Last Saturday (02/04/2017), The Spectator (UK) carried an article by Douglas Murray who asked, ‘Who Will Protect Nigeria’s Northern Christians?’ Murray pointed out that the Fulani (militia) are watching everything closely from the surrounding mountains. Every week, their progress across the northern states of Plateau and Kaduna continues. Every week, more massacres – another village burned, its church razed, its inhabitants slaughtered, raped or chased away…
For the outside world, what is happening to the Christians of northern Nigeria is both beyond our imagination and beneath our interest… Villages have been persuaded to keep records of the attacks to show anyone who cares. One of the very few from outside who does – Britain’s own Baroness Cox – came here recently. Her vehicle was spotted by the Fulani, who came out hunting for her and only just missed their target. Because of attacks like this, almost nobody comes. Just one more reason why these atrocities do not attract the West’s attentions…
Murray writes of the region where three years ago the Boko Haran abducted three hundred school girls. While some have been rescued most are still captive. Murray commented, If the international community meant anything by its promises such as the UN’s ‘responsibility to protect’ doctrine, then what is happening could not go on. But the international community is uninterested…
HOW LONG, O LORD?
And, as we learn of these atrocities directed specifically against God’s people, our hearts cry out with the words of Psalm 13, How long, O Lord…?
In the course of talks and conversations I had over the last two weeks, in Orlando, FL and New York, one of the questions that arose was how to respond to the carping criticism about suffering in the world. It is an important question and also one of the toughest to answer for anyone who believes God not only exists, but is all-powerful and all-compassionate.
Our cry for justice…! All of us have within us a sense of right and wrong.
This suggests that we live in a moral universe. If we lived in a world that had come into existence simply through a process of spontaneous change, logically we would be nothing but particles, bumping around in some sort of meaningful connection. Our conscious state would be nothing more than electrical discharges in the human brain.
However, when we think about it, it’s difficult to be morally indignant about behavior that results from quarks smashing together. Consequently, the issues of evil and suffering and the cry for justice are irrelevant if our existence is simply the product of an evolutionary framework.
Is this a reason for the international and media silence about the plight of Christians in Northern Nigeria? But the reality is all men and women have a sense of justice – often ill-defined, but it is there.
Difficult though the subject of suffering is for anyone who believes in God, the Bible assures us that our cry for justice is right. It is right to condemn all wicked violence, all taking of innocent life. The Bible condemns the perpetrators of such deeds. Indeed, the Bible helps us to know evil when we see it.
SO WILL JUSTICE EVER OCCUR?
If we agree that we live in a moral universe, the picture the Bible paints makes a lot of sense and is very satisfying. Winston Churchill once observed that there had to be a hell, to bring the likes of Lenin and Trotsky and Hitler to justice. The good news is that one day God will call everyone to account.
But there is a sting in the tail. If we want justice to be done to others, we must agree that we too need to be brought to account. Yes, we long for justice and vindication, but we too are guilty before a good God.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once wrote: ‘If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?’
So, why doesn’t God step in now? The Bible’s answer is that God stays his hand for the present because he wants to give all men and women, like the Prodigal Son in Jesus’ parable, the opportunity to turn to him in repentance. The good news is that God will pardon and deliver us when we turn to Jesus Christ. His judgment may be slow as we count time, but it is very sure (2 Peter 3:9-13).
Here we see the passion of God’s love and our ultimate hope because of the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus comes between God’s good creation, ruined by human sin with which the Bible begins, and the promise of a restored creation with which the Bible ends. God will wipe away every tear from our eyes… there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 21:4).
Does this mean we do nothing about the atrocities perpetrated against God’s people now? We have this responsibility – to pray for our suffering brothers and sisters, to find ways of letting them know of our awareness and even to find ways of providing support. And, as we are able, to let others, including leaders, know of the plight of the persecuted peoples. As Edmund Burke, 18th century philosopher and statesman remarked: The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
‘Can I trust God to give me good things I ask for?’
In an important section on prayer in Luke’s Gospel Jesus responded to his disciples’ question to teach them to pray with what we call The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2-4). He then anticipated two questions we have: 1. ‘Can God be trusted to answer our prayers?’ 2. ‘Can we trust him to give us good things?’
In response to our first question Jesus told a parable, sometimes called The Friend at Midnight (Luke 11:5-8). The parable has an underlying, unspoken question: ‘Can you imagine…?’ In this case, Jesus was asking, ‘Can you imagine a man speaking this way to a needy friend?’
HONORING GOD’S NAME
The story captures village life in Jesus’ world where hospitality is an unwritten law: No matter the hour or the inconvenience, neighbors are required to assist one another when they are in need. If they don’t provide assistance, they bring dishonor to their own name and the name of the community. ‘Can you imagine,’ Jesus is asking, ‘Anyone saying to a neighbor in need, even at midnight, ‘Get lost’, ‘Don’t disturb me’? The response would be a unanimous, “No!”
Translations since the 12th century have not helped us understand this parable. In recent times scholars such as J. Jeremias have recognized that the original words usually translated boldness or persistence do not reflect the meaning of the original word. Indeed, Kenneth Bailey has pointed out that the word is better translated, sense of shame. The original word literally carries the meaning, avoidance of shame.
The Middle-Eastern culture of hospitality (which still prevails), the flow of the personal pronoun he in Luke 11:8, and the narrative impact of the story, lead us to the sleeper in bed as the focus of the story. The focus is not the man knocking on the door.
This is not a parable about persistence. Rather it is a parable about God and the honor of God’s name. The parable picks up words Jesus taught us to pray: “Hallowed be your name” (11:2). To pray for the honor of God’s name is also consistent with the heart of Moses’ prayer in Numbers 14:13-19). The theme of persistence in prayer is found in another parable (Luke 18:1-8).
Jesus promises that God, for the sake of the honor of his name, will not only hear our prayers, no matter how big or small, but he will also answer them. God’s honor and integrity are at stake. We can trust God to hear and answer our prayers.
Jesus continues with three exhortations and promises: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened for you”(11:9-10). Our English word ‘Ask’ forms a mnemonic for these wonderful promises that we all too often overlook – they apply just as much to God’s people as to genuine enquirers.
Often I have encouraged people who find it difficult to believe to say, ‘God, if you are there, please help me to find you’.
CAN I TRUST GOD TO GIVE ME GOOD THINGS?
Jesus also answers another question we often have: ‘Can I trust God to give me good things?’
He uses two metaphors to assure us that God always has our best interests at heart (Luke 11:11-12). We can paraphrase his assurance this way: ‘Just as the most violent thief can be kind to his son and the most mercenary-minded father can be generous to his daughter, “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”(11:13).
This must be one of the most profound promises that Jesus utters. He is telling us that God’s great gift is to give us his Spirit who will open our minds to hear God’s voice through his Word. The Spirit will open our hearts to God, enabling us to call God ‘Father’ through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit will open our lives to God, empowering us to trust him and follow him.
When we think about it, we are introduced here to the riches of God’s work: we can call God, Father; we learn from the Son who does all that is necessary for us to right our relationship with God once and for all time; we are drawn into the riches of a profound and true relationship with God through the wonderful gift of the Spirit.
Why is it that we are content to play around the edges of a relationship with God who delights in giving his all for us? Why is our prayer life so often barren?
At Christmas, we were reminded of the words the angels sang the night Jesus Christ was born: “Peace and goodwill…” It is something we long for in a world that is torn by self-interest, injustice, terrorism, and war. ‘Is the angels’ message really true?’ we ask. ‘Where is the peace and goodwill?
Before we dismiss their words, we need to read them in the context of their complete statement: “Glory to God in the highest heaven,” they sang, “And on earth peace among those he (God) favors!”The promise was to a specific group of people.
Consider Paul the Apostle’s words in Philippians 4:7: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And in 4:9: …And the God of peace will be with you.
Peace – Shalom!
It’s a word of security. Paul understood what it is to be anxious, even fearful about the unexpected in life.
He also knew the barbs of opposition that hurt God’s people. In December 2012, Dr. Angela Merkel remarked that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world today. Richard Glover, himself an atheist, asked in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald (Nov. 14, 2015) why are ‘Believers, Christian people, so derided and ridiculed?’
At the time he wrote his Letter to the Philippians, Paul the Apostle was in prison for his faith. He knew what it was like to be in situations that cause anxiety and fear.
Paul’s word ‘guard’ in the context of his speaking about God’s peace is very encouraging. It actually means ‘a garrison’. Being a Roman citizen he may have had the Praetorian Guard in mind. It’s a great thought: God’s ‘Praetorian Guard’ providing a security for our hearts and minds, and so giving us peace.
The word ‘hearts’ in the Bible is a reference to our mind and will, our conscience and our emotions. It’s what is going on within us that finds outward expression in our life.
And the word ‘mind’ is a reference to our conscious thoughts and ideas that spring from these inner longings.
Dr. Ashley Null, one of the foremost scholars concerning Abp Thomas Cranmer, observes that Cranmer’s anthropology can be summarized: ‘What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.’ Null explains that, according to Cranmer, ‘The mind doesn’t direct the will. The mind is actually captive to what the will wants, and the will itself is captive to what the heart wants’.
When Paul speaks about ‘the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds, he is speaking about our need, not just for inner transformation, but our on-going need to keep our hearts and minds centered on Christ. Otherwise ‘our hearts and minds’, will turn away from Christ and become enemies of his cross – something that Paul speaks about at the end of Philippians 3.
CONSCIOUS PRESENCE OF GOD
But we need something more. We need the conscious presence of God. So in Philippians 4:9 Paul tells us again, ‘The peace of God will be with you’. Why would he make this promise unless we need this peace?
Paul knows that our faith can easily become a creedal formula rather than a living experience. While we theoretically know that Christ is with us, we can at the same time, in reality, forget Him. And in the absence of a sense of His presence, it is so easy to fall into sin and slackness. We need to know that in truth and in reality, the God of peace is with us.
In Philippians 4:7 and 9, Paul identifies some very encouraging promises: ‘The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep you… God’s peace will be with us.
The peace of God that passes all understanding is the promise that our lives will be touched by the supernatural. It is beyond the range of our human understanding.
So often our problem in standing firm in the face of hostility is that others do not see why we want to be different. As one commentator remarked, ‘Society looks on us as being in the category of the lady whose obituary noted that her chief hobby was religion’. What we need as God’s people, individually and as a people, is the touch of the supernatural – something that cannot be explained except by saying, ‘This is the finger of God’. (Exodus 8:19)
I’m not talking about some mystical power. Rather I am speaking of the work of God’s Word through his Spirit in our lives, enabling us to rise above the challenges of life in such a way that it can be explained only by the power of God at work within us.
On April 27 last year I remarked on the significant decisions that would be made at the polls in the second half of the year. In the United Kingdom: to exit or to remain in the European Union. In the USA: the election of a new president and representatives in both Houses of Congress. As we know, the unexpected occurred: Britain voted Brexit and Donald Trump is to be inaugurated as the forty-fifth President of the USA this Friday. The immediate post-election rise of the share-markets in the US and the recent faltering of the markets indicate the uncertainty that exists.
TRANSITION
So how should we respond? Surely, to begin with, thanksgiving to the Lord that we live in a democracy where smooth transitions can be made. We may not agree with the electoral outcomes but it is truly remarkable that with significant changes, there is no fighting in the streets. Protests there may be but, thanks be to God, the protests in the main are peaceful.
Further, we need to pray. 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.
WELFARE OF THE CITY
As citizens, we have the responsibility to the State. We need to remember that as God’s people we are called to ‘seek the welfare of the city’ (Jeremiah 29:7). This doesn’t mean that we lose sight of the tension of the is and the not yet of God’s kingdom. However, we need to remember that as God’s people we do have a part to play in the life of the community and the wider world.
At the same time, we should 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 that we need radical surgery to clean up the mess.
Above all, let’s remember that whatever happens around us, the Lord continues to work out his purposes in our world. Despite the derision, the opposition, or even the persecution we might experience from political leaders or those around us who want us to embrace a secular, liberal progressive agenda, God will always have the last word.
In Psalm 2:1-4 we read:
Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.’
THE UNEXPECTED
If we find the words of this Psalm difficult to believe, bear this in mind: God is the God of the Unexpected. Unexpected things do happen: they happened with the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump as President of the USA. Furthermore, Jesus himself predicted the events of his arrest and resurrection, Why should we doubt him when he speaks of his ultimate return?
How important it is that we do not cease praying for God’s mercy towards our leaders, that they will exercise their responsibilities justly, with wisdom and for the good of ‘the city’ and the world. In particular, let’s pray that we might enjoy peace so that we will have better opportunities to promote the good news of God’s truth and love.
On one occasion I heard a preacher ask, ‘Do you think there will be prayer in heaven?’
It is a good question that took my thoughts to the Garden scene of Genesis 3. Immediately following Adam and Eve’s fatal decision to rebel against God’s command that they must not eat the fruit of ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ (Genesis 2:17), we read that they ‘heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day’ (Genesis 3:8). The text suggests that it was customary for God to speak with Adam and Eve in their state of pre-fallen glory. Created in the image of God, the high point of his creating work, relationship was an essential part of their existence. Conversation with God was one of their special privileges. It suggests that conversation will be part of our relationship with God in the age to come and, as in Genesis 3, it will be God who starts the conversation.
MARY AND MARTHA AS AN EXAMPLE
Following this line of thought, it is significant that Luke includes a conversation between Martha and Jesus immediately before the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray.
In Luke 10:38ff we read that Jesus and his followers were entertained to a meal by his friends, Martha and Mary. The two sisters we learn were quite different. Martha seems to have been the type A personality – focused, active, and a responsible hostess. Mary, however, seems to have been more outgoing and sociable, wanting to be part of the conversation with Jesus.
Suddenly Martha’s frustration with her sister bubbled over. She burst into the room where Jesus and the others were, blurting out: ‘When will you tell my sister to come and help me?’
We can imagine the tension of the moment. How would Jesus respond? His reply is fascinating. We’d expect him to suggest gently to Mary that she ought to be helping Martha. But he doesn’t. This is surprising, not just because of the culture, but because it had not been long since he had told the story of the Good Samaritan, explaining ‘neighbor love’. ‘Martha, Martha,’ he chides, ‘you’re too focused on doing. Mary has chosen the better portion’ (Luke 10:41f).
PRIORITIES
Jesus wants us to know that there are times in life when the demands of people and the command to love our neighbor pale into insignificance when compared with the prior claim to be with God. The first command is, ‘Love the Lord your God…’; ‘Love your neighbor’, is second. Important though other things may be, we must not let busy-ness, sporting engagements, and social activities become excuses that prevent us from obeying the first claim of a loving God.
As this scene comes immediately before Jesus speaks on the subject of prayer, it suggests that the first thing we need to do when we pray is put aside our busy-ness so we can listen first to God.
We do this by opening the Bible and reading it. Over the years I have found the Book of Psalms to be a great starting point for my Bible reading each day. The Psalms are ruthlessly honest as they explore the realities of following God in a confused and messed up world. The Psalms also give me the freedom to ask questions of God, and learn from him. You may know the expression, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ I find that ‘a Psalm a day keeps the devil at bay.’
PRIVILEGE
In Philippians 4:4-6 Paul the Apostle says: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say rejoice.’
This is very high-sounding advice. On what basis can Paul give it? Only on the grounds of his understanding of the Person and Character of God based on his understanding of the Scriptures – God’s self-revelation.
The 16th century English reformers understood this. Consider this prayer of John Bradford which is grounded in his understanding of God: “Dear Father,… I pray thee, remember even for Thine own truth and mercy’s sake this promise and everlasting covenant, which in Thy good time I pray thee to write in my heart, that I may ‘know Thee to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent’; that I may love Thee with all my heart forever; that I may love Thy people for Thy sake; that I may be holy in Thy sight through Christ; that I may always not only strive against sin, but also overcome the same daily more and more, as Thy children do; above all things desiring ‘the sanctification of Thy name’, ‘the coming of Thy kingdom’, ‘the doing of Thy will here on earth as it is in heaven’, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, Mediator, and Advocate. Amen.”(Bradford: Works, Vol. 1, pp.174, 175, 177, 189, 199, 200f, 204, quoted in PE Hughes Theology of the English Reformers, p.95)
How easily we put aside the special privilege we have of conversation with the Most High God.
