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Tuesday 28 February 2017

Luke 4:33-37 - Demon possessed

4:33,34
Demons are real, and sometimes they will have dramatic effects. We should of course be wary of seeing demons everywhere, but we would be equally stupid to neglect the reality of demons. There was a man in the synagogue who was possessed by a demon. Luke also calls it an “impure spirit”, some versions call it an unclean spirit. The uncleanness refers to the evilness of the spirit. It cannot be in the presence of God. Hence the reaction to the presence of Jesus. The demon had a much better idea of who Jesus was than almost anyone else!

4:35-37
Despite the demon’s “bravado”, Jesus had authority over the demon. He told it to be quiet and to come out of the man, and the demon did as it was told. Jesus had authority over demons, and later on Luke will tell us that we too have authority.
The people were amazed at all this. They knew the reality of demons, and they saw that Jesus had power over demons. So news about Jesus spread throughout the region.

There is a pointless debate in the wider church between those who focus on the “show” (mostly charismatic types) and those who focus on sound teaching (eg reformed types). As always we would do well to follow the example of the Bible itself, where there is an emphasis on both “show” (ie real demonstrations of the power of the Holy Spirit) and teaching, and this, of course, goes along with a godly lifestyle.

Monday 27 February 2017

A few thoughts on suffering - warning: you probably won't like it

In AD 66 a rebellion started in Jerusalem against Rome, it was finally put to and end in AD 70, involving terrible suffering for the Jewish people. In Luke 19:41-44 we read of Jesus weeping over the city, knowing what lay ahead for them.

When Jesus saw the city He wept over Jerusalem. In the very near future Jesus was going to endure acute physical, emotional and spiritual agony, but His weeping was over what is going to happen to Jerusalem. We see here some important aspects of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Jesus knew what was going to happen in AD66-70, when Rome would besiege and then destroy the city with terrible suffering. Yet the responsibility lies with Jerusalem. They had the chance to avoid it. This is the real tragedy. If only they had recognised Jesus for who He is, if only they had recognised their own sin and need of forgiveness all this could have been avoided. So an onslaught on Jerusalem would happen, and it would happen because they “did not recognise the time of God’s coming”.

This, of course, raises many questions in us, perhaps most of all “how could God will such a thing?” There is no easy answer, but the question itself actually points to our problem. We look to God and say “how could God”, or “why doesn’t God ...” What we need to do is to look at ourselves and ask “what should I do”, “what could I do”. You see God created us in His own image, He gave us responsibility, responsibility we were meant to exercise under His lordship. But we chose to rebel, and as with most rebels, we then start denying all responsibility, seeking to blame someone else. We do not realise what a wonderful creation God made, and what a wonderful part we would have had in it, as creatures made in His image. Some may argue about how can we be free if we are under His Lordship? Well, look at Jesus. He is the freest man whoever walked on planet earth, and He lived his life under perfect lordship to His Father. The suffering is the consequence of our rebellion. One might ask “could God not have created a world where we had free will but without such a cost being involved for rebellion?” Well I suspect not, but the truth is none of us is equipped to answer such a question, none of us being experienced in universe creation. But we can do something about the situation as it is. We can stop blaming God and we can look at ourselves, we can choose to admit our guilt, our need of Christ.

Israel’s rebellion against God was a tragedy, our rebellion against God is a tragedy, but it is a tragedy we can choose to end by repenting and believing.

Luke 4:31,32 - Amazing teaching

4:31,32
Jesus went on to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and He taught them on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the day they expected to be taught about God. All the gospels put a great emphasis on teaching, as did Jesus Himself. Teaching is a vital aspect of ministry. We need to learn.

“And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word possessed authority”. Now at one level it is not surprising that Jesus’ teaching possessed authority, for He was the Son of God, He should know what He is talking about! But this was in stark contrast to much of the teaching they normally received. Our teaching too should possess authority. None of us are Jesus and we will not reach the heights He did, but there should be at least something of His authority in our teaching. So where did this authority come from? Why were the people able to recognise it? There are a number of key elements. Perhaps the most important is His relationship with the Father. We need to develop our relationship with the Lord. Secondly, He lived a life of faith and obedience. We will not be perfect, but there should be some integrity about our lives, there should be some consistency between our teaching and our living. Thirdly, He knew and respected the Word of God. We are here to teach God’s word, not our own imaginations. Finally, He had a genuine concern for the people. We should seek to improve and develop in all of these areas, then our teaching will improve as well.

Sunday 26 February 2017

Luke 4:24-30 - A prophet not accepted

4:24-27
Jesus now comes to the nub of the matter. “No prophet is accepted in his hometown”. The words “isn’t this Joseph’s son” sound quite innocuous, but behind it was a deep rooted unbelief. Jesus points out that this reaction was quite common in the Bible. There was nothing unusual in the way the people reacted to Jesus, it was entirely in character. During the drought in Elijah’s time, Elijah was sent to the widow at Zarephath in Sidon. And the healing that Elisha carried out was for Naaman the Syrian. Such a problem in Israel, from the religious leaders down to the common people, was that they mistook their privileged position. Much of the Old Testament is about Israel’s sin and God’s judgement upon that sin, yet they could not see that there greatest need was to be forgiven for sin, and set free from sin. There are repeated examples in the Old Testament of God going to Gentile people, and of prophecies concerning the Gentiles. Jesus knew that the gospel would find greater reception among the Gentiles.

4:28-30

The people were not best pleased! They even tried to kill Him, but could not do so, Jesus simply walked right through them. We are used to reading about conflict between Jesus and he religious leaders, especially so in John’s gospel, but the “bad” reactions also came from the ordinary people as well. All of us are sinners and need the grace of God to change our hearts.

Saturday 25 February 2017

Luke 4:20-23 - Joseph's son

4:20,21
Having read these two verses Jesus declares that these verses were about to be fulfilled in their presence. “The eyes of everyone were fastened on Him”. Jesus had a magnetic attraction. Even those who hated Him were fascinated by Him. “He began by saying...” This is a reminder that Jesus said a lot more than is reported here. The succeeding events and teachings will expand on how Jesus fulfils this prophecy.

4:22
The people recognised that Jesus spoke with authority and wisdom, and He was respected as a person. “Isn’t this Joseph's son?”, they asked. The implication is that they thought there was no way a carpenter’s son should be speaking and acting with such wisdom, let alone claiming that He was the fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah. We need to appreciate how audacious this claim was.

4:23

Jesus predicts that in the future they will mock Him, telling Him to heal Himself. Healing here is used in a very general sense of rescuing oneself from a situation. They will also call upon Him to do the miracles in Nazareth that He did in Capernaum. All this is leading up to Jesus speaking about a prophet not being welcomed in his own town. The people would look a Jesus thinking the problem was with Him, when in fact the problem lay with them. Exactly the same situation applies today. People blame God, but it is not God who is to blame, it is we who are to blame.

Friday 24 February 2017

Luke 4:18,19 - The Spirit of the Lord

4:18,19
The quote comes from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, the one in common usage. Jesus is reading from Isaiah 61:1,2. We have seen at His baptism that the Spirit of the Lord is indeed on Jesus. “He has anointed ...” means that Jesus has been appointed by the Father, and given the necessary authority and gifting for the task assigned to Him. He is God’s chosen instrument. Jesus’ task is to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. In Jesus ministry we see Him doing all these things. Blind men were given their sight, oppressed people were set free from demonic possession and oppression. He announced good news to the poor.

There have been parts of the world, particularly South and Central America, where these words have been interpreted in political terms, expressed in “liberation theology”. Now it is undoubtedly true that governments should be concerned for justice and for looking after the poor, as should we all, but Jesus did not come to lead a political revolution. If we look at Jesus’ life as portrayed in the gospels, the best source to do so, certainly better than some theologian reading their own political ideology into these verses, we see that Jesus was not aiming to lead a political revolution. The good news to the poor was good news to those who were poor in spirit. The Pharisees thought they were better than the masses and looked down upon them. Jesus enjoyed being with the ordinary people and delighted in them when they showed humility and faith. The prisoners He set free were those bound by demons and sickness. He actually did give the blind sight. And He certainly did proclaim the time of the Lord’s favour. We should indeed be actively concerned about the poor, but we need to read these verses in the context in which they are presented.

Thursday 23 February 2017

Luke 4:14-17 - Teaching in the synagogues

4:14,15
Again we have Luke mentioning the Holy Spirit, this time saying that Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. The presence and the effect of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ life was real, and His presence and effect in the lives of the apostles and early disciples after Pentecost was real. News spread about Jesus in the whole region. Now in Luke’s gospel we haven’t heard much yet of what Jesus has done, certainly nothing to explain why news about Jesus had spread. One possibility for the interest is because of the preaching of John the Baptist telling them that Jesus was the One they needed to follow. It is also possible that this follows the early miracles recorded in John’s gospel.
Jesus was teaching in the synagogues. This was the natural place for Jesus to be, though we are not told here what He taught, but the next section will.

4:16,17

Nazareth was where Jesus had been brought up. On the Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue, “as was His custom”. So in some ways this was a typical Sabbath day for Jesus. Luke is actually the earliest record we have of Synagogue practices. Later writings indicate that the service would typically begin with a reading from the Law, this would be followed by a reading from the prophets. People were invited to read and to preach. This is why Jesus was allowed to preach, and why later in Acts we read of Paul being allowed to preach in synagogues. Jesus was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. The books of the Old Testament were kept on scrolls, one scroll for each prophet, though the minor prophets may all have been on a single scroll as they were counted as one book by the Jews.

Wednesday 22 February 2017

Why the Bible does not teach Young Earth Creationism and Theistic Evolution is Unscientific - In my opinion!

Why the Bible does not teach Young Earth Creationism and Theistic Evolution is Unscientific - In my opinion!

The doctrine of creation can be a very contentious issue among Christians. In fact the Facebook Group UK Apologetics & Evangelism has banned discussion of the topic because it caused so much rancour! However, another Facebook Group I am a member of, The Hall of Dogma, has a much more mature approach and we normally manage to disagree about things without it dissolving into a fist fight. Biblical discussion is also mixed in with a fair amount of nonsense/fun talk as well.
Recently someone in the group asked what people’s views were on creation. There are a range of views, and I said I was on Old Earth Creationist, I reject Young Earth Creationism on Biblical grounds, and Theistic evolution on scientific grounds. This remark caused some interest, as it was designed to do, and I was asked to explain myself, so here is my explanation!
Let me start by saying two things. First, I will split the various views on creation into three groups, with a brief summary:
  1. Young Earth Creationism (YEC) - the world is a few thousand years old  and the days in Genesis 1 are six twenty four hour days.
  2. Old Earth Creationism (OEC) - the universe and the earth are very old (billions of years), but creation is a deliberate, purposeful act of God.
  3. Theistic Evolutionary Creationism (TEC) - this view broadly accepts evolutionary theory, but sees it as the means, or part of the means, that God used in creation.
Within each of these groups there are a host of variations, and some people will not fit neatly into any of them, but I will stick with these groups to make discussion manageable.
The second thing, and this is very important, there are good Christians within each of these groups. Within the church that I go to I have friends who hold to each of these views. It should perhaps also be noted that each of these groups has its fair selection of nutters as well, but that’s life! Anyway, I might say some fairly direct things, but if you disagree with me that does not mean I don’t think you are a Christian!

What is really important
Let me split this into two parts. First, here are some basic truths about creation:

  • Everything, seen and unseen, was created by God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
John 1:3, Col 1:16
  • Everything was created good.
Genesis  1:10,12,18,21,24,31
  • Mankind is unique, we are God’s special creation, made in His image.
Genesis 1:26-30
  • The whole of creation is utterly dependent upon God for its continued existence
Acts 17:28
  • We were created on purpose and for a purpose
Gen 1:26-30
  • All mankind is corrupted by sin and this is the root of all our problems, and has affected creation.
Rom 3:23, 8:20,21
These are the things that really matter about creation, these facts are foundational to my life, to my worldview. And I would guess that most or all of us who believe the Bible would accept them.
The second part of this essay in one sense doesn’t really matter at all! But it could be fun, so please read on.

What is not so important, but might be interesting

I will now explain my statement on why I reject YEC on Biblical grounds and TEC on scientific grounds. I am not saying this to try and “convert” anyone, just to make you think. I don’t really care if you agree with me or not on these matters, I could even be wrong, and it wouldn’t really bother me. The stuff in the “What is really important” section above is what I really care about, and what I want people to believe.

Why I reject YEC on Biblical grounds
I said this to be provocative because there are some Christians who are YECs sometimes adopt a superior attitude, or accuse those who are OEC or TEC as being less faithful to the Bible, and putting science before the Word.
So why do I reject YEC on Biblical grounds? The most fundamental reason is that I just don’t think that when God wrote Genesis 1 & 2 what he was thinking was “what these guys really need to know is that I completed the whole job in 6 days flat”. I believe it is the order of creation and the purposefulness of creation, along with our place in it that God wants to communicate. These ideas completely contradict the “creation myths” that various civilisations had. These tended to see us as the by-product of wars between various gods, or as us being created as slaves for gods. The Biblical account is utterly different. Interestingly, exactly the same applies today. What is the most common “creation” view of atheism? It sees us as the product of random chance, not that much of an advance over us being the by-product of god-fights.
There are also objections within the text itself. One of the most well-known is how could we have day and night or twenty four hour days when there was no sun and moon until day 4? In Genesis 4 onwards there seem to be people around for whom no account is given in Genesis 1 and 2. So Genesis is not seeking to give a complete “scientific” explanation. Another objection is what about the 6th day? We read in Genesis 2 of all the things that happened on day 6. That was one heck of a day! For instance, God brought all the animals to Adam to see if any of them were a suitable companion (which, by the way, means that if God had brought a labrador along Eve might never have been created!). How did all this happen in a single day? What was going on, some sort of speed dating session? You can give answers of a sort to all these things, but my point is that a so-called literal reading of Genesis 1 and 2 raises serious questions and may not actually be that literal at all.
But what about the criticisms of OEC and TEC that YEC folk sometimes raise? One is that if you start doubting Genesis 1 and 2 where will the doubting stop? Well there are two things that can be said. First, I would say that I am not doubting Genesis 1 and 2, but taking them in the way they were intended. Secondly, a point of testimony. For a long time I didn’t pay much attention to the age of the earth etc. I started to look at the matter in some depth about six or seven years ago, and I have an OEC view. Since then Genesis 1-3 are absolutely foundational to my thinking, and will often form the basis for my preaching. For instance, a few months ago I preached on “Gender, sex and marriage” and it mostly based on Genesis 1 and 2. So if someone says not believing in YEC means you will doubt the Bible then quite simply that person is talking complete garbage.
Another objection is that OEC and TEC are giving science priority over the Word. The negative answer to this is again that Genesis 1 is not teaching a 6 24 hour day creation, but let’s be more positive. The Bible tells us that creation declares the glory of God, God tells us to have dominion over the earth and to explore it (eg naming the animals). Doing this, my assessment of the scientific evidence from various branches of science is that the evidence for an old earth and universe is compelling. It could still be wrong, but it seems reasonable to me, and I do not see any conflict between an old universe and the Bible. But looking at the world and drawing conclusions from soundly based evidence and deductions is not unbiblical. OEC is sometimes criticised on the grounds that it assumes uniformity over time. Yes it does, and this could be wrong. However, the Bible would actually seem to lend credence to assuming constancy over time.
None of this is meant to be a complete statement on matters, there are many questions , and other points of view. It is just intended to explain my thinking.

Rejecting Evolution on Scientific Grounds
So why do I reject the TEC view on scientific grounds, when most people would expect it to be rejected on theological grounds? Well, while there are theological problems with TEC, there are also theological problems with YEC and OEC, in general I could see how TEC could be consistent with the Bible. In Gen 2:7 it says God created Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him. One could see this as saying God used “natural” processes (which would still have been created by God!) to create our physical being, but then breathed life into us to create our spiritual being. This isn’t meant to be a watertight argument, just to show that TEC is not necessarily at odds with the Bible.
There are of course other arguments against evolution, but please don’t mention the one about “God not using a chance process”. This argument is absolutely worthless. It is perfectly possible to use a process that involves a lot of randomness to achieve a specific goal, ie to use it as part of a purposeful process. And I say that as a mathematician.
So why do I reject TEC on scientific grounds? Well I have listened to theistic evolutionists and their books, and have read books by atheistic evolutionists and am utterly unconvinced. Now let me say what I do not have a problem with. I do not have a problem with God using a mechanism (or mechanisms) that can be explained in scientific terms. Nor do I necessarily have problem with common descent.
So what are the scientific problems? Many and numerous! The Intelligent Design people have posed many serious challenges, so go there if you really want a detailed sensible critique, I will just mention a few things.
First, there is an awful lot of hand-waving goes on in evolutionary arguments. Ie they rarely explain fully or convincingly how life forms developed. Secondly, in the world we see today, and can test and examine, mutations are almost always deleterious. So why are they so able to cause such successful developments of life forms? The probabilities also seem to be massively against evolution. Moreover, many of the examples of evolutionary development of lifeforms are utterly trivial. There seem to be no real examples of significant lifeform development. In the course of my studies I read “Why Evolution is True” by Jerry Coyne, an ardent atheistic evolutionist. The book is very interesting but I will take a final example of why I reject evolution from that book. At one point he refers to some bees in Asia (Japan I think) who get attacked by wasps. They have developed a defence mechanism that essentially involves them swarming over the wasp and cooking it! This is presented as evidence for evolution, but there is no explanation at all of how this behaviour developed by evolution. How did it happen gradually? It is clearly an all or nothing process. This is just typical of some of the arguments presented by evolutionists, ie so-called evidence presented without any proper explanation at all.

Anyway, I have said quite enough, maybe more than enough. No doubt many will disagree with me, I hope you do. If you do want to know more about these matters here are some resources from all three camps:

Some Resources
Young Earth View
Book
Creation & Change : Discovering God in Creation - Kelly Douglas F, Mentor (1997)
Website
Answers in Genesis  https://answersingenesis.org/

Old Earth Creationist/Intelligent Design
Books
Seven Days that Divide the World - John Lennox, Zondervan (2011)
A Matter of Days: Resolving a Creation Controversy - Hugh Ross , Navpress (2004)
Darwin’s Doubt - Stephen Meyer, HarperOne, (2013)
Website
Discovery Institute http://www.discovery.org/multimedia/idtf/

Theistic Evolution
Book
Creation and Evolution - Denis Alexander, Monarch Books(2008)
Website
Biologos http://biologos.org/



Luke 4:9-13 - Do not put the Lord to the test

4:9-13
This time satan tempts Jesus to “prove” that the Father is looking after Him. This time he quotes from Scripture as well! The devil can and will (mis)use Scripture. Just because some teacher or other is quoting from the Bible does not mean their teaching is correct. False teachers can, and do, quote the Bible. The verses used by the devil come from Psalm 91:11,12. This Psalm is about our absolute security in God, when we commit our ways and our life to Him. There is a good general teaching point here on understanding the Bible. Individual verses can be good, but we also need to grasp the whole tenor of a passage, and indeed of the book, and the Bible as a whole.
Jesus answered the devil with another verse, again from Deuteronomy (Deut 6:16).This is the same passage as previously used by Jesus. In that passage God is warning them not to act like they did at Massah (Ex 17:2) where the people complained about a lack of water. There was indeed a lack of water, but that did not mean that God would not provide. The promises about God’s provision and protection are trustworthy and true, and we are to live our lives in the light of them. We will then experience His care at the right time, we can be completely confident. We do not need to “ prove” God in that sense.

This was not the end of the testing in Jesus’ ministry, but the decisive battle was over and had been won. It is all too human for us to think that if we give in this one time it won’t really matter. It would be far better for us to think if we resist this one time there will come a time when it will really matter.

Tuesday 21 February 2017

Luke 4:5-8 - It is written

4:5-8
There are two interesting points to this part of the episode. One is the temptation itself. Jesus was offered something, but only if He worshipped the devil. Now we need to be careful here. “Worshipping the devil” does not necessarily mean dancing naked round some idol or other at midnight, or some other Hollywood portrayal of devil-worship. In Ephesians 2:2 Paul says all who are disobedient are following the ways of the devil (called the prince of the air, there). Bowing down to the devil means following any unrighteous path, ascribing authority to the world and its ways. Worshipping the devil is a very mundane thing indeed. The parts of the church that choose to go along with the world’s agenda on sexual morality are bowing down to the devil. Jesus again quotes from Deuteronomy, this time from Deut 6:13. This verse comes from a passage where God is preparing the people for living in the Promised Land. They must not worship any false gods, nor follow the ways of the people they were displacing. Jesus was leading humanity out of captivity to sin into the kingdom of God. In the Kingdom only God is to be worshipped.

The second point is how much authority Satan actually has. There are passages in the Bible that show that he does have a degree of authority (John 12:31; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 2:2). However, this authority is only for a time. All power and authority has now been given to Jesus, and He will keep this authority forever (Matt 28:18; Eph 1:21). To bow down to the devil, which means following the world’s ways, is a very foolish thing to do indeed, for it means bowing down to a defeated ruler.

Monday 20 February 2017

Luke 4:1-4 - Tempting

4:1,2
The wilderness here is the Desert of Judea. Matthew also tells us that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted (Matt 4:1), as does Mark (Mark 1:12), Luke tells us that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. Now why did the Spirit lead Jesus to be tempted? It is all part of Jesus being our representative. Adam and Eve were tempted and they gave in to the temptation. Jesus was blessed by the Father, He too was tempted, but He did not give in to the temptation. In Christ man overcame temptation. Notice that before the battle there is a time of preparation. Jesus fasted. This of course had the effect of making Him hungry.

4:3,4

We now get the first of the temptations. The order of the temptations in Matthew and Luke is slightly different, this is because the precise order doesn’t really matter. The first temptation is to do with hunger. Satan tempts Jesus to “prove” who He is. Jesus’ answer is that what we need most is the word of God, quoting from Deuteronomy (Deut 8:3). It is significant that in Deuteronomy 8:3 it says God caused the Israelites to hunger, feeding them with manna from heaven. Jesus was feeding on the real manna from heaven. The thing we need more anything else is the Word of God. Whatever our circumstances today, the word of God will sustain us. We should read it eagerly, devouring it and searching within the word. Some are keen on saying it is Jesus we must know, and that it is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, not Father, Son and the Bible. This is true enough in one sense, but the Word is vital. For the Word was breathed by God, it is His personal communication to us, and in it we find the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Sunday 19 February 2017

Luke 3:21-28 - Baptism and Genealogy

3:21,22
Unlike in Matthew (Matt 3:14), Luke does not record John’s objection to baptising Jesus. Jesus came as man’s representative, He lived on behalf of us all, He died on the cross on behalf of us all, and He was raised on our behalf. So Jesus was also baptised, representing us. Jesus was baptised, so we should be baptised. The Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form. Ie a dove could be clearly seen. Then a voice came from heaven declaring “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. So we see here Father, Son and Holy Spirit acting together, but in distinct ways. We also see the Father’s approval of Jesus. Jesus came to do the Father’s will.

3:23-38

Another of my least favourite bits of the Bible, lists! As I have said before, this failure to appreciate the lists is a failing on my part. God has put them there for a good reason. However, there are a number of significant points that even I recognise. Perhaps the most important is that Jesus’ human ancestry is traced back to Adam. Jesus represents the whole of humanity. Abraham is also in the line, as are Isaac and Jacob. David, too, is in there. After David the names become much less familiar to us. There are some differences with the list in Matthew. Part of the reason is that neither is complete, nor intended to be so. Also, Jospeh has different fathers! In Matthew 1:16 it is Jacob, here in Luke 3:23 it is Heli. One solution is that Joseph’s mother remarried, so one gives the physical father, and one the second husband.

Saturday 18 February 2017

Luke 3:17-20 - Not worthy

3:17
There is a dual purpose in Christ’s coming, and this verse would seem to apply more to the second coming than the first (though there is application there). Jesus will gather the wheat into the barn, and the chaff will be thrown onto the fire. Any notion of “gentle Jesus meek and mild” finds precious little support in the Bible! There is a serious element of judgement in Christ’s mission. Nor can these words be put down to John the Baptist somehow being out of step with Jesus. It was Jesus who told the parable of the sheep and the goats, where there is an equally sharp separation. Moreover, this is entirely consistent with the whole of Jesus’ teaching.

3:18-20
The words we have here are just a small sample of John’s teaching and preaching. He exhorted the people to repent and look to the Messiah. Note that Luke says John “proclaimed the good news”. This is the same Luke who gives us the gospel of Jesus and who wrote the book of Acts. Judgement and warnings have an important part to play in evangelism, and anyone who says otherwise is at odds with the Bible.
However, preaching the truth is a dangerous business for the world does not like the truth that much. John was consistent in his message. He preached the same message to the rich and powerful as he preached to the common people. Herod had married his brother’s wife, along with many other evil things, and John told him he had sinned. Herod’s response was not to repent, but to lock John up. He wanted to silence the truth, though this would not change the truth.

In the same way, the world wants to shut the church up when it speaks the truth on homosexuality and gender. The truth remains the same. Sadly, the church often speaks a load of rubbish.

Friday 17 February 2017

Feeling under-appreciated? How to be a mighty soldier for Jesus

In Luke 17:7-10 Jesus teaches His disciples about the attitude that we should have to serving Him. 
What did the Pharisees and the other religious leaders of the time do? They lived their lives aiming to get the approval of men, to be looked up to by people as those who were really religious. In fact we have a deep seated human desire to seek approval. We have a desire to be recognised. If we preach, or lead worship, or have other positions within the church there is a part of us that wants approval, or even to be recognised as someone special. Jesus is countering that attitude here. We should do our duty because it is our duty and that is that. This is the attitude we need to have. If our duty is to preach or teach then we should seek to do this to the best of our abilities, and then be satisfied that we have done our duty. If our duty is to lead worship or to lead in children’s church, we should do it to the best of our abilities, and then be satisfied that we have done our duty. There are times when we can feel underappreciated because we have put in a lot of hard work, but no one has thanked us. We should be satisfied that we have done our duty.
Now, these verses are only part of Jesus’ teaching, but they are an important part and we need to take them on board. Elsewhere Jesus tells parables of faithful servants receiving a reward. Furthermore we are told to honour one another. So we are to do these things as well. The way things work in the kingdom is like this. I am to do my duty, seeking no praise, seeking only to please the Lord. I am to value the work done by others and to honour them. if we live like this things will go well, but if we start doing things looking for praise then things can start going badly. Also, having the duty attitude encouraged here by Jesus is a powerful weapon, it makes it harder for the enemy to stop or hinder us. For one of his tactics is to make us feel disgruntled because “no one appreciates me”, then we either do things with less dedication, or even give up altogether. But if we have the “I have only done my duty” attitude, this attack will have no effect. We will carry on doing our duty, carry on building the kingdom!
In a sense all this is like money and material wealth. If we make money a goal we are in big trouble (1 Tim 6:3-10), but if we seek first the kingdom of God then He will provide all our needs. There may be times when things are hard, there may be times when we have an abundance. When we have little we will know how to carry on serving God, when we have plenty we will know how to enjoy it and receive it properly (Phil 4:11,12). Likewise with being appreciated. If we seek appreciation we are in trouble and vulnerable. If we seek to do our duty then we become mighty soldiers for Jesus. In the times when we are not appreciated it will not deter us. In the times when we do receive appreciation we will receive it aright, rejoicing in God’s goodness to us.

Luke 3:15,16 - The Messiah?

3:15
There was an atmosphere of expectation and, in particular, an expectation of the Messiah. We are not told how this expectation had arisen, but when God tells us to do something He will have made all necessary preparations. So He was not sending John, nor Jesus, into a vacuum. There was a readiness of sorts to receive the Messiah. The people thought John the Baptist might be the Messiah. This illustrates one of the reasons why preaching and teaching are so important. We need the truth and the significance of events explained to us.

3:16

John was fully aware of his place in the grand scheme of things, he knew that his task was to prepare the way for One who is more powerful. He knew how much greater the Messiah would be. We need to recognise the significance of our own lives, and the limits of that significance. If we think we are insignificant then we will miss God’s purpose for our lives, but if we think more highly of ourselves than we ought we will make a mess of things and do much damage. John baptised with water, but Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. Pentecost was the first baptising with the Spirit. Fire probably signifies judgement.

Thursday 16 February 2017

Forgiving others and having faith (Luke 17:5,6)

In the NIV verse 1-10 are all in the same section, in ESV they are split into three sections. Verses 1-4 deal with forgiving people who sin against us, then verses 5 and 6 have the disciples asking for more faith. The importance is whether the disciples’ request that the Lord increase their faith is a general desire for more faith, or is in anyway related to the previous teaching on forgiveness. Ie do they just need more faith, or do they need more faith so that they can forgive people more readily. For forgiving people does require faith. It requires faith that God will look after us when we are wronged, that He will protect us. For when we are seriously wronged it harms, or threatens to harm, our lives. It also requires faith that God will actually change some people.

Whatever the case, Jesus’ reply is that we do not actually need masses of faith, but only a little. The important thing is that we act on the faith that we do have. Now this answer would possibly imply that the question was in relation to the forgiveness teaching. For Jesus did not envisage us going around uprooting mulberry trees, that is not one of the fivefold ministries! We do need to be a forgiving people, a forgiving community. Doing this is hard, and when we do forgive we often have doubts. Have we really forgiven the person? Is it really the best or the right thing to do? All sorts of emotional turmoil can go on inside. When we forgive we will not usually feel absolutely wonderful and full of the Spirit, but more likely full of conflicting emotions. In such circumstances we should still forgive, trusting in the Lord. For we only need a mustard seed of faith, not a mountain. When we forgive we are giving the matter over to God, putting our trust in Him, and that always pleases the Father.

Luke 3:10-14 - What should we do then?

3:10,11
Jesus said we shall know a tree by its fruit, so John’s demand for positive evidence of a person’s repentance is entirely consistent with Jesus’ approach. Here the crowd respond by asking what they should do. People need to know how to respond to God’s word. John gives very practical advice, with different instructions for different sets of people. The way that God works in our lives varies from person to person.
The first instruction is a general one. We are to share with the poor.  The Bible shows again and again that God is concerned for the poor and the oppressed. So if we turn to God then evidence of that is practical concern for the poor. Now someone might say that given that there is so much poverty in the world God’s supposed concern does not seem to be very effective or active, but think for a moment. What is God’s purpose and primary means of acting? He created us to have dominion over the earth and to subdue it. It is because of our rebellion against God that there is so much suffering, and the solution to suffering, and poverty in particular, is for God’s people to do something about it. God has created us in His image.

3:12-14

We now get two particular people groups: tax collectors and soldiers. Both these groups were despised by the general population. Tax collectors were infamous for being dishonest and would regularly extort money from people. Soldiers were usually paid the bare minimum, so they would frequently seek to supplement their income by extortion from the people. There are several lessons that can be learned from John’s response. The first is that despised peoples can come into the kingdom. All of us need to repent. So in that sense there is no difference. Secondly, he does not tell them to stop being tax collectors or soldiers. Working for the Roman government was not morally wrong. The Roman government was no paragon of virtue, and most of us actually work for organisations, public or private, that can be criticised in various ways. Instead we are instructed to act uprightly in what we do. Also taxes do need to be collected, but they do not need to be collected dishonestly. We do need soldiers, but they do not need to act brutally, or to abuse their position.