rise again. At no point was Jesus surprised by what unfolded. However, this was not true of the disciples who at this stage did not understand a word of what Jesus was saying.

Although Jesus was on the way to the most momentous event in history He still had time to heal people. On the way to Jericho He healed a beggar of his blindness.

Luke 18:18-30 - Riches and the Kingdom

We have seen how it is not the self-righteous or those who are clever or important in their own eyes who will enter the kingdom of God. Now we see that it is not the rich or powerful either who will enter. 

A young ruler comes to Jesus asking how he can inherit eternal life. The ruler referred to Jesus as "good", Jesus questions his use of this adjective, maybe trying to make the ruler think about who Jesus really is. Then He reminds the man that he knows the commandments. The ruler claims to have obeyed these all his life. In saying this he was probably being truthful, at least an outward level. He probably had lived a respectable life.

Jesus then tells him to sell all he has and follow Jesus. Now this is not a law Jesus is giving, but He was going to the heart of the man. The man was living for himself, and in his case money was the sign of that. So the man became very sad.

Jesus declares how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom. When we receive blessings in this life we have a terrible tendency to start to worship the blessings instead of the One who gives the blessings. We put value on the blessings instead of on the One who blesses. 

The disciples are shocked at what Jesus has said. They reckon by now that it is impossible to get into the kingdom. Jesus' answer is that it is only God who can bring a person into the kingdom. 

The disciples had left homes and families to follow Jesus, the question naturally arose of what the consequences would be. Jesus assured them that they would not lose out, but would receive blessings in this life and the next. Now this is not a "prosperity" gospel, but blessings are not wrong. The key things is are we devoted above all to Christ and do we love others. And where is our trust?

Luke 18:9-17 - How to enter the kingdom of God (1)

Jesus now tells another parable designed to shatter our preconceptions of who "will go to heaven". Luke was writing for a mainly Greek audience, so makes the purpose clear, pointing out that there were those who were confident of their own righteousness. More than that, they looked down on everyone else.

So Jesus tells a parable of two men standing in the temple praying. One is a self-righteous Pharisee, praying proudly before God. He boasts of the good things he does, and looks down on various "sinners", in particular the tax-collector who is also in the temple.

In contrast the tax collector knew that he was a sinner and approached God as a sinner, pleading for mercy. Jesus declares that it is the tax collector who went home right with God. We need to humble ourselves before the Lord.

This theme continues with the little children. People were bringing their children to Jesus and the disciples rebuked the parents for doing this. So we see that it is also the followers of Jesus that need to watch their attitude and can have many misconceptions. Ie you and I need to watch our attitudes. Jesus declares that we need to receive the kingdom as a little child. 

So the two parables tell us that we need to come in humility, aware of our own sin, and we need to guard against being full of our own cleverness.

Luke 18:1-8 - Keep on asking

Luke tells us plainly what the purpose of this parable is. We are to keep on praying and not give up. Answers to prayer sometimes seem slow in coming, or it can seem that God is not listening at all. It is always worth asking God.

Jesus teaches this lesson by choosing someone whose character is the exact opposite of God's. The judge feared neither God nor people. A widow had a case and was persistent in confronting the judge with the matter. She wasn't looking for special treatment, only justice.

The judge was refusing to do anything, but eventually got fed up and decided that the only way to get some peace and quiet was to give her justice.

So if an unjust judge will eventually do the right thing if we persist, how much more will God grant justice? For God is just and is concerned for people. 

See how we are referred to: "His chosen ones". We are chosen by God, we are privileged and need to recognise our position. We also need to see that we need to keep on asking. Note also that it is not just asking, but "crying out" to Him day and night.

What Jesus is concerned about is whether or not He will find faith on earth. We are in a relationship with God, and the essence of any successful relationship is communication. The way to communicate with God is to show faith in Him.

Luke 17:20-37 - What really matters

The Pharisees wanted to know when the kingdom of God would come. Jesus declares that it was in their midst, because He was in their midst. The kingdom is the person of Jesus Christ. The issue is how do we respond to the person of Jesus. The Pharisees wanted to avoid that issue, and certainly did not want to commit themselves to Jesus. Similarly, there are many people who are fascinated by the "last days" and other things surrounding the second coming. Most of this is an excuse to avoid the real issue. The best way to be prepared for the return of Christ is to be committed to Him today.

Jesus then turns to His disciples. People want to focus on events and signs, Jesus puts the focus on the cross. Moreover, when He does return absolutely no spiritual insight nor theological training will be necessary to work out whether or not it is He! We must focus on following Christ today.

Indeed immediately prior to His return people will be carrying on much as normal. And when He does return the time for debate will be over.

Luke 17:11-19 - Healed or Blessed?

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, travelling between Samaria and Galilee. On the way He came across ten lepers. They would be outcasts in society, as well have the effects of the disease itself. They called on Jesus to take pity on them. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest. If a person was cleansed of leprosy they had to show themselves to a priest to have this verified (Lev 13:2,3). Now at this point they had not been healed. On the way they were cleansed. Jesus sometimes tells us to do things and it seems that not everything is in place, not everything has been taken care of that needs taking care of. Many things will be taken care of along the way. We cannot follow Jesus if we demand that everything is sorted out, everything made clear before we follow.

Only one of the lepers returned to Jesus to thank Him. This one was a Samaritan as well, a people looked down on with disdain by Jews. Jesus asked where the others were. Ten were healed but only one was blessed. The other no doubt gladly received their healing, but had no gratitude to God, did not learn anything about God. Only one was blessed. He came to Jesus. 

It is important that we do not just treat God as a prayer answer machine. We need to develop a relationship with Him. Eternal life is knowing the Father and knowing the Son (John 17:3).

New Year Message

A sometimes publish an extra New Year message at this time. This year may I point you to my New Year message in my other blog, Thoughtful Resources.

We can look forward to this year for one reason alone, our confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of the increase of His kingdom there will be no end.

Happy New Year to you all. 

Luke 17:1-10 - Sin, Faith and Duty

All sorts of things happen in life that can cause us to stumble. Naturally we should seek to avoid them, but inevitably we will not always succeed. The thing that we should be most concerned about is whether or not we cause others to stumble.  Jesus gives a very severe warning about this, urging us to take all steps possible to avoid doing this.

Jesus then turns to the matter of dealing with those who sin against us. His command has two sides to it, rebuking others and forgiving them. Most of us don't like doing either. We want to avoid confrontation and would far rather sweep something under the carpet, or hold a grudge against someone. It seems a lot easier to do that, but it is not the Jesus way. Now we must not go to the other extreme. This does not mean we should make a big issue out of every little offence. Proverbs 19:11 says it is to a man's glory to overlook an offence. many things should just be brushed off and forgotten about, but when something serious arises we need to follow the instructions here.

Moreover, we are to forgive repeatedly. Notice also that this is if they repent. If someone refuses to admit they are in the wrong when they clearly are (and it is not just us who think they are), then we must not hold a grudge against them, but we must also recognise that forgiveness is a two way process. One person has to repent, the other has to forgive.

The apostles saw that this requires great faith. Jesus gave a surprising answer. They only need a little faith. We need to focus on using the faith that we have, rather than moaning about our lack of faith. 

Finally Jesus tells his disciples not to be proud of their service of the Lord. We are to serve the Lord without continually looking for appreciation.