Wednesday – June 26, 2019

‘Joy…?’ 

C. S. Lewis once observed, ‘I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to “rejoice” as much as by anything else.’

Was he right? Is there real joy in our lives? I am not talking about a manufactured, false kind of joy – putting on a brave face when we are anxious or when things go wrong in life. I am talking about, and I am sure Lewis was talking about, the deep joy that springs from a clear conscience.

The concluding verses of Psalm 32 read:

   Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.

   Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Why should we be glad and rejoice? What might motivate us to shout for joy?

David wrote Psalm 32 following the humiliating exposure of his affair with Bathsheba. While he wrote it about himself we too can benefit, for if we are going to find the kind of joy that he is speaking about we need to attend to his words. Verses 1 and 2 read:

   Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

     Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Misdemeanors? Freud told us that guilt is a psychological hang-up. But King David tells us that it is something objective, something real that stands between each one of us and our Maker. The God who rules the universe is not simply an impersonal force. He is a moral being, a holy judge. However, we do not naturally lead godly lives, pray, trust God, and generally delight in honoring him. Our natural inclination is to try to cover up our sin, thinking of our failures as foibles and misdemeanors. So, we often compromise on issues we know are wrong, calling it tolerance; we slide into godlessness, thinking we are free.

In Psalm 32 King David is telling us that when we ignore God we offend him. This is one of the tough words of Christianity. Malcolm Muggeridge, a former editor of the English Punch magazine put it this way: The depravity of man is at once the most unpopular of all dogmas, but the most empirically verifiable.

Forgiveness. The only safe way, the only permanent way, to deal with guilt is to have it washed away. And there is only one person with the cleansing power needed to erase such stains – the Lord himself. David knew this: Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

We have a far better knowledge of the truth of David’s words because we live on the other side of the cross of Jesus Christ. Christ died for our sins, the apostle Paul wrote. And it is Psalm 32 that he quotes in Romans 4:6-8 where he argues that God, in his mercy, declares an amnesty for sinners who turn to him in faith. We are saved by grace alone, not by any intrinsic good within us or by any good works we have done.

Reason for joy. Too often our lack of joy comes because we have not been honest with God and opened our hearts to him. We have not truly grasped that in Christ our sins are washed away and that each day we can enjoy a fresh start in life.

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© John G. Mason – www.anglicanconnection.com

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Getty Music Worship Conference: ‘Sing…!’ – August 19-21, 2019, Nashville, TN

Theme: ‘The Life of Christ’ – www.gettymusicworshipconference.com

John Mason speaking – Breakout Group: Monday, August 19, 3:00-4:00pm.

Topic: ‘Thomas Cranmer and Christ-Centered Worship. 

 Wednesday, June 12

‘Suffering’

‘If God is great and good why is there so much suffering?’ A question we regularly hear, especially when the topic of Christianity comes up. Certainly this is one of life’s tough questions that we all want answered. The reality of pain and suffering is probably one of the biggest reasons people give for rejecting the existence of God.

For the professing Christian person it’s one of the toughest, if not the toughest question to have to answer and, I have to say, there are no complete answers. It would be wrong to insist that there are. So what can we say about this profound and perplexing subject? Let me briefly raise a number of points we can consider.

Reasonable logic. To use a simple Philosophy 101 syllogism, one line of argument often goes like this:
          A God who is all-powerful would be able to end suffering and pain;
          A God who is all-loving would want suffering and pain to cease;
          BUT suffering and pain exist;
          Therefore a God who is all powerful and all loving does not exist.

At first sight it seems to make a lot of sense. But consider the response by the philosopher Alvin Plantinga: A God who is all-powerful would be able to end suffering and pain;
           A God who is all-loving would want suffering and pain to cease;
           BUT suffering and pain exist;
           Therefore a God who is all powerful and all loving has a bigger plan.

So, what is the larger picture that God has in mind? Is there any evidence for it? To answer this question it is helpful to see what the records about Jesus’ life have to say on the subject.

Luke 8:40-56 tells us of two sets of people faced with suffering and anguish – the first, a woman who had an incurable haemorrhage for twelve years; the second, a man whose twelve year-old daughter was dying. Both turned to Jesus for help. In him, both found the help they needed.

Transcendent power. Jairus, a recognized synagogue ruler, was charged with ensuring that the law of Moses was taught and upheld. Yet he made no claims to his position when he met with Jesus. Rather, he fell at Jesus’ feet, humbly asking for help. And when the sick woman interrupted Jesus’ progress to his house, Jairus did not object, despite his anxiety. He had a quiet confidence in Jesus. During the delay, news came that his daughter had died. Shockingly Jesus urged him not to fear. Rather ‘believe’. His words underline a major theme in Luke 8. With Jesus, the fear that grips us can give way to the release which faith allows.

Arriving at Jairus’s house, Jesus passed by the mourning and disbelieving crowds. Going to the girl’s bedside and taking her hand he said, ‘Child, arise.’  At that she rose and was given food.

Compassion. Jesus’ miracles point to his real nature – he is truly God in human form. Furthermore, they are mini-portraits of the deeper blessings he offers our suffering world. He invites us all to lean on him in our time of need. He will not always remove our suffering now, but he does promise to be with us. He is also committed to providing a future where there will be no crying or pain. 

 Wednesday, June 5

‘Is Anyone There…?’ 

HG Wells, author of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, wrote: “I am an historian. I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”

Why would an unbeliever say that ‘Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history?’ What is it about Jesus of Nazareth that has captured the attention of great and lesser minds from amongst all peoples? Is it the power of his words, the magnetism of his personality, the integrity of his life even in the face of the gross injustice perpetrated against him? Or is it his extraordinary feats, noted by 1^st century historians such as Josephus? Or is there something more?

Records. Something we often overlook about the records concerning Jesus is that they were not written by just one ‘recorder’, or even by Jesus himself. There are four distinct writers who tell us about him – Matthew and John, who were amongst the twelve, Mark who most likely obtained his information from Peter, another one of the twelve, and Luke the physician, who assures us of his careful and thorough research. Given Jesus’ extraordinary transcendent power and compassion, his unique teaching and claims, this is important to know.

Consider the times when we feel helpless and alone. It may be that our job has gone or the unexpected death of someone we love. We are reminded of the times when men and women in Jesus’ life were afraid and utterly helpless. We ask, ‘Is anyone there?’

A storm. On one occasion Jesus was crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat with his close followers (Luke 8:22-25). We are given a glimpse of the ‘private’ Jesus: he was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep. He had to be wakened when a massive storm threatened the lives of everyone on board.

Shallow and set between high hills, the Sea of Galilee is notorious for its sudden squalls. As every sailor knows, this can be extremely dangerous, for rapidly moving air streams can quickly cause the waters to rise, making them treacherous. Experienced fishermen though some of Jesus’ followers were, they were terrified of this major storm. They felt helpless.

A Cry. Afraid, they awoke the sleeping Jesus saying, “We are perishing”. Amazingly, at his command, the storm was stilled.

Luke wants us to feel the compelling reality of their cry for help: “We are perishing!”

Yes, we too face times of fear and helplessness. But we have this assurance: whatever our situation is, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will hear us. Our helplessness can be changed into hopefulness. He is committed to using his vast resources to bring good out of the darkest moments of our life (Romans 8:28-30). We can be assured that we are never alone.

Luke would put to us the question that Jesus put to his disciples in the boat: “Where is your faith?”

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© John G. Mason – www.anglicanconnection.com

Note: Material for today’s ‘Word’ is adapted from my commentary, Luke: An Unexpected God (Aquila: 2019, 2nd Edition).

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Getty Music Worship Conference: ‘Sing…!’ – August 19-21, 2019, Nashville, TN

Theme: ‘The Life of Christ’ – www.gettymusicworshipconference.com

John Mason speaking – Breakout Group: Monday, August 19, 3:00-4:00pm.

Topic: ‘Thomas Cranmer and Christ-Centered Worship. 

Wednesday – May 29, 2019

‘Good News Travels…’

If we’ve been looking for work, especially for some time, and we get a job, we want to let our friends know. If we’ve graduated from college, become engaged or become a parent, we want to pass on the good news.

So it is with what we believe. If our faith in Jesus Christ is real, we’ll want to let others know. Why is it that when people first come to understand who Jesus really is, they want to spread the news? Yet in his contribution to Reformation Anglicanism, Ben Kwashi, Anglican Archbishop of Jos, Northern Nigeria observes, ‘In much of the world today there are churches seemingly everywhere and very many Christians, yet with little positive impact on society’.

Seed. In a parable Jesus told, he likened the means of ‘spreading the word’ to ‘seed’. His analogy is helpful because it enables us to see that a process is involved. Furthermore, it is instructive, because the emphasis is placed more upon the type of soils rather than on the sower. The image of the sower tells us that sowing needs to be done: God’s news needs to be spread.

However the variety of ‘soils’ tells us that the results are not uniform. Some of the crop grew well, some poorly, some hardly at all.

Let’s think about this. People often assume that success in outreach is fundamentally a matter of methodology. It is the sower, not the soil who is more important. Package the message the right way and churches will be crawling with converts.

Outcomes. But that is to miss the point. The purpose of the seed, or the Word, is not so much to change one form of soil into another, but rather to expose the quality of the soil. Spreading God’s good news, Jesus is saying, is not an exercise in human manipulation but a demonstration of the ways people receive God’s word.

This doesn’t mean God’s news shouldn’t be well presented. But Jesus is telling us that in the same way that it remains a mystery even to the modern farmer as to why seed changes and grows into a successful crop, so it remains hidden to our eyes as to why the word of God takes root in people’s lives and grows. 

Responses. The reality is that when we declare the message of Jesus the responses vary enormously. In the end they depend, not so much on how we preach, but upon the attitudes of the people present.

All this raises the question of how we have received God’s news. Has the seed of God’s news about Jesus changed us? Is our relationship with Jesus such that we want to play our part in spreading the news?

Spreading the news can be as simple as telling friends our story of faith, focusing on our new understanding of Jesus Christ and our commitment to him, and then inviting them to church.

The evidence shows that most people respond to God’s news because someone has told their story of faith to others and then invited them to church.

Easter Reflections (5) – May 22, 2019

‘The End of the Beginning…’

The question of meaning has plagued humanity through the ages. In his recent book, Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac (Eerdmans: 2018), Steven D. Smith helps us to see links between the culture wars of today and questions that arose in the ancient world.

In a chapter where he writes on the questions of meaning and the reality of death he quotes leaders and thinkers of the ancient world and observes that there was ‘a kind of futility in the Homeric assumption that the best a man can hope for is to kill gloriously and die gloriously, so that his name will be recalled in the lyrics chanted by bards when the man himself is no longer around to hear the songs.

Smith continues with a reference to Sophocles: ‘“Then what is the good of glory, of magnificent renown,” Sophocles has the aged Oedipus ask, “if in its flow it streams away to nothing?” Marcus Aurelius agreed: ”Fame after life is no better than oblivion.” A hero may grimly make the best of mortality, but given the chance, wouldn’t he eagerly exchange it for a life of endless contentment?…’ (p.185).

How different was the message that Christianity gave voice to. Quoting the historian Paul Veyne, Smith notes that ‘Under Christianity a person’s life “suddenly acquired an eternal significance within a cosmic plan, something that no philosopher or paganism could confer” (p.187).

And there is something else. Smith notes that Paul Veyne ‘adds that Christianity had another important advantage over paganism because it taught that God cared about – indeed, was essentially devoted to – human beings… “…Christ, the Man-God sacrificed himself for his people”’ (pp.187f).

It is so important that we remember this Christian message does not spring from myth or hero worship, but from events observed by eyewitnesses – witnesses the Gospel writers and Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 identify for us. The movement of thought that unfolds throughout the Bible – of creation and redemption – enables us to understand that we can participate personally in God’s story, a story that sweeps us up into eternity.

Jesus’ bodily departure from this world, described in Luke 24, opens a window on what this will mean for all who respond to his offer of forgiveness and new life.

In his last chapter, Luke takes us to the final scene of Jesus’ earthly life. Jesus led the way to Bethanyon the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. As he prayed for God’s special blessing on his immediate followers, Luke tells us that Jesus withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven (24:51).

His departure was not a disappearance, as when he left the two he had met on the road to Emmaus (24:31). Rather his departure here was somewhat similar to that of Elijah of old – though without the chariot (2 Kings 2:11). There was an air of finality about it. No longer would there be a physical face-to-face relationship between Jesus and his people.

And there was something else: Jesus departed from the world in human form. Luke is telling us that in taking on human form at his birth, the Son of God would exist forever as a man. His ascension foreshadowed the final state of all men and women who turn to him as Lord.

Luke’s Gospel concludes on a high note. Whereas chapter 24 had opened with the grief and despair of Jesus’ followers, their response now was one of wonder, worship and joy (24:52).

Jesus’ final display of transcendent power in his ascension, convinced the disciples. As they looked back over the years they had been with him, as they remembered what he told them about the announcement of the angels at his birth (1:31-33; 2:11-12), as they had seen him die and rise again and heard his words of explanation, they knew he truly was God in the flesh.

We can only begin to imagine their overwhelming joy. We begin to see why they worshipped him. And we begin to see why, empowered by the Holy Spirit, they couldn’t keep quiet about Jesus.

Luke began his narrative with the announcement of an angel to one man, the Jewish priest, Zechariah (1:5). Now he concludes his account with Jesus’ followers being in the temple continually blessing God (24:53). It was the end of the beginning. Jesus Christ is the One who stands at the hinge of history.