NT: John. Carry on Camping...

I think God has a thing for tents.  After all, he lived in one whilst the Israelites wandered around in the desert and until Solomon built him a temple.  He even used a tent-maker as one of his main evangelistic weapons (that's Paul, by the way-Acts 18:3).  Tents are temporary dwellings; Paul likens our earthly bodies to tents because we will only have them this side of eternity and our resurrection bodies.  Anyway, I'm sure you are asking by now, 'What do tents have to do with John's gospel; the word doesn't even appear in it?'.  Well, let me assure you that it does, it's all in the Greek (obviously) and it's some of the most profound theology you'll come across.

Look up John 1:14, it probably reads something along the lines of "The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us...".  I say, mistranslation.  The word translated 'dwelt' is the Greek word 'eskenesen', which means 'pitched his tent'.  I much prefer a translation along the lines of 'The Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us.'  The tabernacle symbolised God's presence with his people and I believe it is no accident that John chose this word rather than words derived from oikeo which comes from the word for house.  If John 1:1 didn't make it clear enough that Jesus, the Word was God, describing his stay on earth as a tent pitching should make it clear. (Also, to hammer the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, are the I AM sayings).

I love that Jesus came to earth to dwell with us, experience what we experience and ultimately sacrifice himself for our salvation.  I love that he was prepared to leave heaven's splendour for a camping trip to show us what God is like.  Next time you go camping, thank God for his camping trip.

OT: Numbers. Who saves you from God?

Before we answer the intriguing question 'Who saves you from God [when you've made him angry]?' let's read some Bible.

Start with Numbers 3:1-13, where the Levites are chosen as a priests, then have a sneaky-peek into the New Testament at 1 Peter 2:1-10.

When I read accounts of medieval Roman Catholic Christianity and their reaction to Wycliffe, I want to get out my time-travelling giant wet trout and do some serious slapping. Wycliffe was denounced as a heretic, blasphemous, satanic person, because he believed 1) there was no need for special priests to get access to God's grace and 2) the Bible was a good thing to follow in living your life, so everyone should be able to read it in their own language.
Now I've over-simplified this, and you can read more yourself, but that's the gist.
Read 1 Peter 2 again, and tell me Wycliffe was wrong...I dare you!

Key point 1: we are all Go'd chosen priests if we say we are his.

Now trundle on to Numbers 16-17 and have a read - there's a lot of death here, so don't do it on a full stomach. You can find out what Paul thinks about it in 1 Corinthians 10 as well, if you fancy some more background reading.
So this brings us to my question. When God gets angry like in this passage, who can save us from him? And more importantly, does he still get this mad?

The answer to the first question is tough, and can cause people to question God. The answer looks like it should be Jesus - after all, it took Moses and Aaron interceding here to save the people, and we have Jesus as our intercessor, right?
But if God is love, why would we need saving from him? I agree with a point Rob Bell pushes in his book 'Love Wins' - I don't need saving from God, I need saving by God.
It's an important point too, because if we have a picture of God as someone we need saving from, then that's going to mess our relationship with him up big time.

Key point 2: Jesus died for the sins of the whole world - things like this won't happen anymore, because Jesus has ALREADY paid the price.

That was hard work - please ask questions or make comments if you're not sure, because it's something that will probably leave most of us still scratching our heads a little.

Key point 3: it's okay to have questions, ask questions, and not fully understand the miracle of our salvation.
A miracle means something 'highly improbable or extraordinary' according to Google, so I think it's okay to be unsure for now. We'll find out all about in heaven, and that, at least for me, is something to really look forward to!

NT: Luke. Free is freedom

What would you be prepared to do for free?  The washing-up?  Mow the lawn?  Maybe spend a week of the holidays helping at an old people's home?  Let's alter the question slightly:  What would you be prepared to do for free but at cost to you?  Jesus tells us in Luke 14:12-14 that the motivation for our actions should not be to get something in return, be that money, status, power or a bargaining chip to use with our parents; Jesus is clear that we should await a reward at the resurrection of the righteous.  It brings us back to Matthew and the topsy-turvy teaching of the Sermon on the Mount - store up treasure in heaven (Mt 6:20) - and the parable of the sheep and goats - whatever you did for the least of these... (Mt 25:31-46).

I don't think Jesus wants us to stop doing nice things for our friends and family, but we should do it without ulterior motives and wanting something in return.  In fact, great friendships should have this as a clear principle.  But also, we cannot get away from the fact that Jesus told us to invite those who can't repay.  Have a read on.  Jesus tells a parable about a banquet which those with status shunned for better offers.  If this banquet is the Kingdom of Heaven and you and I are part of it, we are the poor, crippled, lame and blind.  Making time and sacrificing our resources (hey, they're God's anyway) for those less fortunate than ourselves shows that we have understood what Jesus has achieved for us.  Have you got it?

OT: Leviticus. On sin & Balotelli

My absolute favourite person on the planet right now is Manchester City's Mario Balotelli. Not only is he an entertaining footballer, but he's a pretty entertaining person, who doesn't seem to care what people think about him.
But more importantly, and here's why I think he's a good guy, he knows right from wrong, and what he can do about it. There's the incident where he took a truant into school and told the lads bullying him to lay off or he'd come back and sort them out. There's driving around in a santa suit giving out cash.
Best of all in my book is setting his bathroom on fire with fireworks.
Who on earth lights fireworks in their bathroom?

What happened next is a little bizarre - within days Balotelli was fronting a government firework safety campaign. Knowing what he had done wasn't clever and that people looked up to him, he admitted his mistakes and set about putting them right, and that's a quality to greatly admire in anyone - international footballer or a mate at school.

Now, here's how this links to Leviticus - you might think it's full of random laws about mildew, and that you can comfortably skip over it without a second thought - turn to Leviticus 5 and you'll find some laws about human stupidity. Yup, God even thought of that.

Skim through the rest of Leviticus and you'll find plenty of neat little gems relevant to everyday life.

We will always muck up, but there's no-one worse than the person who thinks they can never be wrong. I sometimes slip towards that, and have to frequently remind myself that whilst I'm pretty good, I'm not perfect!
God says in v4 "Or suppose you make a foolish vow of any kind, whether its purpose is for good or for bad. When you realise its foolishness, you must admit your guilt." In other words - when you say something stupid, admit it.

Don't be afraid to say sorry for something you've said that might have hurt someone, belittled them or just made them think less of themselves (and maybe even you).
This week, if you can't stop your tongue, be sure to make amends for it - don't let a foolish word go uncorrected.

OT: Exodus. A Call For Justice

Exodus often gets a bad rap.

Everyone knows the story of the Exodus, don't they? Jews certainly do, hearing it every Passover. Christians probably think they know it - I mean, what's to know? 10 plagues, 40 years wandering in the desert, Promised Land. Boom - Exodus in a sentence, you can go back to Facebook now.

As for the rest - well there's some laws in there, mostly irrelevant to us now, oh, and that 10 Commandments bit.
But those who write Exodus off as laws for people long dead, or for Jews only, ignore God's heart and Christ's teaching.

Have a look at Chapter 23 - in my Bible it's called 'A Call for Justice', and if you read the first 13 verses and aren't challenged by them in how you behave at work, school, church etc., I'll come round and slap you with a rainbow trout.
Nothing speaks clearer of God's desire that the poor get justice, and that we as individuals have a responsibility to act in a Godly manner. No hiding in the crowd, as many Israelites did at the time - this is all about YOU.

Now, as the old hymn says - stand up, stand up for Jesus.
Stand up and be counted.

NT: Mark. Is it ever right to disobey Jesus?

Is it ever right to disobey Jesus?  What an interesting and controversial question!  It was sparked by my reading of Mark 1:40-45 where Jesus heals a leprous man.  Remember, leprosy excluded people from the whole of society and community life, so the healing went way beyond making the man look better.  Jesus charged the man to do one thing in two parts: go to the temple to offer the sacrifices for his cleansing as required in Lev 14, but, more importantly, stay schtum and act as if it went away by itself i.e. don't say 'Jesus healed me'.  So, of course, the man to the temple and then breezed back into his house, "Honey, I'm home for good, my leprosy just went away all by itself."  No, of course he didn't, he went and told everyone he knew (and probably a lot of people he didn't...).

First, I think Jesus had his reasons for telling the man to keep quiet; Jesus' mission was dangerous, but he was working to a timescale - he couldn't give up his life until he'd discipled an unruly band of young men enough to take over from him and ministered to people to fulfil his messianic mission of holistic healing and negative publicity before the priests etc. would have scuppered that one.  Verse 45 tells us the man's actions forced Jesus into hiding, proving Jesus was not without his reasons.  But I find it very hard to believe that the previous-leprous man sinned (unless his motivations were wrong, but there is nothing to suggest that), especially if he glorified God in his retelling of the events.

But really, I want to ask another question.  Would our encounters with Jesus lead us to tell others even if Jesus forbade it?  In Acts, the disciples tell the authorities that they could not stop speaking of all that they had seen and heard.  Are you telling your family and friends the amazing things that Jesus is doing in your life?  Well done if you are.  If not, why not because the last time I checked Jesus didn't tell you to keep your mouth shut...

NT: Matthew - What if...?

What would life be like if, at the end of chapter 4 of Matthew's gospel, Jesus had said "That's the end of today's healing service.  There's no coffee, I'm afraid, because my disciples forgot it and the feeding of the 5000 isn't until chapter 14" and then skulked off to a quiet place to pray?  The keen beans amongst you will have worked out that the answer I am going for is 'there would have been no Sermon on the Mount', but really, my question goes deeper and the answer deeper still.  What would the implications for life be if Jesus had never preached that sermon?

My answer is:  Just think how easy life would be!  I would be able to get angry at whomever and not be guilty of murder (Mt 5:22); I could ignore Jesus' teaching and not be labelled as a foolish builder (7:26) and I certainly wouldn't have to aim for perfection (5:48).  In fact, I could continue living life in the world's ideal rather than in this topsy-turvy, completely upside-down world of Jesus' kingdom  where the first are last and the meek, merciful and poor receive the blessing.  The only problem:  Jesus did preach the Sermon on the Mount.  And he meant it.

OT: Genesis. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This stream's tour starts at the start...shocking I know, but you've got to start somewhere.

Have a read of Genesis 12-14, and then rejoin me. If you're super-keen you could pick up from Gen 11 where Abram first joins the fray through to Gen 25.

So Genesis 12-14 is the first look at this huge character in biblical and global history - the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity & Islam) now account for over 50% (~3.5bn) of the world's population.
My first impressions are varied, but all show to me that Abram is a man after God's own heart, so I want to learn more about how he does it. Here's what I think.

The good: Genesis 13, Abram puts the desires and needs of others first. He lets Lot choose which way he will go when they split up, not to mention chooses a mature response to the dispute threatening to sour the relationship in the first place.
Why does Abram do this? Perhaps he's learnt his lesson from chapter 12; but more important is God's promise - he knows God has his back, and will ensure no harm comes to him.
If only I could always have this faith when making decisions...

The bad: Genesis 12:10-20, Abram (not for the last time in him life - see Gen 20) deceives Pharaoh, forgetting God's promise and pretends his wife is his sister. Of course, these still being the days of semi-incest, she was!
How many times have I forgotten God's promises and tried to do things in my own strength...?

The ugly: Gen 14, Abram stands up for the vulnerable when Lot and his family are caught up in some else's war and taken captive. Not only does he go to their rescue, but he does it for no reward, not seeking his own gain, but instead seeking justice.
Even when I do good and noble things, do I sometimes do them for the wrong reasons? How do I seek the kind of justice God desires?

The answer to that question can be found by reading the Bible...and that's just what I hope you're going to do throughout 2012.
Whether you follow a reading plan, read along with these blogs, or just do your own thing, I pray God will bless you greatly through it, and that you'll grow as you understand more and more of God's big story.