What does the future hold?

Some people turn to Revelation for a picture of what the future will look like.
I have to confess, I'm not one of them.

If Revelation were about the future directly, we would've covered it in the Prophetic Literature week - it gets a category all of its own titled 'Apocalyptic'.
In the reading notes we handed out at the start of this 8 week readathon, it was suggested you read the book like a magazine in a waiting room - look at some nice bits, skim past the blah.

For me, this meant reading it all, but paying particular attention to the first few chapters (1-5) and the last one (21), and here's why:

The early chapters explain why John is writing it - a vision from the God, chinese whispers-style, passed from God to Christ to an angel to John to us the church. So to expect it to be literally true is a bit pie-in-the-sky in my book, and it's important to remember this first paragraph, regardless of what you think of the truth in Revelation.
Once you get into the letters to the seven churches, you're looking at a section with great similarities to some of Paul's letters like Ephesians & Philippians, or perhaps 2 & 3 John which we looked at on Sunday gone - offering a mixture of encouragement and challenge.

Chapter 21 is just cool - I like to imagine the scale of the New Jerusalem, and Rob Wallace has done something about this in church recently - basically it's the size of northern Europe! Not to mention very bling.

So take what you will from Revelation. Mind you, if you get all wacko-Christian on us, I might just slap you with a fish. And that's not an allegory for anything nice.

Breakfast with Galatians

So, I was off work on Monday, waiting for the electricity meter man (he does have a name and Jesus knows how many hairs are on his head, but I didn't find out either) and decided to embark on this adventure through the apostolic literature by reading Galatians whilst eating breakfast.

Galatians is possibly the shortest epic ever written, containing the most one-liners and guaranteeing that you will definitely feel better by the end of it than you did when you started.  My favourite one-liner used to be 3:1:

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?"

 The gist of the letter, you see, is that the church in Galatia had replaced a grace-only approach to salvation with a Jesus and... salvation.  All of sudden, someone, or something, had bewitched them and seemingly convinced them that Jesus alone was not enough to guarantee salvation.  How could God accept someone who doesn't 'do good'?  Surely there needs to be some amount of good works?  God seemed all for a works-based salvation in the Old Testament.  Wasn't that what the law was?  To understand the letter to the Galatians we must first consider its context.  The early church was dogged by a debate about whether Gentile (non-Jewish) converts to Christianity had to first become Jews and sign up to the law (through circumcision for the blokes) and adhere to all the food laws etc.  The Circumcision Party, as they were called, were the louder group and it took quite a lot of persuasion for them to realise that salvation by faith in Jesus didn't require adherence to the law.  Peter even fell into their trap, and although he had had his food revelation and visited Cornelius the Roman Gentile, he still 'pretended' to be a good little Jewish boy in front of the scary big-wigs of the Jewish church.  Paul had no hesitation in pulling him up on that one (Gal 2:14).

So, what for us?  My first point is that although Paul calls the Galatians foolish, if they had got grace based salvation first time, Paul would never had had to write this, and we would be much worse off for it.  So, thank you foolish Galatians.  Secondly, I think it is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we can earn our salvation.  Deep down we know that we are only saved by Jesus, but it is very tempting to think that God will love us a bit more if we do lots for him and before long we start to rely on what we do for Jesus and find our identity in that.  Well, I have news for you:  You have been crucified with Christ and it is now no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives in you (Gal 2:20, Ben Taylor).  There is nothing you can do to make God love you more.  Nothing.  I'm not dissing good works, they are important; James tells us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17), but works without faith is a road to nowhere.

The choice the Galatians had to make was a bit like choosing between being given a house free of charge, or getting the same house, but buying it with a mortgage and indebting yourself to a bank for 25 years.  A no-brainer, don't you think.  I'd take the free house every time.  So why should salvation be any different?  It may seem too good to be true, but God, the awesome creator of the universe, perfect and holy one, is the author of this salvation.

Why not have breakfast with Galatians on Saturday?  Have it with a bacon sandwich.

Chosen, cleansed, protected, so...

1 Peter was the natural for me to start in the Apostolic literature - the letters covering the rest of the Bible from John to Revelation - we're studying it in lifegroup on Tuesdays, and it's a chuffing good book!

The first chapter starts with the great blessings we receive from God I've included in the title, and continues to challenge us to holy living, backed some immense promises!

Is it always easy to be truly glad, as it says in v6? It acknowledges the many trials we will face, which doesn't sound like something to be truly glad for, so how on earth to we remain glad?
Firstly, there's the priceless inheritance to look forward to - how many of you have been offered a reward for doing something, and have used it to spur you on? Think of sponsored events, or exams - I'm sure we all have experienced that, and it's a truly great encouragement along the way.
Secondly, there's the prophets - what they say about Jesus and the Kingdom. You can't beat an encouraging story to help you on your way. This weekend we heard some amazing things at the Youthwork Conference about the massive steps being made towards eradicating extreme poverty in the developing world. For instance, did you know that the 21,000 children a day we talk about dying from preventable causes used to be 40,000 children not 50 years ago? That's massive progress - because of development work, 19,000 lives are being saved a day! That's about 7 million a year!
And thirdly, there's the power of the Holy Spirit. Sent from heaven as Jesus promised, He helps and guides us, if we only accept and use His power. Boom.

So...a big word with few letters.
Most important is this call to Holy living. Just as you no longer return to your previous ways when you grow up from a baby to a child and young person, no longer pooing yourself at random, needing to be burped or dribbling incessantly, as a Christian you must show you are a different person.
This looks like love, as Jesus affirmed in Luke 10 - 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

This week (and hopefully for the rest of your life), think about how you can show that love to God and to those around you - thinking positively in this way is surely the easiest approach, because yes, we all screw up, so let's do something to show God we love Him.
My group challenged each other at youth lifegroup two weeks ago to show we love God in the most extravagant way - what can you think of to achieve this?
I bought gifts for some people at work from my trip to Eastbourne - not my closest friends there, but people I know, and gifts they would really appreciate and enjoy. The sense of surprise at an unexpected gift gave me an opportunity to talk about why I had gone, what I got up to whilst there, and an opportunity to share my passion for Jesus through the things I do in my spare time. I hadn't thought of that outcome -it's amazing how God can bless the little things we do.

Word up!

Everyone knows how John's gospel kicks off: 'In the beginning...'
If you've got one of those cool chronological bibles, this is (obviously) where it starts. Perhaps that's weird - I had to do a mental double-take when I first thought of the first verse chronologically.

And the rest of John follows that theme for me - plenty of mental double-takes along the way, because John, as hopefully you know, isn't written like the rest of the Gospels. It's written in a more analytical style, looking to prove the divinity of Jesus Christ, using facts from his life as crucial evidence.

Most of John is unique to his Gospel, in contrast to Mark, which is nearly all covered in the other three.
What's best and most unique for me about John is his Jesus-focus. I know all four Gospels are about the life of Jesus, but I really feel like I'm being drawn an intimate portrait here - Jesus' actions and responses are the focal point of each and every section.

Looking back to last week, John is also where we see many prophesies fulfilled - Jesus himself says this in Jn 5:45-47, saying Moses spoke of him (Gen 3, Deut 18), and that really excites and challenges me. If people writing hundreds or thousands of years before Christ got it, why don't we sometimes!?! Do we always see Jesus, especially when we look at the poor and weak in this world?

This weekend a few of us have been at the Youthwork Conference - don't worry, we'll be hitting you with some things from there soon. A link between that and John's Gospel is in the word passion.
There's some things I'm now even more passionate about - a weekend of focussing on God will do that to you - and having read through John's Gospel on the train back, I've spent a few hours really focussing on Jesus.

The result? I'm more passionate about Jesus and the claims he made - and I dare you to read through John if you haven't already this week, preferably in one sitting, and not feel different about the world by the end of it.

If you don't, please consult the medics in our church, and instruct them to check your pulse.

The Personal Letter Read by Billions

Read the first four verses of Luke's gospel, and you'll probably wonder why you don't remember it. It's not exactly core theology for the church:

Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honourable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

What we find there, and must remember throughout the book, is that it was written by Luke, to a friend, to help him in his young faith.
There are many other unique features to Luke, which make this book rather special:
- Luke is the only book of the Bible known to be written by a Gentile.
- Luke was a Greek doctor.
- Luke cared about detail, but also about people. Much of the middle part of Luke (chs. 9-18) isn't found anywhere else in the Bible.

Luke is often the Gospel I go to if I want detail, and that is what he presents. Remember Mark, how he was also several miracles in by the end of chapter 1, and Matthew, sweeping through thousands of years of history as a short introduction.
By contrast, Luke is slow and steady, setting the scene with the promise and birth of John the Baptist in a story that mirrors the birth of Isaac rather well.
Also returning from last week's reading in Daniel (although now 500 years have passed) is the Angel Gabriel, bringing an important message from God.

Luke's epic first chapter takes up 80 verses, and leaves us teetering on the brink of the census being announced. By 80 verses of Mark, Jesus is about to pick the 12 disciples!

Luke is a book you'll hear a lot of at Christmas, because of Luke's telling of the Christmas story. If you don't have time to read it all, perhaps you could read the first two chapters and really meditate on that story - revel in the length and detail Luke gives us about those amazing events over 2000 years ago.

Names & Promises

Compare the first chapter of Matthew with that of Mark, and you'll notice a huge difference.
Whilst Mark goes straight into the action, Matthew steps back, and gives what everyone hopes they'll never had to read in church - a massive list of names.
Before you skip over this to get to the 'action' however, consider the history there. Look to the left of where you are in your bible - all those pages, and Matthew sticks the genealogy down in one page.

There's so much exciting significance in Matthew's list of names, not least in the fulfilment of promises by God. Promises made to Abraham and David, in the books of Genesis, 2 Samuel and Psalms that from them would come the Messiah - God's plan to redeem the world.

For those of a mathematical bent, there's something fun going on with the numbers too - 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the Exile, and 14 from the Exile to Jesus.

And for those of you who remember stuff, there's some juicy characters in there. If the media got a whiff of this, there'd be scandal! World's oldest father, attempted child-killer, human trafficker, prostitute, bigamist, foreigner, paedophile...yikes!

So all that, before the story even gets going - looks like Matthew will be a good read too. Whoever said a long list of names was boring?

Back in the wilderness

The Gospel of Mark starts in a place familiar to those who have read some of the Old Testament - the wilderness.

However this time, the people are coming out to confess their sin and be baptised.
It's easy to skim over this, as Mark 1 swiftly moves on to Jesus' first miracles, but it is a sign of a changed heart among the people of God.
The last time they were in the wilderness as a united people, they were rebelling against God, and it was only the efforts of a select few that kept them alive!

Psalm 106 highlights the futility of it all very well:

The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold.
They traded their glorious God
for a statue of a grass-eating bull.
They forgot God, their savior,
who had done such great things in Egypt
Psalm 106:19-21

That's right - they traded the God who destroyed the entire Egyptian army for a statue of an animal that eats grass...powerful.

Mark 1 instantly reveals the power of Jesus - in this single chapter, he resists the devil (remember Genesis, and how successful people were), casts out an evil sprit, heals 'many', including a leper.
Massive things - and it's reflected that by the end of the chapter Jesus already has huge crowds following him.

So why do we accept or reject God? Whilst we can't live on the mountain-tops all of the time, it's certainly a good idea to heed the words of the psalmist and remember all the good things God has done for us - remember those powerful and amazing experiences when life is getting tough, and when you're trudging on through the wilderness. Don't think God has run out of blessings for you - greater things are yet to come...

Who would believe someone like God?

Would you believe God if a prophet told you something he had to say to you?

This is the big questions coming out of the prophets - spanning several hundred years of independently recorded history, we see the predictions, we see them come true, and we see the people repeatedly ignore God!

Now one side is that it's not God they don't trust, it's his prophets. But that sounds like a pretty rubbish excuse to me.

When you see all the warnings Jeremiah gave, and the threats to his life because of it, it's pretty shocking how in denial people really were. And it was a double-edged thing as well - they were ignoring both the reality of their sin (obvious, as they had the Law), and the threat of God's punishment.

Now think back over the last few weeks, to one of the resounding questions people have had - why is it so violent; why is there so much death? And think...would you mess with a God like that when he tells you to clean up your act? I wouldn't!

Well as you get to the later prophets, the response is improved: Haggai warns the people about building plush homes for themselves and ignoring God, and they start to rebuild the Temple.

So the question is - do you need God to have warned, punished and rescued you before you submit to his will in your life, or can you learn lessons from the Bible and be more open to Him?

To me that's the biggest personal challenge coming from the prophets - doing God's will, first time.

Manic Street Preachers?

So let's say you're an average chap in ancient Israel, and your pal (Shepherd #2 - you're Shepherd #1 in this cast list) tells you what he heard from some prophet in the city yesterday:

In the same way that a shepherd
   trying to save a lamb from a lion
Manages to recover
   just a pair of legs or the scrap of an ear,
So will little be saved of the Israelites
   who live in Samaria—
A couple of old chairs at most,
   the broken leg of a table. 

Well not only would it be weird him quoting word-for-word from the Message version of Amos 3:12, but it would also strike a chord with you as a shepherd.
Now I'm not one for wrestling anything off of a hungry lion, especially not its lunch - if this is too difficult to think off, imagine trying to wrestle an onion bhaji off Ben...

I love the graphic imagery in the prophets - I guess they knew how hardened people were to God's voice, so they needed to be shocking to get through...not that the people listened much!
It strikes me that we need to be the same today, but that it also isn't that hard sometimes. We got Agape's latest newsletter through the door this week, and on the front cover is the headline 'Reckless Love for a Reckless Nation'. Reckless love in today's society can be as simple as talking to a lonely person, giving time to someone, or buying the Big Issue - and it marks you out as different.

Different can be a dirty word, especially in the teenage years, but it's also the paradox - something a lot of people strive for, and end up all looking the same anyway (go to Old Eldon Square on a Saturday and you'll see...).

The prophets were people ready to stand for God (some more willingly than others), represent Him in a world hell-bent on ignoring Him and live lives dedicated to Him, free from the ways of the world.

Is that something you could sign up to?

So that's where it came from!

Interesting what you find when you read the bible eh?

I came across this little gem as I started to read Jeremiah (1:4-5) today:

The Lord gave me this message:
“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
Before you were born I set you apart
and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.

Now I'm sure you've all heard the 'I know you before I formed you in your mother's womb', but when you see it here, it becomes clear that God is talking very specifically to Jeremiah - that the point is, he was chosen to do a certain task.
So why is the first half of the verse banded around, and the second half forgotten about?

I for one dislike verses quoted out of context, but in this instance, we have other backup. We know God is outside of time, that he is actively involved in the creation of all life (Genesis), and so this verse fits with the rest of God's character.
Conversely, the second half of the verse 'appointed you as my prophet to the nations' does not apply to us all because of what we read elsewhere in the Bible - God has appointed some to be prophets, but there's plenty of other jobs we find in Ephesians 4 where this comes from.

So as we read the prophets, and come across many familiar verses, think about the context in which they are found, and decide for yourself whether they apply to Israel at the time, or to all believers, to this day.

Stuck?
Comment here, on facebook or ask a question on Sunday!

Prophecy - realm of the wackos?

This week we move on to the prophetic literature, and a big list of 17 books. However, you'll be pleased to learn that most prophets were very brief and stuck to their message, then signed off. Obadiah for instance managed a quite readable 21 verses before signing off...perhaps he started writing on a Friday afternoon?

There's a few bigger ones, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekial, but don't let their length put you off - all three are worth it, and if you can get through one of them, that's a great a achievement.

Just a quick note on modern-day prophecy. Most of what gets in the news, and basically all of what it out there on the internet, is utter rubbish.
The prophets in the bible cover a period of 400 years, and speak specifically to the people of Israel as they go through the experience of exile.
Modern-day 'prophets' of internet fame often spout nonsense about end times, and fit world events into a bible mould or their constructed theory. Be very wary of this sort of thing, and as we have been saying - weigh it up against scripture.
My preferred reaction is to laugh and ignore it.

Now back to the Bible, and the most exciting thing I find with the prophets is finding bit clearly referring to Jesus. Isn't it great to read something written several hundred years before the event, predicting with clarity what Jesus would do?
Well it excites me, anyway!

Wisdom in the Bible

So what is wisdom, can we find it in the bible, and will it do us any good?

In Job, there's a few different ideas banded around:
Eliphaz says wisdom comes from life experience; Bildad says wisdom comes from learning from the past; Zophar says wisdom comes from within (you either are or you aren't); Job says God is the source  of wisdom.

I'm backing Job on this one, but I reckon there's a bit of everything in it - surely by reading the wisdom literature we're learning from the past, and in letting older people run the church we're acknowledging wisdom comes from experience?
We are - but those things have a big God element in them too, and that can't be ignored like Eliphaz and Bildad did. All scripture is 'God-breathed' we are told in 2 Timothy; Psalms and Proverbs offer us experience and wisdom rooted in God, not the world.

If you really want to confuse things, have a read of Ecclesiastes!
This is a book written by Solomon, giving a critical analysis of life and highlighting the futility of life apart from God.
If you don't have the time or inclination to read all of Ecclesiastes, just read the last verses, which summarises it very well.

That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. Ecclesiastes 12:13

All about breasts...

Have a read of Song of Solomon - I dare you!

In my bible, there's 26 references to 'breasts' (not the singular, which is a different word - I mean boobies, like what women have!), and fully 8 of them appear in the 8 short chapters of Song of Solomon.

Now my point here is that the book is decidedly about sex. There are other books in the bible with more oblique references to sex - especially in the Old Testament, but this is a book like no other.

Chapter 4 is in summary 15 verses of the man saying "you're fit", and 1 verse of the woman saying "aye, now let's have sex".

Now we've cleared that up, read the book as it was written, and think about why on earth it's in the bible?

Here's a few questions for you:

1) Does it fit with the rest of the Bible?
2) Are there any other books that stand out for different reasons - ie. they are fairly unique? I can think of quite a few.
3) What does it teach us about God?

Later this week and on Sunday, expect some discussion on these and any other questions you might have - feel free to comment below or on facebook.

I Know What Happens At The End!

You know when you're watching a film and things click...you know what's going to happen, or how it will end. I'm talking in the film itself - not a chick-flick where you know the plot even before they start filming the thing (like Marley & Me...it's obvious the dog dies at the end, and I've never seen the film, I just looked on imdb.com to confirm my hunch!).

So in different films, it happens at different times. Everyone pretends they knew from the start of Sixth Sense...I won't spoil it.

For me, Psalms would be the point in the film 'The Bible' where I would think 'yeah, I can see where this is going, God has a plan, and it's on an epic scale, not some piddly little country on the Med'.
You see it in Psalm 22, where Christ's crucifixion is portrayed, in Psalm 89 where Christ's heritage is confirmed and in Psalm 16 where Christ's resurrection is foretold.

There's plenty of other bits, all the way through the bible, where we see God's plan revealed, and I'm sure you can think of many, from Abraham through to Jesus and beyond, and especially in the prophets like Isaiah. My bible has a table of these, calling them 'Messianic Prophecies and Fulfillments'. Big words, but that essentially means where Jesus is predicted, and where he fulfils these predictions - important stuff for the Jews at the time. Of the 18 it lists, 7 are in Isaiah, 7 in Psalms, 2 in the minor prophets, 2 in the law.
A prize next week for the person who can tell me where it is prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem - and remember there's two ways to find this in your bible.

So keep and eye out for glimpses of Jesus, and God's Big Plan all the way through your readings, no matter what sort of book you might be in.

PS. If all this earlier talk of films has whet your appetite, be sure to come to lifegroup on Wednesday for a film night! From 7pm.

Yay - time for church!

"Yay, time for church!"

How many times have you said that, or heard someone in your family say that?

Psalm 122 is all about delighting in the presence of God, in going to Jerusalem and his temple.
So for us now, verse 1 'I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord"', means going to church - as do the other references in the psalm to Jerusalem.

So is it how we feel, and what should it mean to us?

Truth be told, it's often the exact opposite of how we really feel - when you're tired after a long week, or just want to lounge around at home in front of the telly, how tempting is it to skip church? And if you didn't have parents dragging you along, I bet you'd miss plenty of weeks!
To get to a place where we delight in going to church, we have to focus on the why of church - we go to worship God and be in his presence. Now that sounds a whole lot better than sitting through another service, or youth session, and should make us excited on a Sunday morning!

This Sunday, we're sweetening the deal with bacon sarnies, but how about next Sunday, when there's no ID in the morning, you have a think about why you're really dreading it, and why you should be looking forward to it - then talk to God about it!

Recognising Rebellion, Receiving Renewal

Rrrrrrr...that's the letter of the day!

Psalm 51 is David's response to the story we read in 2 Samuel 12, where his son is killed by an illness sent by God.

It can easy to question why God kills David & Bathsheeba's son, (who has himself done no wrong in the context of the story), instead of killing or punishing David.
However, the important lesson here is that sin has consequences. David's sin in having Uzziah (Bathsheeba's first husband) killed has brought this upon his family, just as our own sin can sometimes lead to the damaging of our relationships with family and friends. Putting yourself first, and becoming greedy, envious, lustful etc., can lead to others distance themselves emotionally, or to fights and arguments. When we do the same to God, we can shut out his grace and forgiveness, allowing bad things to creep in to our lives.

David teaches us what true confession and repentance look like in this psalm, and how acknowledging our sin can lead to forgiveness, and new life: reading on through 2 Samuel, you will find David has another son, Solomon.

What I learn from this psalm is that anything is possible with God - but as they say up here, 'shy bairns get nowt'. David asks God for all these blessings and renewals - he earnestly pursues him - and God comes through. The challenge in our darker and harder times is to look to God as a figure who can have an active and positive role in our circumstance, not as a blame figure - a bit like how we should see a football manager.

Finally, we can look at this through our Jesus spectacles, and see that Jesus gets down and dirty with our sin, making it much easier for us to reach out to God - Isaiah 59 uses some similar language regarding sin and gives the prophecy of someone coming to 'buy us back'...but that's another story!

This week, why not try inviting God into the difficult circumstances in your life, and see what he can do?

What's in a Psalm?

So, what is in a Psalm?
Words? Yes.
Verses? Yes.
Your mum? No. She's not that old.

Let's throw some e's into the mix:
Emotion
Endeavour
Experience

And now let's have a look at them some more.
When you get to the end of this, why not spend some time reading those psalms I mention, as a way at looking at a quick spectrum of the book?

Emotion - full of it! There's some very happy psalms - packed with joy and praise. But they're the easy ones to understand, as I hope we all associate happy feelings with God. Or at least know what it is to be happy.
There's some very angry ones in there too - Psalms 88 or 109 are prime examples. Anger towards the world is especially common - if you can, take yourself away somewhere and read these Psalms out loud. Then SHOUT THEM OUT! That's the really good way to get the true feeling behind them.
For the more melancholy moments, you've got the laments - most of the fifties come under this. Try whispering these for a good appreciation of their power.

Can you identify with these emotions?

Endeavour - this means to try, to work at something. To me, it doesn't suggest success - it says 'I had a go, messed up a bit, and the only reason it came good is the grace of God'. Try Psalm 32 for a spot of salvation.
The Psalms tell a tale of people having a go and coming up short.
The Psalms tell a tale of people thinking they can achieve things in their own strength, but realising that only through God can they success.
The Psalms tell a tale of people.

Can you identify with this?

Experience - ever been told you can't do something because of a lack of experience? Not tall enough to go on a ride at the fair, or not old enough to do what your older sibling is doing?
More importantly, have you ever completely mucked something up, because you didn't know what you were doing? I feel like that a lot.
Psalms offers us a wealth of experience, and not just of things being hunky-dorey - so much of the Psalms is about dealing with the cruddy times, the mistakes made, the trials and temptations of everyday life.
Psalm 63 (coupled with Psalm 3, written at the same time) was written by David when he was on the run from Absalom (remember that, from 2 Samuel 16-18?) - his own son, and usurper of the throne. Times were desperate, and David had certainly made mistakes in life, most particularly in letting himself drift from God - this Psalm speaks of recognising it and coming back to God.

Could you benefit from some Godly wisdom?

Hopefully you'll see there's something in it for you all.
Don't be afraid to flick around, and to follow links to the Old Testament stories and laws you've read about over the past few weeks - they'll help you ground the Psalms in real life.

Let us know what you've read and what you think...

Tassels Shmassels?

Reading Numbers, and skimming the other books of the law, the easy response is to smile in a smug sort of way, and be glad that we don't have to follow all of these rules.

However in your reading of the law books, a good thing to look at is the reason, purpose or result of the law in question. Numbers 15 has this to say about tassels on your clothing:

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.’”

So when I saw this reason for making tassels for clothes, it reminded me of people wearing jewellery, Christian hoodies and those WWJD bracelets...something to remember God...perhaps we haven't moved on that far after all.

The other things you'll find in the law books is festivals - and lots of them.
When we read of these, for example in Exodus 23, it's easy to look at all the regulations and be thankful we don't have these - but stop to think of all the things we do every Easter and Christmas, and indeed the things non-Christians do at Christmas, Halloween etc., and it becomes obvious we haven't moved on.
As Christians, we remind ourselves of the awesomeness of God, and his great love for us, through the 'ritual' of the celebrations.

Before you say 'yes, but we aren't that legalistic!', imagine your reaction if your parents decide to ignore the 'rules' at Christmas, and not buy a tree and presents, and on December 25th make you tidy your room and clean the bathroom...

I'll leave you with that pleasant thought.

...Once I Caught A Fish Alive

Special prize for those of you who figured out the cryptic-ish title:
"Well done."

Now that prizegiving is over, here's how I summarised Numbers chapter-by-chapter. This is how I tackled the book, and will use the same method to get into the other three books on our reading for the week.
My next step will be to pick out a dozen or so bits I really like the look of, and spend tomorrow reading through those bits.

Why not do the same, or share with us all how you are digging into the reading this week?

1 - Census time (603,550 warriors)
2 - Camp planning
3 - Levites given job description, redeeming the firstborn (cf. Exodus 13)
4 - To-do lists for the Levites
5 - Purity & faithfulness
6 - Nazirite laws (cf. Samson in Judges 13-16 & Paul in Acts 18)
7 - Dedication offerings to the Tabernacle
8 - Preparing the lamps (cf. Revelation), dedicating the Levites
9 - Passover mk. 2, The Appearance of the Fiery Cloud
10 - Trumpets & complaining (the two are unrelated)
11 - Complaining, punishing & forgiving #1
12 - Complaining, punishing & forgiving #2 (Miriam & Aaron)
13 - Spies in Canaan - fear
14 - Complaining, punishing & forgiving #3
15 - Bonus laws - offerings, Sabbath & tassels
16 - Complaining, punishing & forgiving #4 (Korah, plagues & fire)
17 - God chooses Levi (again, just to show the silly people he meant it)
18 - Rights & responsibilities of the priests
19 - Water of purification - how to wash
20 - Complaining, punishing & forgiving #5 (death of Aaron)
21 - Military victories & possessing the land begins
22 - Balaam's Ass (seriously. This is one to read)
23 - Balaam recovers from the incident with the talking donkey
24 - More Balaam. Still a good read
25 - Moab seduces Israel - intermarriage etc. Very good death here.
26 - Census time mk. 2 (601,730 warriors)
27 - Joshua chosen to lead Israel
28 - On offerings - daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.
29 - On offerings at festivals
30 - Laws about promises
31 - Revenge on Midian, lots of booty
32 - Reuban & Gad are big girls blouses - Moses recaps ch. 13
33 - Remembering the journey & instructions on taking the land
34 - Boundaries of the land - where is the Promised Land?
35 - Towns for the Levites; Cities of Refuge
36 - Women who inherit property

All this prepares Israel for the big fat super-recap in the form of Deuteronomy.
Those of you who read Joshua last week will know what happens next...

Narrative literature

So, after reading 30% of the bible over the last 2 weeks, following the story of God and his people from creation to the return of the exiles from Babylon, what have I learnt?

The main thread throughout the story seems to be that humans decide that they know better than God and constantly want to do their own thing, yet God continues to pursue them in his grace and also work miracles to their advantage, even though, sooner rather than later (should that be never?), his people will forget what he has done for them.  Isn't God amazing to put up with people like us?  His grace is fantastic.

I also love how the authors, with the benefit of hindsight, include such wonderful asides which need no explanation because the comment says it all.  Take for example 2 Chronicles 8:11:

Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.”

 My question is: If Solomon married a woman who would 'defile' the holy places, why did he marry her in the first place? There was no real reason for the writer of 2 Chronicles to include this, but it's comments like this one which help piece together a bigger picture of what might have gone wrong for Solomon.  The same goes for the comments about the relative time frames for building the temple (7 years) and his house (13 years).

My point is, sometimes we read bits in the bible which seem random, out of place and irrelevant, but this should be a signal for us to look a little deeper and maybe read between the lines to see why such a comment was inspired by God to be included in his book.

What a waste!

Are any of you in Kings and Chronicles?  It has struck me whilst I have been reading that Solomon put so much effort into building the Temple, but less than a year into his son's reign (no more than 33 years after it was finished) only Judah and Benjamin, plus a few devout Israelites from the other tribes were using it.  And we learn when reading about Hezekiah's rule that no passover was celebrated in that period, so what the Israelites were doing in the Temple remains a mystery.

Were we once gold and sparkly in our faith but now we have let it fall into disrepair?  Are we in need of some repair like the Temple?  It took money to rebuild the Temple, but the people gave gladly and sacrificially.  It may take sacrifice to get our faith back on track, but it will be worth it.

On Testing God?

One of the big questions this week was on testing God, as there's some seeming contradictions and things that muddy the water.
Here's some thoughts:

1) God tests people - so it's a known concept - see Genesis 22 & Exodus 15 for more on this.

2) But...shortly following that in Exodus 17, this happens:

At the Lord’s command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin and moved from place to place. Eventually they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded.
“Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?”

And it's this incident God brings up when he gives the instruction to not test him in Deuteronomy 6:16.

3) In 1 Kings 18, Elijah tests God in a very public way - this is one of my favourite stories in the whole bible! Have a read! In short, Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to that well-known game of 'who can get their God to set fire to the chopped-up ox on the alter first'. Here's the best bit:

About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”

4) In Judges 6, Gideon gives God multiple tests!

5) Just before that, in Judges 4, when Deborah (a judge) has told Barak to go and defeat Israel's occupiers, he is not totally confident in it, and only agrees to go to war if she comes with him. Her response:

“Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.

And the outcome is victory, along with the delightful incident where Jael (a woman) kills Sisera by hammering a tent peg through his temple and into the ground.


Hopefully you can see a few things from these incidents:
God would rather we didn't test him, but his grace is bigger than our insecurity. We may not gain so much in the end, but God's outcome will prevail, and he will still get the glory.
The danger is if we constantly test God, we never achieve anything, or if we just test God for our own glory.
God loves to be tested by people putting their faith in him, and seeking to do amazing things for the Kingdom of God. In a sense, every time we exercise our faith, we test God. And he invariably comes through for us.

The book of Ruth

Here's a good question I was asked after this evening's session:  What is the book of Ruth doing in the bible?  The question came from the position that Ruth is a story about ordinary people, rather than 'special' people like kings or prophets.

What do you think?  Feel free to comment, but here are my thoughts.

Ruth is a vital character in the bible.  Without her there would have been no Jesus (check out the genealogy in Matthew 1; you'll see that Ruth is mentioned as an ancestor of Jesus).  But Ruth was a Moabite, that is she was not an Israelite, one of God's special people, but God still chose to bring her into his people.

This is an important point (the same goes for Rahab, also mentioned in Matthew's gospel) when considering the question of indiscriminate slaughter of the other tribes because God does let foreigners into his people if they accept his authority and lordship.  Ruth says "your people will be my people and your God my God"  This is enough for God, her being a Moabite is irrelevant.  So irrelevant, he choses to be born as a man to one of her descendants!

Sex, sex, sex!!!

That's right - this post is for those who like their bibles a bit raunchy!

You may have come across Genesis 38 in your reading - slap bang in the middle of the story of Joseph is a chapter innocently titled 'Judah and Tamar'.
The gist is Tamar marries Judah's sons and both die because they are horrible people. Judah won't let his third son marry her (as he should), and she's sent back to her father in disgrace.
So she dresses up as a prostitute, ensnares Judah and gets pregnant - having twins. This family are utterly useless - we hear of them again in Joshua 7 when Achan (a descendent of Zerah, one of the twins) steals booty from Jericho.

BUT...

Read Matthew 1, and you'll see some familiar names in the genealogy of Jesus.
Judah we know well (Jesus is the Lion of Judah etc.)
But then who should pop up but Tamar, Perez and Zerah!?
So it turns out Jesus is descended from these scumbags?

SO...

There's hope for us all!

If you haven't read Genesis 38 yet, be sure to give it a read - but don't let your parents catch you - it's X-rated!

Spot the difference

Reading through the lives of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 11-35), it's really interesting to see how they lived very similar lives.
Basically, they wandered around the desert, grew rich, and told kings that their wife was in fact their sister, and the kings in question nearly have sex with her. Now the last time Abraham does this, Sarah was 99, so kings must've been pretty desperate in those days...

But more important than the similarities are the differences. What I've really come to understand through this reading is that closeness to God is really important.
Abraham sees God, talks to God, argues with God, and OBEYS God.
Isaac does speak to God - pleading on behalf of his infertile wife (maybe they should stop marrying their cousins...) and asking God to bless his sons, but I kind of get the feeling Isaac's faith is lukewarm compared to Abraham's, despite his many blessings - and it shows up in those sons.
Does Isaac ever share his faith, and teach his sons in the ways of God? It seems not - read Genesis 27 to find Jacob talking about 'Your' God to Isaac - he's not made God his own god. More to the point, he only brings God into things when he's deceiving Isaac!

Further on down the line, I'm looking forward to the story of Joseph, and worrying that Jessica will break into song...but there too, we see the fruit of this distance from God and deceitful nature in Joseph's brothers, and indeed in Jacob. And further still, we see the in-fighting between Jacob's sons when Israel divides in Kings & Chronicles - the sons of Leah get into conflict with the sons of Rachel.

So the moral of the story?
Stay close to God. Talk with him, get to know him, make him yours!