In his article in The New York Times yesterday (May 17, 2016), David Brooks asked the question, ‘What is the central challenge facing our era? My answer would be: social isolation’, he wrote.
My answer would be: ‘Isolation from God’. TS Eliot once wrote, Hell is oneself, hell is alone, the other figures in it merely projections.
In John 16:5-6 we read Jesus’ words to his disciples as he walked with them one more time before his arrest and crucifixion: “But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.”
The more he spoke of his ‘going away’, the more depressed his disciples became. Aware of this he used these last hours to assure them that his going would not be the disaster they anticipated. But, as so often happens, self-pity blinded them to the deeper, hidden purposes of God.
In John 16:7 we read: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate (Helper) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
Sometimes we can feel isolated from God— sometimes by feelings of failure, of unworthiness, sickness or grief. What Jesus was saying to his first followers, he also says to us today, ‘Don’t despair. I am making a promise that makes it possible for you to experience me in your life.’
Indeed, the Spirit opens our eyes to our need: “And when he comes, he will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer;about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned” (John 16:8-11).
Jesus’ words seem cryptic, but when we consider them their meaning is clear. The Holy Spirit’s work is to awaken us to our isolation from God. Why is it that someone who has lived a life of indifference or even hostility towards God can suddenly be aware of their sin and their need for personal salvation? CS Lewis was in his thirties when he came ‘kicking and screaming’ into God’s kingdom. It is the Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.
The word convict is a technical word in the original language, meaning to cross-examine a hostile witness. Jesus was saying that the Spirit would also challenge and awaken our conscience.
Was this really new? Wasn’t King David convicted of his affair with Bathsheba? When we consider Jesus’ words, we see there’s a significant change in the way the Spirit works. There is a new definition of sin. The Spirit convicts us of sin, not simply because we break the Ten Commandments, but because we don’t acknowledge Jesus as our rightful ruler. We choose to be isolated from him.
This is most significant – for us personally and for our outreach. The question God will one day ask all of us is this: ‘What did you do with my Son?’
Some twelve months ago eleven heroin smugglers were executed in Indonesia. Two of them were Australians. One of them, Andrew Chan, had turned to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior during his long imprisonment. The Spirit of God had convicted him of his sin and accountability to God. When I read this I thought of one of the two criminals crucified with Jesus who had said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ The Spirit awakens us to our need for forgiveness from God so that we may be longer isolated from him.
David Brooks’ solution to the issue of isolation is to build meaningful community, ‘One community at a time’. It’s a good idea – as far as it goes. Jesus’ solution goes to the heart of our real isolation, our isolation from God. When we turn to the Lord Jesus, he, the Lord of the universe, promises to come into our lives in the person of his Spirit. What is more, he builds us into the new community of his people. But that’s another theme for another day.
To know Christ is never to be alone. As King David could say, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…(Psalm 23:4a).
For the most part, we long to see a day of revival of faith in Jesus Christ in our community and across the nation. ‘Could it happen,’ we ask?
This Sunday is Pentecost, or Whit Sunday in the Christian calendar. Pentecost is the Jewish festival that celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 19:18 we read that violent wind and tongues of fire had enveloped Mt. Sinai at the time God gave Moses the law. However, the law failed to change the world because it failed to change people.
In Acts 2: 1-4 we read that some thirteen hundred years later God came again with fire and wind. This time, it was not to impart God’s law but to impart his Spirit. On this occasion the fire symbolized the purifying, cleansing work of Jesus; and the speech pointed to the good news of Jesus reaching people in every nation.
It is on the element of speech that Acts focuses: Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. … And everyone was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. The crowd came from everywhere in the known world (Acts 2:5f).
It was the beginning of the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
WITNESSES
Jesus uses witness in the way we do – in reference to someone who speaks of things they have seen and heard. The Apostles were witnesses because they had been with Jesus throughout the whole of his public ministry. Jesus wants us to know the truth about him.
This is important because the Bible reveals that Christianity is not a religion involving rules, regulations, and ritual. Rather it involves a relationship with the one true God through Jesus the Messiah. It is, therefore, important we know the truth about him. Meaningful and lasting relationships can only be built on truth. Family relationships, for example, are only meaningful where there is truth and openness. Without truth, there can be no trust.
We need to think about this. Jesus is not saying that his followers down through the ages will be witnesses in the same way that his first disciples were. We can’t be. We weren’t there. But we are called upon to testify to what it is that we believe about Jesus.
In 1 Peter 3:15 we read, always be prepared to give an answer for the hope (or the faith) that you have in Jesus Christ. In Colossians 4:6 we read, let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt. God calls on us to look for and use opportunities in our conversations to stir others to consider Christianity. Some people I know scour the news and opinion pieces daily, looking for items they can use to talk about Jesus Christ.
TESTIMONIES
But Jesus knows that human witness and human testimony won’t happen without God’s help. He knows that energy is needed to transform lives. So he sent us his Spirit – to motivate, to energize and to give his people throughout the ages, courage to promote God’s gospel.
On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit used Peter’s preaching to bring about the conversion of some three thousand people. As we read in The Acts of the Apostles we find the Spirit equipping God’s people for ministry. And he continues to do so today.
It is the Spirit’s passion, because it is God’s passion, that people everywhere feel the impact of Jesus on their lives. This is the era of God’s mercy. The exciting thing is that he wants to involve us. Indeed, there will come a day when people will thank us for the time, effort, and money, we invested in their eternal well-being.
I’m not saying that the task is easy. It is certainly harder to reach people now than forty years ago. People around us are seduced by secular atheism and religious pluralism. In other places, Christianity is opposed by very hostile forces – especially militant Islam.
This means we need people who are burning with enthusiasm for Christ, to speak up. Where will we find these men and women if it isn’t through the Holy Spirit coming afresh on us and making us different? Isn’t it time to pray? Isn’t it time to speak?
This Sunday, May 8, is Mother’s Day. It’s an important day in that it reminds us of the love and extraordinary sacrifices mothers can make for their children.
Since the 1960s there have been significant changes in the way women see themselves: having now the sexual freedoms formally perceived to belong only to men; having the capacity to rise to high positions, professionally and politically; yet still having the unique capacity to be a mother.
PROVERBS 31 WOMAN
It may come as a surprise to many to read Proverbs 31:10-31. The woman personified here is probably a composite, drawing together aspects of womanhood the Bible applauds.
At first glance we could say she would make a good New Yorker, given what she does and the pace of her life! But we see here not just characteristics of an ideal wife and mother but also a picture of the Bible’s view of womanhood. Indeed there are lessons here that are applicable across society and time.
Who is this woman? Let me identify some key themes. She is a manager. Inverses 11 through 13 we see she is active and competent, promoting goodness and protecting those around her against life’s hazards. Indeed, she is capable of taking on a variety of significant responsibilities.
She is also an entrepreneur – a successful businesswoman. In verses 14 through 16 we see she buys and sells in the market place and she has an eye for property and investment opportunities. Her lamp does not go out, suggesting either prosperity or long hours of work. She is physically fit and strong (verse 17) and skilled in spinning her own thread (verse 19).
But she is also compassionate and caring. Proverbs 31:20 tells us thatshe gives a percentage of her profits to the poor, reinforcing the biblical principle that prosperity is to be shared with those who are less well off.
Furthermore, her conversation is not simply small talk, gossip or about the latest fashion. She uses opportunities to speak words of wisdom (verses 26, 27). She brings God into her conversation – his revelation and his wisdom for life – so essential in the home and beyond.
WHAT THEN IS THE KEY TO HER SUCCESS?
Her independence, her energy, her entrepreneurial gifts? No. In Proverbs 31:30-31 we read: Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
These verses form a fitting conclusion to the Book of Proverbs for they bring us back to the starting point – chapter 1:7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and instruction. This is what this woman has learned – a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
The Book of Proverbs has some salutary words about those women whose goal in life is to trap men. Proverbs 31 reverses this, for here is a woman who, fearing the Lord, shapes her life around his Word and his wisdom. She is also a reversal of Genesis 3 and its account of Adam and Eve and their fall.
When we view Proverbs 31 through the lens of the New Testament we can see it as a pointer to Mary and her response to the announcement of the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:35ff). Luke’s account draws our attention to the depth of Mary’s experience of God’s mercy. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, she says (Luke 1:46f). Mary is not the bestower of grace. She is the beneficiary of grace.
MEN AND WOMEN
God says to women, as he does to men, ‘I have designed you and made you. Listen to me; turn to me; trust me’.
Let’s take the time this Mother’s Day to thank the Lord for the mother he gave us. Above all, let’s thank God for the Son that Mary bore – Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. For to fear him is the beginning of wisdom. To turn to him in repentance and in faith is to know the beginning of life.
This year significant decisions will be made at the polls in three different countries – In the United Kingdom: to exit or not to exit the European Common Market; In Australia: following a double-dissolution, election of representatives to both Houses of Federal Parliament; In the USA: election of a new president and representatives in both Houses of Congress.
It’s often said that politics can be a dirty business. Sadly, too often we see signs of this when politicians take one another’s words out of context or distort the truth. ‘I misspoke’ is newspeak for not being truthful. When we see this we are reminded of Lord Acton’s words:Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Our responsibility to the State: The processes of politics, its candidates and decisions, should not cause us to step away. We need to remember that as God’s people we are called to ‘seek the welfare of the city’ (Jeremiah 29:7).
Further, let us not forget Paul the Apostle’s words in 1 Timothy 2:1-4: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers and intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and for all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
RESPONSIBILITY TO THE STATE
Having said this about our responsibility to the State, we should equally be mindful that politics will never provide the ultimate solution to our human troubles. To quote Jeremiah again, the heart is deceitful above all things(Jeremiah 17:9). While we need leaders and government for the good order and management of society, we need to agree that the human tragedy is such, we need radical surgery to clean up the mess.
This is where even Jesus’ first followers were slow learners. Consider the question they asked Jesus in the aftermath of his resurrection: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts of the Apostles 1:6). We need to think about their question for when politics dominates our thinking and conversation it is all too easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, the deeper need, and God’s generous solution.
Jesus had been speaking about how the new age of God’s messiah had dawned with the events of his death and resurrection. Clearly the disciples were excited about this and began to think that at last Jesus was going to reveal his true power and position as Israel’s true king. So, they referred to Jesus restoring the kingdom. They were thinking in political categories – the restoration of the monarchy, as it were.
And, in referencing the kingdom of Israel, they were thinking in nationalistic terms: the power and position of Israel as a nation. They questioned whether this would happen soon. Now that Jesus was truly alive, the time of his coming in his kingly power and rule must be imminent.
HOLY MYSTERIES
We need to consider this. Throughout the ages many professing Christians have thought in much the same categories as those first followers. But look at Jesus’ response: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.His words are a rebuke: ‘Guys,’ he’s saying, ‘that’s not for you to know. There are some things you won’t be told, and that’s one of them.’
We need to pay very careful attention to the agenda that Jesus’ outlines: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”(Acts 1:8).
His words form an action plan for his disciples cum ‘apostles’. Their vision is short-sighted and parochial – limited to political and national categories. Jesus wants them to lift their eyes to the deeper need of men and women everywhere. ‘Listen,’ he is saying, ‘You’re being political. Come with me and see the big picture. The outcomes which my death and resurrection have set in motion must be announced – first, here in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria, and finally to the ends of the earth.’
The disciples agenda was political in its focus, nationalistic in scope and immediate in time. Jesus’ agenda is spiritual in its focus, world-wide in scope, and far-flung in time. It’s an agenda he wants every one of us to adopt and live out.
It is said that there are two certainties in life – death and taxes. Ironically both subjects tend to be off limits at dinner parties. Our death is something we don’t want to talk about, let alone think about. Woody Allen once quipped: “It’s not that we’re afraid to die. We just don’t want to be there when it happens.”Yet Malcolm Muggeridge, a former British journalist and author, observed: In earthly terms death is the only certainty.
I don’t want to be morbid today, but it is a subject we need to consider. And what better time than during this season of Easter!
Our creed states: ‘I believe in… the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting’. What does this really mean? What happens if we’re burnt, or buried, or our body is destroyed? And, if one day we are to be raised, what kind of body will we have? The subject is complex and our answers can easily become no more than confused ramblings.
Consider what Paul writes in the clearest biblical statement on the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15:21 we read: For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.
GOODNIGHT
When we attach ourselves, by faith, to Jesus, we can be assured that even though our bodies may rot and decay in a grave, the day will come when we too will be raised from the dead. On that awesome day when Christ will be seen in all his majestic power, he will give us a new body. For God’s people, death is not ‘Goodbye’, but ‘Goodnight’.
Jesus’ resurrection foreshadows the resurrection from the dead of all his people. This is the theme that Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 15:35ff. He writes: Someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish,what you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
When I was in Kindergarten class, my family was living in the country. I remember carrying out my first formal scientific experiment. We were given a saucer, cotton wool and some wheat. We put the wheat on the cotton wool, wet it and took it home. Over the next few days I was amazed at what I observed. Out of the rotting, smelly grain grew new life.
CHRISTIAN DEATH
In the present order of things death needs to take place before new life occurs. The death of the first is the means of effecting change. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed… There’s a process of death before life, even in nature.
And Paul continues: God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another (vv.38, 39). It is God’s prerogative to bring about change and give the sown seed its appropriate plant body as he wills.
Indeed, he is used to creating bodies appropriate for different kinds of environments – for men and women and for animals who live on the land, for birds that fly, and for fish that live in water. Each is perfectly fitted for its environment.
THE AGE TO COME
In the same way, our earthly bodies are suited for our earthly existence, but they will be useless in the perfection of the age to come. Our present bodies need to be buried when their work is done here, so that out of their raw material God can produce a new, spiritual body perfectly suited for the new age.
‘Have no doubt,’ says Paul, ‘the resurrection of our bodies will be a reality. It makes sense. It’s consistent with what we can observe of the various elements of the present natural order. It means there is continuity between our present and future existence.’
This is important for us to know. It means for one thing that God treats every aspect of his creating work seriously – nothing is lost, for everything has a meaning. There’s not some massive disjunction between the material and the spiritual world. This suggests that keeping as fit as we can now is an important part of worship of God. I’m not suggesting that we all go out and join ‘Fit for Him’ exercise classes, but certainly the continuity between the present and the future order should encourage us not to abuse our bodies.
What we do in every aspect of our life now matters to God.
