What Matters

Mature Audiences Only

But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. (Judges 1:27)

The book of Judges is for Mature Audiences Only.  It's pages are marked by murder, lust, betrayal, genocide, fear and and depravity.  Commentator Michael Wilcox summarizes the message of Judges thus, '(Judges) shows man's darkest sin, but we see it by light of God's most luminous grace.'  Judges presents a continuous cycle of Israel's rebellion, God's judgement, punishment and restoring grace.  The story of the judges confronts and challenge us, forcing us to ask tough and uncomfortable questions.

The context of Judges is conquest.  Joshua has led the people of Israel into the Promised Land.  It is now for them to drive out the Canaanite inhabitants in order to take full possession of God's promise.  And so straight away the uncomfortable questions begin.  God's promise to Israel is fulfilled through bloody conquest.  Tens of thousands die in order for Israel to receive it's covenant inheritance.  The fate of the Canaanite tribes is one of the most troubling and perplexing in all of the scriptures.  For now I will simply name the question/issue. 

Two years ago I had the privilege of traveling to Israel.  In our pilgrimage we visited the arhcaeological site of Megiddo.  It was fascinating seeing and experiencing layer upon layer of ancient civilizations that have occupied this small, strategic piece of land - dating right back to the Canaanites of the 15th century before Christ.  You can read more about Tel Megiddo here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Megiddo  At Megiddo you can literally see the story of one nation/tribe cconquering another, cconquering another, conquering another and so on.  All over Israel are sites of war and conquest, from the Valley of Elah where David stared down Goliath to the fallen stones of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Judges is bloody and awful.  And yet in the unvarnished, uncensored history of Judges we still discover the luminous grace of God.  May the journey of discovery begin.

New Stories

Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.  (John 21:25)

An encounter with Jesus never left a person the same.  An encounter with Jesus left you healed, delivered, enlightened, confused, enraged or more.  The only thing an encounter with Jesus would not leave you is non-plussed.  In the four gospels we read of these encounters.  Some of the people are named, but many are not.

For the first few centuries the early church discerned which accounts of the ministry of Jesus could be trusted and which should be discarded as legend or worse.  And so we have the four gospels.  But even allowing for this filtering process, we know that Jesus performed many other miracles, that he taught for countless more hours and that he encountered many more people along his three-year ministry journey.  Those stories are lost to us - the stories that would fill many more books.  But there is an important story that is not lost to us - one that we know intimately.

John tells us that Jesus did many other things as well.  Jesus is still doing many other things.  He is not a dead hero but a risen saviour.  He is not absent from us but present to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He is writing countless new stories in the lives of men and women around our world - including mine.  Jesus is still healing, still delivering, still teaching, still enraging and still confusing people.  Thank you Jesus that you are writing new stories every day.  Thank you that one of those stories is mine.

He Knows My Name

Jesus said to her, "Mary."  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). (John 20:16)

Mary was grief-stricken and confused.  Jesus was dead and his body missing.  She had more questions than answers and with it an endless supply of tears.  Through those tears she has a conversation with Jesus who she fails to recognize.  It is when Jesus calls her by name that Mary beyond her grief to the hope of her resurrected Lord.

This is such a powerful and moving story.  My first observation is that like Mary, when I am overwhelmed by grief, despair, pity or worry - in those moments I can fail to recognize the very tangible presence of Jesus, the One who will never leave me, nor forsake me.  Ralph shared last Sunday words to the effect that just because we do not feel God's presence in our life in despairing seasons, this does not mean that God is not present.  In short, God's presence is not contingent on our awareness of His presence.  Thank God!

My second observation is for me wuch wonderful news; Jesus knew Mary's name, and he knows mine.  It was when Jesus addressed her by name that Mary's grief was overshadowed by hope.  Jesus knows my name, and with my name, he knows me.  Intimately,  Perfectly.  Psalm 139 spells our God's full and complete knowledge of me beautifully.  Where in this world can I go to flee from God's loving presence?  A few years ago I had the privilege of being sung over by hundreds of Solomon Island children.  In beautiful, unaccompanied three-part harmony they sang the chorus, 'He Knows My Name'.  (Have a look at this clip if you don't know the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC8puwexBBo&feature=related)

It moved me to tears then, and the truth of this lyric still does now.

Confession

Confession arises from conviction, is necessary for repentance and makes possible restoration.  This the second message in our four-week series on prayer.  Listen in here: Download Postures of Prayer _ Confession  Or you can read the manuscript here: Download Confession Manuscript

 

Religion and Politics

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” (John 19:12) Politics and religion were firmly enmeshed in 1st century Palestine. The Roman occupiers were despised by all, actively resisted by some and reluctantly accommodated by others. Their presence literally cast a shadow over the temple precinct in the form of the Fortress of Antonius where Roman centurions were garrisoned ready to ruthlessly repress any Jewish revolt. Political/religious factions - the zealots, Pharisees, Essenes, Sadducees - had widely divergent approaches to the Roman problem and often fought as much with each other as they did with Rome. Religion and politics always makes for a murky mix. It was politics as much and religion that called te loudes for the crucifixion of Jesus. In Australia we make a clear separation between church and state. Unlike much of Europe where the state has its own sponsored church in many countries, we keep the lines of demarcation clear. That is not to say that religion, Christianity in particular, is not political. It is and always should be. In announcing his ministry, Jesus proclaimed that his gospel was good news for the poor, the oppressed and the prisoner. Jesus challenged the religious and political status quo that repressed the marginalized. He courageously and prophetically confronted systematic evil and injustice, making a point of spending most of his time with the poor and dispossessed, so much so that he came to be known as a friend of sinners. Following Jesus always will have political overtones. It is in the business of politics that we decide what sort of society we will become. And that is a conversation Jesus and his followers should always be right in the thick of.

Denial

One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow. (John 18:26-27) Peter's denials haunt me. They haunt me because they are so mundane. They haunt me in their familiar ordinariness. They are denials I could have uttered - have uttered. Too many times I have had the opposing to bear witness to my faith, only to let those opportunities slip. Often it hasn't been fear that had held me back, rather it has been placing too much stock in the opinion of others that has smothered words before they have been spoken. Every day I have the opportunity to point to Jesus or not. Every day my words and actions can bear witness to my faith and his life. I am called to be a witness, in the original greek language of the bible - a martus, or martyr. A true witness will die to their own agenda and live for God's agenda. I can only be such a witness in God's strength and power. It is the Holy Spiri that empowers and emboldens us to speak when otherwise we would be silent (Acts 1:8) One of my personal goals/prayers for 2012 is that I would be bolder in my witness, and with it, more effective. This is my hope/prayer for the community I lead as well. So fill us Holy Spirit with fire and courage!

The Glory of Unity

My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  (John 17:20-21)

There is so much in the final prayer of Jesus before the events of his betrayal, arrest and crucifixion take over.  Amongst its riches I am always struck that in his prayer, Jesus prays for me.  For me!  He prays for those who will believe in him through the witness of the first apostles.  My faith is traced back to the witness of the Pentecost church.  Jesus prays for me 2000 years before I am born.  Wow!

So if Jesus takes the time to pray for me and us, the content of that prayer is of critical importance.  What is he asking of the Father for us?  He is pleading for our unity - that our life would be caught up in the unified Life of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  He prays that we might experience the fulfilment and joy of living in perfect unity.  He asks that we might be brought not to partial or surface-level unity, but to complete unity.  (17:23)  Why?  Because our unity will witness louder than any words to the truth of the reconciling power of the gospel.

I love our church.  I really do.  Perhaps more than anything else I love our diversity.  We have 34 different birth nationalities, people aged from 0 to 96 years old and from with all sorts of occupations.  We are one, big, happy and sometimes dyscfunctional family.  The genius of God is that he offers his gospel to the world through this family.  There is more at stake in our unity than our comfort; at stake is the visibility of the gospel in our world.  So Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, unify us!  Take us deeper into your Life that we might live for you.

 

Persecution

They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. (John 16:2)

In the farewell discourses Jesus prepares the disciples for the trouble and hardship that is to come.  While their grief will turn to joy  (16:22) Jesus warns them that in this world they will have trouble (16:33).  Decades after Jesus spoke these words, Rome crushed Jerusalem, destroying the temple.  In the aftermath, the simmering antagonism between Jewish Christians and synagogue leaders erupted into outright conflict it seems.  Not long before in Rome, Emperor Nero lead one of the first great persecutions against the church, amongst other barbarities, burning believers on poles as grotesque human torches.  These were some of the first martyrs - those who witnessed to their faith with their lives.

Roll forward almost 2000 years, and it has been estimated that more believers have died as a result of their faith in the last century than in the previous nineteen.  Even today, in Muslim extremists kill hundreds of Christians in northern Nigeria. Iraq's Christian minority has been decimated by post 'liberation' atrocities and Christian leaders continue to be persecuted, tortured and imprisoned in countries like China.  We must not, should never forgetour brothers and sisters persecuted for Jesus' name.  It is so important we keep informed regarding persecution around our world, and that this information prompts us to prayer.  One website that can help is: http://www.persecution.com.au/

Finally, Jesus' warning that I will have trouble in this world haunts me with a question; Do I experience enough trouble?  Now, I am not a masochist searching out pain for the sake of it, but if I am truly living in the world and not of it then I should feel the friction.  Is there enough God-honoring friction in my life.  I wonder.

 

 

The Pain of Pruning

He cuts off very branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  (John 15:2)

The language of vines, branches and fruit is vivid for me having lived in the southern vales and hills of Adelaide.  There vine trellises dot the landscape, fighting with urban sprawl for available land.  Over a year I would watch vines bare of any leaf or fruit gradually grow greener and heavier until harvest, after which green leaf would turn to beautiful red and brown before falling and the whole cycle beginning again.  Grape growing is/was a labor intensive task.  The vine-grower would frequently walk among the trellis rows tending to the vines and their branches.

Jesus uses a common image from his day to describe his mission and the community (church) that joins him in it.  He is the vine; we are the branches.  The branches are to bear fruit as they draw from the life-giving power of the Vine.  A fruit-less branch is useless - that much is clear.  But even a fruit-bearing branch needs sometimes drastic attention.

Pruning is the act of cutting back in order to provide room for healthy growth.  It is essential for a healthy grape vine and equally so for a healthy, fruit-bearing Christian life.  In Christian discipleship, pruning is experienced as God's discipline.  In assisting us to bear the fruit we can and should, God in his love cuts back and prunes that which is no longer required or should not exist in our life in order that new growth can come.  As with the pruning of a grapevine, this can be experienced and even appear as unnecessary - painful even.  But pruning - discipline - promotes, rather than stunts growth.  It is necessary and temporary pain.

Clarity

Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.' (John 14:6)

I have a confession to make.  I find these middle chapters of John, the so-called farewell discourses of Jesus, hard to absorb.  John's record of the words of Jesus are dense and circular.  Jesus is teaching some of the most difficult concepts for the finite human mind to comprehend, in particular the infinite mystery that is the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  While it is hard to comprehend, careful reflection draws me deeper into the wonderful mystery that is God.

In the middle of all this is the very clear response of Jesus to the question Thomas asks; How does a disciple know the way to the place where Jesus is going?  Jesus speaks with clarity; the way to God is though him.  Only him.  For many, this is the scandalous exclusivity of the gospel that needs to be ignored or rationalized away.  We live in a multi-faith, melting pot world where the fashionable ideaology is that all religions lead the the same God.  Such thinking is of course illogical and non-sensical as most major (and minor) religions disagree on the very character and nature of God, let alone the way to find him/her/it. 

The direct response of Jesus reminds me of two things; the Christian faith has something (or Someone) unique to offer our world and that message should always be offered with confident humility.  We should never resile from the exclusive claims of the gospel (Jesus made them), but we should speak of them with grace-filled humility.