Introduction: Wasting time with Father
John was a dangerous man. As a Christian leader he was preaching a dangerous message that encouraged people to be different, and thus he was seen as a threat to the community. So he was sentenced to spend some time on Patmos (maybe in a labour camp). Patmos is a small island in the Aegean Sea – between Greece and Turkey. It was probably inhabited by no more than a thousand people. Maybe John was the only Christian; maybe there were a few other believers.... whether he was all alone or whether there was a small group, John was worshipping on the Lord's day. That might have felt like a waste of time; if you have to spend every day labouring in a quarry, why spend your little bit of spare time worshipping? But it's vital that we are prepared to waste time with God, individually and with other Christians. We'll come back to the idea of one-to-one time with our heavenly Father; I want to look at corporate worship, the times we spend together with Father... Because as John took time to worship (I believe with a few others) he was “in the spirit” - he had an intense Holy Spirit experience that caught him up into heaven.
1. We need to expect encounter
In 4. 2 he hears again the Voice of God who says “Come up here..come up and see....” What began possibly as an ordinary Sunday, became a time of intense encounter with God by the Spirit. And one of the features of this heavenly experience was that he witnessed the worship of heaven. He describes a bit of that in this chapter, and some more in chapter 5, and again in 7. 12; 11. 15-18; 14. 7; 15. 3f; 19. 5-7. Heaven is full of worship! If you struggle with worship, if you feel that worship seems like a waste of time, you'd better get used to it, because you're going to be doing a lot of it in heaven!
It was the same for Isaiah – he says, “the year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord, high and lifted up and his train filled the temple” (Isa 6. 1) From an ordinary day maybe reflecting on King Uzziah's foolish mistake of taking it upon himself to burn incense on the in the temple, Isaiah finds himself in the heavenly temple .
We need to let every time of worship go beyond the routine, to anticipate a meeting with Father. We need to let every place where we gather, become a thin place, where there is no more than a curtain between us and the eternal, the invisible, the manifest presence of God. We need to move from the prosaic and routine. With angels and archangels and all the company of heaven we praise your holy name saying Holy Holy Holy Lord god of hosts.... We desperately need to recover a sense of occasion. That is NOT the same as a forced sense of reverence: it comes rather, from a sense of awe and wonder at the reality of the Lord's presence and a sense of expectancy that he is here and going to touch our lives.
2. Eternal:
There is a timeless eternal quality about worship that incorporates both old and new. Much of what Isaiah and John describe was part of the temple worship of the Old Testament. When we worship, we are entering in through the veil into the “holy of holies”. The praise of the heavenly host in 4. 8 begins with a direct quote from Isaiah 6. 3. Six hundred years of time, both open onto the same spot in eternity... We need to value the old and the new as we come together to worship God. And that is not just a matter of pleasing different groups within the fellowship. It is deeper than that. It is about reflecting the eternal, timeless, ever old and ever new nature of our god. Jesus said that a scribe trained for the Kingdom brings out of his treasure both old and new things. (Matthew 15. 52)
4. Style
John saw a throne in heaven. The person sitting there looked like red and coffee coloured gemstones. There was a rainbow around the throne that looked like an emerald.. and on twenty-four other thrones, sat twenty-four elders wearing white robes and gold victor's crowns on their heads. Flashes of lightning, and peals of thunder came from the throne. There were seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God. In front of the throne was something like a sea of glass as clear as crystal. Around the throne were four living creatures: one like a lion, one like an ox, one with face like a human, one like a flying eagle.. (v. 1-7) There is a lot of colour and imagery, sound...
Worship never stops. The living creatures were constantly shouting out, Holy Holy Holy. And as they did, the elders fell down, and threw their crowns before the throne of God, then they too spoke out “Worthy!” In chapter 5, they sang, and were joined by a crowd too big to number. There was action, there was drama. A non-stop, living choreography of adoration..... a flow that is both spontaneous and ordered, where everyone know the right way to respond. Whole being is included: body and emotions as well as mind.
John was caught up in all this. He says in (Rev. 1.17) that he fell at the feet of Jesus like a dead man. In chapter 5, he says he cried when no-one was found who cloud open the scroll. In the same way Isaiah responded to what he saw.
5. Content:
The way worship was expressed may have been full of colour and variety, but the focus was always truth. The twenty four elders and the four living creatures seem to know their Bibles! That's because the truth of God's word is eternal truth – rooted in the realities in the heavenlies. Jesus says those who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4. 24) The truths that heavenly worship focussed on were:
Who God is: the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!” (Rev 4. 8); the Lord of Hosts (Isa 6. 3);
What God has done: “you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!” (Rev. 4. 11); You are worthy for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood, out of every tribe, language, people, and nation. (Rev. 5. 9)
The finally on how that what he has done to us. “You made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on earth. (Rev. 5. 10)
Worship that takes us into the presence of God will be rooted in truth. It will be rooted in Scripture and in good theology. It will focus in particular on who God is, and on what God has done in creation and salvation. It will focus on the big truths!
Conclusion: what wasting time with Father achieves
we don't worship to get educated about the word – although learning from scripture can be a significant part of our worship.
we don't worship to soften people up so they will respond to the word
we don't worship in order to feel good
we don't worship in order to get healed
we don't worship in order to make anything happen
we worship simply to spend time with father together; to encounter him.
But, none the less, when we worship God, something happens. Worship changes us!
It moves us from despair to hope. Rev. 5. 10 says “They will reign on earth.” Jesus is coming back to establish God's Kingdom permanently and triumphantly. Isaiah 6. 1 says, “In the year king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and lifted up...” It wasn't Uzziah on the throne any more, or messing around offering incense. The Lord reigns! That is an intensely hopeful message. The writer of Psalm 73 wonders why bad people prosper and what's the point of living right, “until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end”. (v. 17)
It moves us from denial to repentance Isaiah's experience in the thin place, led him to say “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips... (Isa 6. 5) and to be touched by the burning coal from the altar. At the centre of worship is “The lamb has been slain.” (Rev 5. 6)
It moves us from survival to mission. John got off Patmos eventually and wrote down what he had seen to encourage God's people and to invite the outsiders to come to Jesus. “let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (Rev. 22. 17) Isaiah heard God say who will I send?” And Isaiah says “Here I am. Send me!”
© Gilmour Lilly November 2012
Monday 26 November 2012
Sunday 18 November 2012
To call God “Father”. Galatians 3-4
To call God “Father”
The Christians of Galatia had been brought to Christian faith from heathenism. They were not circumcised (5. 2; 6.12) and had been following false Gods (4. 8). Now, as Christians, they are threatened by a false religion that is every much of an enslavement as their pagan religion had been. And this false system? Judaism. The insistence on receiving circumcision. Now Jesus was a Jew, as were Peter, John, Andrew, Mary and Paul. Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah to bring the Kingdom of God that Jews had awaited for so long; only they had misinterpreted it and in so doing had turned it into a narrow and exclusive nationalism. And that kind of law-based religion was as much help in finding and walking with God, as their previous Greek gods had been. Paul refers to the idea of resorting to law-religion as a return to the “ basic principles of the world” To take up with Jewish practise would not be a step forward, it would be a step back (v. 8f) We have to be careful that we don't allow our beliefs and practises to become something of the same. Church is more than OK, it is vitally important. So is Bible reading. So are Hymns and songs and prayers. House groups are OK. But when there is a sense of slavery instead of sonship in these activities, we are in danger of turning something good into something bad. We are in danger of turning our system into an idol. God wants us to serve him not as slaves but as sons. So today I want to look at some of the characteristics of sonship rather than slavery...
Firstly, faith.
What we do, the one thing we do, to come to God, is exercise faith in Christ. We turn to Jesus in quiet confidence that what he did on the cross is all that needs to be done, to deal with the rubbish in our lives. We trust that he died for our sins.. We trust this Kingdom Gospel: God is good and what he made, he made good. Human wilfulness has spoiled god's good world and the people he made in his image; Jesus came to put his father back on the throne; by living with his Father on the throne in his own life, by demonstrating what the world is like when God rules through healing and deliverance and justice; through dying to take sin away. So it's possible through faith in Christ to enter god's kingdom now and for eternity. And we continue to live by faith. We live in a trusting confidence in our heavenly father. Jesus spoke about that sort of trust when he said “which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then,who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7. 9-11) .
Secondly, identity.
Paul goes on: as many as have been "baptised into Christ have put on Christ like a garment” (v 27) Paul talks about begin”baptised into Christ”. It's almost as if Christ were a place. He's certainly bigger than we are. As believers, we are more than followers of Jesus of Nazareth (although we are his followers).. We are in Christ who Is seated at his Father's side. That is where we live. We have “put on Jesus” like a garment. We are surrounded by Jesus. Clothes keep us protected and identify us for who we are. A uniform marks out a soldier of a nurse; a suit and tie identifies you as working for the Bank; a baseball hat and baggy jeans marks you out as a fan of a particular kind of music. Paul may have been thinking of the grown up toga that a boy would start to wear in Roman and Greek society when he reached his teenage years, that marked him out as no longer just a kid... Identity. And part of our identity is in our parenting. We are God's children. He is our Father. In our relationship with Father and with Jesus is where our identity comes from. Not, as was a problem for the Galatians, from Jewishness, or being free or slaves, or male of female. I see three results of having our identity in our Heavenly Father
1. Esteem. Jews are not to look on Gentiles as second-class citizens. Masters are not to say to their slaves “You're only a slave. I own you. If you or your ancestors weren’t' so useless you would never have been a slave in the first place. Men are not to treat women with contempt. And gentiles, slaves, and women can't say “I can't do anything; my opinion isn't worth anything, I'm only an outsider/slave/woman. None of us are defined by our class or race or gender or sexual orientation. What we are is defined by who our father is. We ache our identity in Christ.
2. Unity. We are “all one in Christ Jesus”. We are literally one person in Christ. Those differences that define a pecking order within the Church, actually don’t' exist. God has been speaking to us about “Unity” and it is important that we lay aside our cultural differences and personal preferences, and live as one.
3. Inclusive. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. That narrowness that insisted the Kingdom was only for Israel, is not part of the Gospel. In Jesus these distinctions don't exist. God doesn’t' recognise them. And we are called upon to be like Father. “I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong.” (Matthew 5. 45) Are there any people whose lives are so messed up that God can't save them? Are there any people who would be better of without knowing Jesus? Are there any people who have done things so bad that God isn't interested in them any more?
Thirdly, Respect.
The Jewish law had been a “Schoolmaster” (AV) or “Guardian” (NIV) to lead people to Christ (verse s 24-25). Now “Schoolmaster” is the Greek paidagogos, literally one who leads a boy around. The paidagogos was the slave whose job it was to take the young master to school, and sometimes to sit behind him at his lessons and give him a slap if he misbehaved. The job of was often given to an old man who had got too weak to do the heavy work, too clumsy to serve tables, and was perhaps too uneducated or visually impaired to look after the accounts. He wasn't, in other words, one of the most respected and appreciated members of the household. That's OK... It was something that had to be done. Paul isn't saying the law is a bad thing. But he is saying it isn't the kind of respect that God deserves. We are not to look on God like that. The Pedagogue is not Father. A slave obeys his master out of fear. A son honours his father out of love. As sons we are to respect our Father.
Away back in the Old Testament, God had asked this question: “If I am a father, where is my honour?” (Malachi 1. 6) Slave-religion does things out of a sense of duty – and then tries to get away with the least possible sacrifice. In Malachi's day that meant picking out the
Fourthly, Intimacy
By the Spirit, we are able to say to God “Abba, Father”. I've heard that translated as calling God “Daddy” like a little child. Now it's right that we need to come to God with that sense of Childlike trust and simplicity, not pretending to be more than we are. Maybe some of us need to revisit childhood and find out where the idea of “Father” went wrong for us. But that's not what “Abba” means. Sure, it was the word used by bairns. But it was also the word used by a grown-up son, who has become a friend of his Dad. It speaks of informality, it is intimate, but it is mature, respectful, trusting. It is the Hebrew word that Jesus used when he taught his disciples to pray “Father in Heaven.” We need to be discovering a grown-up, listening, trusting, open and honest relationship with our Heavenly Father. One where we can tell him what is on our minds. But one where we can hear what is on his mind.
Fifthly, authority
Paul says we are heirs of our Father 3. 28; 4. 7) Israel looked to God to fulfil promises made to Abraham and Moses. They stood to inherit, but not yet; at a time set by the Father. So there were trustees and executors (verse 2) in the meantime. But for believers, if you are a child, then you are also an heir and you receive your inheritance now. We are all inheritors of the promises of god. All god's promises, all the things god promised through Abraham, all the things God promises through St Paul in the New testament, all the benefits of living in the reality of the Kingdom of God; all of theses are for us, through the love of a heavenly Father.
Conclusion...
But I don’t' feel much like a child of God. How can I be god's child. Look at me. I've done a load of stuff that makes me feel embarrassed. I wasn't born to high status, I've never had much education, I haven't got much to offer really. When I try to serve God I really fumble. But God doesn't make us his children on the basis of our background, our training, or niceness or goodness. He makes us his children through Christ and by the Spirit.
God sent his Son ... to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as his children. (4. 4f). If you want to be a child of God, to receive adoption papers, then come to Jesus. If you have already trusted in Jesus, you are already a child of god. You need to enter into what is already yours.
God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry out, “Abba! Father!” If today you have trusted Jesus, but you don’t' know you are God's son, you need to Holy Spirit to be released within you to cry out “Abba Father.”
© Gilmour Lilly November 2012
The Christians of Galatia had been brought to Christian faith from heathenism. They were not circumcised (5. 2; 6.12) and had been following false Gods (4. 8). Now, as Christians, they are threatened by a false religion that is every much of an enslavement as their pagan religion had been. And this false system? Judaism. The insistence on receiving circumcision. Now Jesus was a Jew, as were Peter, John, Andrew, Mary and Paul. Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah to bring the Kingdom of God that Jews had awaited for so long; only they had misinterpreted it and in so doing had turned it into a narrow and exclusive nationalism. And that kind of law-based religion was as much help in finding and walking with God, as their previous Greek gods had been. Paul refers to the idea of resorting to law-religion as a return to the “ basic principles of the world” To take up with Jewish practise would not be a step forward, it would be a step back (v. 8f) We have to be careful that we don't allow our beliefs and practises to become something of the same. Church is more than OK, it is vitally important. So is Bible reading. So are Hymns and songs and prayers. House groups are OK. But when there is a sense of slavery instead of sonship in these activities, we are in danger of turning something good into something bad. We are in danger of turning our system into an idol. God wants us to serve him not as slaves but as sons. So today I want to look at some of the characteristics of sonship rather than slavery...
Firstly, faith.
What we do, the one thing we do, to come to God, is exercise faith in Christ. We turn to Jesus in quiet confidence that what he did on the cross is all that needs to be done, to deal with the rubbish in our lives. We trust that he died for our sins.. We trust this Kingdom Gospel: God is good and what he made, he made good. Human wilfulness has spoiled god's good world and the people he made in his image; Jesus came to put his father back on the throne; by living with his Father on the throne in his own life, by demonstrating what the world is like when God rules through healing and deliverance and justice; through dying to take sin away. So it's possible through faith in Christ to enter god's kingdom now and for eternity. And we continue to live by faith. We live in a trusting confidence in our heavenly father. Jesus spoke about that sort of trust when he said “which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then,who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7. 9-11) .
Secondly, identity.
Paul goes on: as many as have been "baptised into Christ have put on Christ like a garment” (v 27) Paul talks about begin”baptised into Christ”. It's almost as if Christ were a place. He's certainly bigger than we are. As believers, we are more than followers of Jesus of Nazareth (although we are his followers).. We are in Christ who Is seated at his Father's side. That is where we live. We have “put on Jesus” like a garment. We are surrounded by Jesus. Clothes keep us protected and identify us for who we are. A uniform marks out a soldier of a nurse; a suit and tie identifies you as working for the Bank; a baseball hat and baggy jeans marks you out as a fan of a particular kind of music. Paul may have been thinking of the grown up toga that a boy would start to wear in Roman and Greek society when he reached his teenage years, that marked him out as no longer just a kid... Identity. And part of our identity is in our parenting. We are God's children. He is our Father. In our relationship with Father and with Jesus is where our identity comes from. Not, as was a problem for the Galatians, from Jewishness, or being free or slaves, or male of female. I see three results of having our identity in our Heavenly Father
1. Esteem. Jews are not to look on Gentiles as second-class citizens. Masters are not to say to their slaves “You're only a slave. I own you. If you or your ancestors weren’t' so useless you would never have been a slave in the first place. Men are not to treat women with contempt. And gentiles, slaves, and women can't say “I can't do anything; my opinion isn't worth anything, I'm only an outsider/slave/woman. None of us are defined by our class or race or gender or sexual orientation. What we are is defined by who our father is. We ache our identity in Christ.
2. Unity. We are “all one in Christ Jesus”. We are literally one person in Christ. Those differences that define a pecking order within the Church, actually don’t' exist. God has been speaking to us about “Unity” and it is important that we lay aside our cultural differences and personal preferences, and live as one.
3. Inclusive. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. That narrowness that insisted the Kingdom was only for Israel, is not part of the Gospel. In Jesus these distinctions don't exist. God doesn’t' recognise them. And we are called upon to be like Father. “I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong.” (Matthew 5. 45) Are there any people whose lives are so messed up that God can't save them? Are there any people who would be better of without knowing Jesus? Are there any people who have done things so bad that God isn't interested in them any more?
Thirdly, Respect.
The Jewish law had been a “Schoolmaster” (AV) or “Guardian” (NIV) to lead people to Christ (verse s 24-25). Now “Schoolmaster” is the Greek paidagogos, literally one who leads a boy around. The paidagogos was the slave whose job it was to take the young master to school, and sometimes to sit behind him at his lessons and give him a slap if he misbehaved. The job of was often given to an old man who had got too weak to do the heavy work, too clumsy to serve tables, and was perhaps too uneducated or visually impaired to look after the accounts. He wasn't, in other words, one of the most respected and appreciated members of the household. That's OK... It was something that had to be done. Paul isn't saying the law is a bad thing. But he is saying it isn't the kind of respect that God deserves. We are not to look on God like that. The Pedagogue is not Father. A slave obeys his master out of fear. A son honours his father out of love. As sons we are to respect our Father.
Away back in the Old Testament, God had asked this question: “If I am a father, where is my honour?” (Malachi 1. 6) Slave-religion does things out of a sense of duty – and then tries to get away with the least possible sacrifice. In Malachi's day that meant picking out the
Fourthly, Intimacy
By the Spirit, we are able to say to God “Abba, Father”. I've heard that translated as calling God “Daddy” like a little child. Now it's right that we need to come to God with that sense of Childlike trust and simplicity, not pretending to be more than we are. Maybe some of us need to revisit childhood and find out where the idea of “Father” went wrong for us. But that's not what “Abba” means. Sure, it was the word used by bairns. But it was also the word used by a grown-up son, who has become a friend of his Dad. It speaks of informality, it is intimate, but it is mature, respectful, trusting. It is the Hebrew word that Jesus used when he taught his disciples to pray “Father in Heaven.” We need to be discovering a grown-up, listening, trusting, open and honest relationship with our Heavenly Father. One where we can tell him what is on our minds. But one where we can hear what is on his mind.
Fifthly, authority
Paul says we are heirs of our Father 3. 28; 4. 7) Israel looked to God to fulfil promises made to Abraham and Moses. They stood to inherit, but not yet; at a time set by the Father. So there were trustees and executors (verse 2) in the meantime. But for believers, if you are a child, then you are also an heir and you receive your inheritance now. We are all inheritors of the promises of god. All god's promises, all the things god promised through Abraham, all the things God promises through St Paul in the New testament, all the benefits of living in the reality of the Kingdom of God; all of theses are for us, through the love of a heavenly Father.
Conclusion...
But I don’t' feel much like a child of God. How can I be god's child. Look at me. I've done a load of stuff that makes me feel embarrassed. I wasn't born to high status, I've never had much education, I haven't got much to offer really. When I try to serve God I really fumble. But God doesn't make us his children on the basis of our background, our training, or niceness or goodness. He makes us his children through Christ and by the Spirit.
God sent his Son ... to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as his children. (4. 4f). If you want to be a child of God, to receive adoption papers, then come to Jesus. If you have already trusted in Jesus, you are already a child of god. You need to enter into what is already yours.
God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry out, “Abba! Father!” If today you have trusted Jesus, but you don’t' know you are God's son, you need to Holy Spirit to be released within you to cry out “Abba Father.”
© Gilmour Lilly November 2012
Sunday 11 November 2012
Cosmic Christ, global vision :joined up spirituality. Colossians 1. 9-20
Christ Is Above All Colossians 1. 9-23
We had a real sense of an encounter with God when we came together to practise on Wednesday. As we worked through the challenge of our national day of remembrance, and thought about the state our nation and indeed our world is in, we got a very real and sharp sense of what is on God's heart for our world. There was almost a sense of frustration and bewilderment: how do we respond? What do we do? I felt the Holy Spirit lay this scripture on my heart in place of what I had already begun to prepare...
You see, the Christians in Colossae, were not such a bad lot. They had faith and love and hope; they were fruitful and Spirit-filled. Paul is thankful for all that – and yet knowing that, he prays for more...
He prays that they may know God's will. (v. 9) There was a wrong idea going around and Paul knew it was adanger in Colossae. It was called Gnosticism, belief in a secret knowledge. But knowing God's will is something fro every Christian. Paul prays that they may be able to live out their salvation: strengthened with power in the inner man.(v. 10ff)... He wants the amazing gift of salvation they have in Christ, being rescued from the authority of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of Jesus, where their inheritance is light, redeemed (bought back from the devil) and forgiven. (v 34f) .. Paul wants all of that to become the dominating reality in their lives... and in ours. Because that is our inheritance too. As we have trusted in Jesus we have been rescued from the authority of darkness that oppressed us and dragged us down. We avhe been made citizens of Jesus' kingdom where our inheritance is light.
So what’s God's will? What is God's will for me? Isn't it enough just to be saved? Isn't it enough just to be good? We need a spirituality that takes that amazing salvation, and plugs it into every aspect of our lives. We need to unleash what we have in Christ, the Jesus in our hearts, the power of the Gospel, the present reality of the Holy Spirit. (Paul says “I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. Rom 1. 16)
Our encounter with Jesus, being saved, leads us to who He is. Paul just can't stop talking about Jesus! He declares that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation. (v. 15) Image doesn't mean he is only a picture of God. It means he is the visible expression of the invisible God. First-born of all creation doesn't mean Jesus was the first person to be created. “First-born” Is about status. It speaks of the honour, dignity and rights of the oldest son. Remember Jacob: we mentioned him last week. He was a grabber and he grabbed his older brother's birthright. Esau was the first-born but Jacob cheated him out of his rights as first-born. Jesus existed first, before the world came to exist. He has the right to rule in this world. He is first-born over all creation. So does God have a will for the created order? If Jesus is the first-born of all creation, you can be sure God has a will for all creation.
Paul goes on (v. 16f): Through Christ God made everything, (including all the spiritual beings, thrones, lordships, rulers, authorities) and in him everything holds together. Just think about that. Jesus created the universe. He is the Word that came from the Father’s mouth at the beginning of all things and brought galaxies and stars, angels and amoebas and trees and people, into being. They exist because of him and for him. He is the glue that holds everything together. Quantum physicists are trying to find out about the subatomic particles that hold everything together. Whatever the scientific answer is, the theological answer is, Jesus. If Jesus wasn't there, the universe would shatter like a plate glass window, each atom and molecule hurtling outwards into infinity at the speed of light (that is if light itself still existed!?) Does God have a will for the created order, for this planet and its people? In Jesus everything holds together, so you can be sure God has a will for all things.
Jesus was raised from the dead so that he might have the first place. (v. 18) He was raised from the dead, not just so you and I could know we are forgiven. It's true, as the old hymn says, rising he justified, freely for ever (Romans 4. 25) But it's also true that he rose so that in all things he might have the first place. He rose to rule. When Jesus started his ministry in Nazareth, he preached a really short sermon. It was shorter than his text. The text said "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (Lk 4. 18f) And the sermon said “Today, this is fulfilled in your hearing!” (Lk 4. 20) What did Jesus come for? Not just to die for your sins and mine, but to bring the year of God's favour; to bring God's Kingdom. When Jesus rose from the dead, he did so in order to rule.
The very fulness of God lived (set up home) in Christ. John 1. 14 says the word became flesh and camped among us; But Colossians 1. 19 says the fulness of God resided permanently in him. Everything that God is, Christ is permanently, and Christ became humanity, in order to reconcile all things to God. Reconciliation is a truth so deep Paul had to make a new word up: it's about both sides changing, so God's attitude to us changes as he forgives us, and our attitude to him changes as well. And "all things" means – all things. Verse 20 elaborates: things on earth; things in heaven; peace, through the blood Jesus shed on the Cross. What or whom did Jesus come to reconcile? Well, he came to reconcile you and me to God. But that is only the start. He came to reconcile all things to God and to each other in him... So does God have a will for our world? Jesus has reconciled all things to himself in Christ, so you can be sure God has a will for the world.
God wants the world to be a peaceful place that holds together properly. God is concerned about politics, about sexual morality, about economic justice, about oppression and freedom, about war and peace. God cares about what happens in his world. God isn't into private religion. God isn't into single issue politics. He is concerned for all things.
And in the middle of it all, Paul says “he is the head of the Body, the Church...” The Church is his body. F.F. Bruce says the Church, Christ’s body is “Vitalised by his abiding presence, energised by his power.” The Church is Christ’s body, doing - like a healthy body should - what the Head directs. The Church is meant to be a working model of reconciliation between all different sorts of people, united because they know Jesus Christ. The Church is meant to be a laboratory of the Kingdom, where we show what life is like when God reigns. The end of all this isn't to turn us into activists. Yes, there will be action. But I’m not telling you to join a political party, or to grow your own veg or become an eco-warrior. I'm not saying we should all help out at the Food bank. But I am saying that we should have a spirituality that makes the connections. And these connections are not just between us and these things. They are connections between Jesus and these things.
We need a spirituality that makes connections... between
between our wonderful, individual personal salvation,
our growth in knowledge and strength.
Between who Jesus really is,
what his kingdom purpose is for the created order.
the Church that is his body.
We need to draw deeper into God so we have something to say to the nation and to the nations.
We need to pray for ourselves, for one another, and for our world. Not just to pray for people to be saved, but to pray blessing into the society we live in. To pray for political leaders. To pray for trade Union leaders and leaders of business. To pray for those who have suffered abuse and those in the frame for committing acts of abuse. To pray “Lord, your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. To pray that this Jesus in whom all things hold together, who died to reconcile all things to god; who rose again in order to have the pre-eminence, may reach out into our world. And maybe that kind of praying will do something to us., the Church, his body. Instead of feeling obliged to witness (too often so that the Church can grow!); instead of feeling obliged to do Christian Aid and generally try to make our world a better place... instead, we will go in the power of the Spirit to be the voice, hands and feet of Jesus, in the world for which we pray.
© Gilmour Lilly November 2012
We had a real sense of an encounter with God when we came together to practise on Wednesday. As we worked through the challenge of our national day of remembrance, and thought about the state our nation and indeed our world is in, we got a very real and sharp sense of what is on God's heart for our world. There was almost a sense of frustration and bewilderment: how do we respond? What do we do? I felt the Holy Spirit lay this scripture on my heart in place of what I had already begun to prepare...
You see, the Christians in Colossae, were not such a bad lot. They had faith and love and hope; they were fruitful and Spirit-filled. Paul is thankful for all that – and yet knowing that, he prays for more...
He prays that they may know God's will. (v. 9) There was a wrong idea going around and Paul knew it was adanger in Colossae. It was called Gnosticism, belief in a secret knowledge. But knowing God's will is something fro every Christian. Paul prays that they may be able to live out their salvation: strengthened with power in the inner man.(v. 10ff)... He wants the amazing gift of salvation they have in Christ, being rescued from the authority of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of Jesus, where their inheritance is light, redeemed (bought back from the devil) and forgiven. (v 34f) .. Paul wants all of that to become the dominating reality in their lives... and in ours. Because that is our inheritance too. As we have trusted in Jesus we have been rescued from the authority of darkness that oppressed us and dragged us down. We avhe been made citizens of Jesus' kingdom where our inheritance is light.
So what’s God's will? What is God's will for me? Isn't it enough just to be saved? Isn't it enough just to be good? We need a spirituality that takes that amazing salvation, and plugs it into every aspect of our lives. We need to unleash what we have in Christ, the Jesus in our hearts, the power of the Gospel, the present reality of the Holy Spirit. (Paul says “I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. Rom 1. 16)
Our encounter with Jesus, being saved, leads us to who He is. Paul just can't stop talking about Jesus! He declares that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation. (v. 15) Image doesn't mean he is only a picture of God. It means he is the visible expression of the invisible God. First-born of all creation doesn't mean Jesus was the first person to be created. “First-born” Is about status. It speaks of the honour, dignity and rights of the oldest son. Remember Jacob: we mentioned him last week. He was a grabber and he grabbed his older brother's birthright. Esau was the first-born but Jacob cheated him out of his rights as first-born. Jesus existed first, before the world came to exist. He has the right to rule in this world. He is first-born over all creation. So does God have a will for the created order? If Jesus is the first-born of all creation, you can be sure God has a will for all creation.
Paul goes on (v. 16f): Through Christ God made everything, (including all the spiritual beings, thrones, lordships, rulers, authorities) and in him everything holds together. Just think about that. Jesus created the universe. He is the Word that came from the Father’s mouth at the beginning of all things and brought galaxies and stars, angels and amoebas and trees and people, into being. They exist because of him and for him. He is the glue that holds everything together. Quantum physicists are trying to find out about the subatomic particles that hold everything together. Whatever the scientific answer is, the theological answer is, Jesus. If Jesus wasn't there, the universe would shatter like a plate glass window, each atom and molecule hurtling outwards into infinity at the speed of light (that is if light itself still existed!?) Does God have a will for the created order, for this planet and its people? In Jesus everything holds together, so you can be sure God has a will for all things.
Jesus was raised from the dead so that he might have the first place. (v. 18) He was raised from the dead, not just so you and I could know we are forgiven. It's true, as the old hymn says, rising he justified, freely for ever (Romans 4. 25) But it's also true that he rose so that in all things he might have the first place. He rose to rule. When Jesus started his ministry in Nazareth, he preached a really short sermon. It was shorter than his text. The text said "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (Lk 4. 18f) And the sermon said “Today, this is fulfilled in your hearing!” (Lk 4. 20) What did Jesus come for? Not just to die for your sins and mine, but to bring the year of God's favour; to bring God's Kingdom. When Jesus rose from the dead, he did so in order to rule.
The very fulness of God lived (set up home) in Christ. John 1. 14 says the word became flesh and camped among us; But Colossians 1. 19 says the fulness of God resided permanently in him. Everything that God is, Christ is permanently, and Christ became humanity, in order to reconcile all things to God. Reconciliation is a truth so deep Paul had to make a new word up: it's about both sides changing, so God's attitude to us changes as he forgives us, and our attitude to him changes as well. And "all things" means – all things. Verse 20 elaborates: things on earth; things in heaven; peace, through the blood Jesus shed on the Cross. What or whom did Jesus come to reconcile? Well, he came to reconcile you and me to God. But that is only the start. He came to reconcile all things to God and to each other in him... So does God have a will for our world? Jesus has reconciled all things to himself in Christ, so you can be sure God has a will for the world.
God wants the world to be a peaceful place that holds together properly. God is concerned about politics, about sexual morality, about economic justice, about oppression and freedom, about war and peace. God cares about what happens in his world. God isn't into private religion. God isn't into single issue politics. He is concerned for all things.
And in the middle of it all, Paul says “he is the head of the Body, the Church...” The Church is his body. F.F. Bruce says the Church, Christ’s body is “Vitalised by his abiding presence, energised by his power.” The Church is Christ’s body, doing - like a healthy body should - what the Head directs. The Church is meant to be a working model of reconciliation between all different sorts of people, united because they know Jesus Christ. The Church is meant to be a laboratory of the Kingdom, where we show what life is like when God reigns. The end of all this isn't to turn us into activists. Yes, there will be action. But I’m not telling you to join a political party, or to grow your own veg or become an eco-warrior. I'm not saying we should all help out at the Food bank. But I am saying that we should have a spirituality that makes the connections. And these connections are not just between us and these things. They are connections between Jesus and these things.
We need a spirituality that makes connections... between
between our wonderful, individual personal salvation,
our growth in knowledge and strength.
Between who Jesus really is,
what his kingdom purpose is for the created order.
the Church that is his body.
We need to draw deeper into God so we have something to say to the nation and to the nations.
We need to pray for ourselves, for one another, and for our world. Not just to pray for people to be saved, but to pray blessing into the society we live in. To pray for political leaders. To pray for trade Union leaders and leaders of business. To pray for those who have suffered abuse and those in the frame for committing acts of abuse. To pray “Lord, your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. To pray that this Jesus in whom all things hold together, who died to reconcile all things to god; who rose again in order to have the pre-eminence, may reach out into our world. And maybe that kind of praying will do something to us., the Church, his body. Instead of feeling obliged to witness (too often so that the Church can grow!); instead of feeling obliged to do Christian Aid and generally try to make our world a better place... instead, we will go in the power of the Spirit to be the voice, hands and feet of Jesus, in the world for which we pray.
© Gilmour Lilly November 2012
Sunday 4 November 2012
Psalm 24. Encountering God...
Don't you think it's kind of outrageous thing, this idea of making an approach to God? The very idea that we can gather together in this wee building on a Sunday Morning, and dare to suggest that we are doing more than thinking about or discussing God; we are doing more than remembering god's actions; we are doing more than encouraging one another in our faith or trying to “Sell” the idea of faith! The very idea that we can gather together in a place like this, and believe that we are encountering God himself. Not just talking, not just theory, not just ideas or auto-suggestion, but a real encounter!
David wrote this psalm out of a real encounter with God. There was a box – they called it the “ark of the covenant” – which was the most precious, most important symbol of God's presence with Israel. 1 Sam 4-6 tells how a priest called Phineas foolishly took the Ark into battle against the Philistines as if it was a magic charm. They were defeated; Phineas' wife was pregnant and when the news came she gave birth to a baby boy whom they called Ichabod – the Glory (Heb Chabod) has departed. The Philistines stuck the Ark in the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, the statue of Dagon was on the floor in front of the Ark. They put the statue back up and next morning the statue of Dagon was on the floor again, only this time its head and hands were chopped off. So they handed it back to the town of Kiriath-jearim in Israel and eventually King David decided to bring it back to Jerusalem (the Hill of the Lord). They put it on a brand new cart, and off they went. But just like in Fife, there were potholes in the road, and as they went over a particularly bad one, one of the guys, called Uzzah, put his hand out to steady the Ark. God struck him down for that, and David decided not to take the ark any further. The Ark isn't a lucky charm and it isn't the symbol of a god who can't look after himself. Three months later he decided to have another try. This time they found out the right way to transport the Ark – not on a cart but with long poles attached to loops on the side of the Ark, carried by men. That was what God had said way back in the time of Moses when the Ark was first made, and that is what they did this time... And as they did, they celebrated. David danced with joy as the ark made its slow progress into Jerusalem. (2 Sam 6) And that journey is what this Psalm is all about....
Psalm 24 answers two vital “who” questions: Who can come to God? Who is God anyway?
So who can come to God?
Who can really approach god and stand tall and unashamed in his presence? May in the crowd would think the answer might be King David, The priests, Israel, He who lives in Jerusalem, He who is circumcised, he who brings tithes and offerings; he who keeps the Sabbath and celebrates the passover each year.”
No. The real answer is anyone who has clean hands and a pure heart. This answer is an outrage to those who considered themselves already sorted “insiders” to faith and God. He won't be tied down to one nation. “The earth is the Lord's!” If those Philistines who had taken the ark away had done so with clean hands and a pure heart they would have been able to approach God.
But you need clean hands and a pure heart. You can't presume on having God with you just because you have the Ark as Phineas and had done. Who shall enter? “He who has clean hands and a pure heart”... And that means the answer is – as the Arbroath folk call the West window of their Abbey a “round O”. Nothing. Nobody. He has purer eyes than to behold sin.
But there is grace, mercy and hope! Men and women can come to God if they “seek the face of the God of Jacob” who turns the twister into the prince. Jacob was the “Arthur Daley “ of the Old Testament. He had a skill for “creative accounting” and would have fitted in well selling Payment Protection Insurance for one of the big banks. The God of Jacob is the God who sent Jesus to deal with our twistedness and sin. There is hope for us, in spite of our failings and sins.
Who is this God?
He is the Lord strong in battle. Yes, there had been defeats. When the people had forgotten to stay close to the Lord, the Philistines had beaten them and the “Glory had departed” along with the ark. But especially under King David, there had been mighty victories too. The Lord had fought for them. But he is more than that. He is always more than what he does for us, more than the victories he wins for us.
He is the Lord hosts,the Lord of heaven's armies., and indeed the Lord of all created things, the whole crowd of everything and everyone who has ever lived on this earth. “The earth is the Lords and everything in it!” HE is more than the God who wins battles. He is the Lord of hosts: the lord of the heavenly host, the Lord of everything.
HE is bigger than simply a localised little god. He can't be limited to a golden box or contained in a temple. He's not just the local god of Jerusalem or Judea or Israel. Philistia is his. Egypt is his. The earth is His. He’s not some little empty symbol that needs to be propped up al the time. He is LORD of Hosts.
And so, as we come to him, we come opening our doors to him and we come prepared to be transformed in the encounter,
So what?
In a world where Richard Dawkins claims “more and more people are realising there is no god” here we are, not only believing there is, but expecting an encounter with Him... or we should be! Our world needs to be brought face-to-face with the reality of this God. The God who is surrounded in splendour and glory. Glory is the weight of his presence. A cynical world isn't interested in a game of religious make-believe or in joining in with any attempt to sustain a wizard of Oz type illusion and “prop God up” like Uzzah did.
Christ Duffett, Baptist Union of GB President, is a full-time evangelist. He tells of once asking a young woman “What would you really like to say to God?”. She answered, “if there is a God, what is it like?” that question, “What is god like?” is hugely significant. People are not going to be bothered with a god who is not worth bothering about; who is weak and empty and pointless, who never does anything. Nor are they going to want to be bothered with at God who is bad. People do not want a god who is not better than they are!
We make our approach to the Lord of Hosts. We welcome him into our midst. The earth is the Lord's. But isn't that what you are here for? To encounter God? And if that's not what you are expecting, if that is not what you are here for, if all you are here for is to learn about God, then maybe, turning Richard Dawkins's words on their head, yo need to realise that there is a god. … And that the very idea of there being a god, demands that he be encountered. If he is hiding in the wings, he is not the god of the Bible.
We have been working through our Mission Statement – “learning to show the Father's love” . We've looked at Discipleship – the learning process – and at Demonstration – how we show God to our world. Now we are going Deeper with God, our need to walk with our Heavenly Father. All the learning and discipleship, all the showing and demonstration, is empty talk and not really possible – without a living encounter with God himself.
So “How” might we encounter Him. What are the “means of Grace?” How can we pick up and use the tools he has given to enable us to meet with him, and go deeper with him. We start here – recognising who can come to God and who God is – and expectantly seeking his face.
© Gilmour Lilly November 2012
David wrote this psalm out of a real encounter with God. There was a box – they called it the “ark of the covenant” – which was the most precious, most important symbol of God's presence with Israel. 1 Sam 4-6 tells how a priest called Phineas foolishly took the Ark into battle against the Philistines as if it was a magic charm. They were defeated; Phineas' wife was pregnant and when the news came she gave birth to a baby boy whom they called Ichabod – the Glory (Heb Chabod) has departed. The Philistines stuck the Ark in the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, the statue of Dagon was on the floor in front of the Ark. They put the statue back up and next morning the statue of Dagon was on the floor again, only this time its head and hands were chopped off. So they handed it back to the town of Kiriath-jearim in Israel and eventually King David decided to bring it back to Jerusalem (the Hill of the Lord). They put it on a brand new cart, and off they went. But just like in Fife, there were potholes in the road, and as they went over a particularly bad one, one of the guys, called Uzzah, put his hand out to steady the Ark. God struck him down for that, and David decided not to take the ark any further. The Ark isn't a lucky charm and it isn't the symbol of a god who can't look after himself. Three months later he decided to have another try. This time they found out the right way to transport the Ark – not on a cart but with long poles attached to loops on the side of the Ark, carried by men. That was what God had said way back in the time of Moses when the Ark was first made, and that is what they did this time... And as they did, they celebrated. David danced with joy as the ark made its slow progress into Jerusalem. (2 Sam 6) And that journey is what this Psalm is all about....
Psalm 24 answers two vital “who” questions: Who can come to God? Who is God anyway?
So who can come to God?
Who can really approach god and stand tall and unashamed in his presence? May in the crowd would think the answer might be King David, The priests, Israel, He who lives in Jerusalem, He who is circumcised, he who brings tithes and offerings; he who keeps the Sabbath and celebrates the passover each year.”
No. The real answer is anyone who has clean hands and a pure heart. This answer is an outrage to those who considered themselves already sorted “insiders” to faith and God. He won't be tied down to one nation. “The earth is the Lord's!” If those Philistines who had taken the ark away had done so with clean hands and a pure heart they would have been able to approach God.
But you need clean hands and a pure heart. You can't presume on having God with you just because you have the Ark as Phineas and had done. Who shall enter? “He who has clean hands and a pure heart”... And that means the answer is – as the Arbroath folk call the West window of their Abbey a “round O”. Nothing. Nobody. He has purer eyes than to behold sin.
But there is grace, mercy and hope! Men and women can come to God if they “seek the face of the God of Jacob” who turns the twister into the prince. Jacob was the “Arthur Daley “ of the Old Testament. He had a skill for “creative accounting” and would have fitted in well selling Payment Protection Insurance for one of the big banks. The God of Jacob is the God who sent Jesus to deal with our twistedness and sin. There is hope for us, in spite of our failings and sins.
Who is this God?
He is the Lord strong in battle. Yes, there had been defeats. When the people had forgotten to stay close to the Lord, the Philistines had beaten them and the “Glory had departed” along with the ark. But especially under King David, there had been mighty victories too. The Lord had fought for them. But he is more than that. He is always more than what he does for us, more than the victories he wins for us.
He is the Lord hosts,the Lord of heaven's armies., and indeed the Lord of all created things, the whole crowd of everything and everyone who has ever lived on this earth. “The earth is the Lords and everything in it!” HE is more than the God who wins battles. He is the Lord of hosts: the lord of the heavenly host, the Lord of everything.
HE is bigger than simply a localised little god. He can't be limited to a golden box or contained in a temple. He's not just the local god of Jerusalem or Judea or Israel. Philistia is his. Egypt is his. The earth is His. He’s not some little empty symbol that needs to be propped up al the time. He is LORD of Hosts.
And so, as we come to him, we come opening our doors to him and we come prepared to be transformed in the encounter,
So what?
In a world where Richard Dawkins claims “more and more people are realising there is no god” here we are, not only believing there is, but expecting an encounter with Him... or we should be! Our world needs to be brought face-to-face with the reality of this God. The God who is surrounded in splendour and glory. Glory is the weight of his presence. A cynical world isn't interested in a game of religious make-believe or in joining in with any attempt to sustain a wizard of Oz type illusion and “prop God up” like Uzzah did.
Christ Duffett, Baptist Union of GB President, is a full-time evangelist. He tells of once asking a young woman “What would you really like to say to God?”. She answered, “if there is a God, what is it like?” that question, “What is god like?” is hugely significant. People are not going to be bothered with a god who is not worth bothering about; who is weak and empty and pointless, who never does anything. Nor are they going to want to be bothered with at God who is bad. People do not want a god who is not better than they are!
We make our approach to the Lord of Hosts. We welcome him into our midst. The earth is the Lord's. But isn't that what you are here for? To encounter God? And if that's not what you are expecting, if that is not what you are here for, if all you are here for is to learn about God, then maybe, turning Richard Dawkins's words on their head, yo need to realise that there is a god. … And that the very idea of there being a god, demands that he be encountered. If he is hiding in the wings, he is not the god of the Bible.
We have been working through our Mission Statement – “learning to show the Father's love” . We've looked at Discipleship – the learning process – and at Demonstration – how we show God to our world. Now we are going Deeper with God, our need to walk with our Heavenly Father. All the learning and discipleship, all the showing and demonstration, is empty talk and not really possible – without a living encounter with God himself.
So “How” might we encounter Him. What are the “means of Grace?” How can we pick up and use the tools he has given to enable us to meet with him, and go deeper with him. We start here – recognising who can come to God and who God is – and expectantly seeking his face.
© Gilmour Lilly November 2012
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