26th Oct Jer 17-19, 1 Tim 6

5 This is what the LORD says:

   “Cursed is the one who trusts in man,

   who depends on flesh for his strength

   and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;

   he will not see prosperity when it comes.

He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,

   in a salt land where no one lives.

 7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,

   whose confidence is in him.

8 He will be like a tree planted by the water

   that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

   its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

   and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jer 17 NIV)

Two trees are described here. One that is parched and dry, a barren tree in a barren land. The other is a tree planted by water, with green leaves, never failing to bear fruit. We can be like either of these trees - the choice is given us. The difference is: where are they planted? Tim Chester and Paul Tripp take this image of the two trees and develop it, to illustrate that our beliefs determine our behaviour.

If we are a tree planted in the ground of self-reliance "the one who trusts in a man, who depends on flesh for his strength" then we will be barren and fruitless. If we trust rather in the Lord, we will bear much fruit.

The way to fruitfulness, stability and life in our lives, is not by attending directly to these things. We should first make sure our roots are in the right place. Are we relying on the Lord to help us, or are we relying on ourselves?

This is one of the reasons why doctrine is so important. It is not just about getting our thoughts right about God, and other topics (though this in itself is vitally important). But our beliefs determine our behaviour. Where we have our roots determine whether we will bear fruit. This is why Paul writes to Timothy and others so strongly about the dangers of false teaching:

"3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain." (1 Tim 6)

False teaching leads to broken lives.

We can either be a fruitless, barren, dead bush, or a green, abundant, fruitful tree. Only if we are rooted in the gospel ground of trusting the Lord will we be fruitful. If we rely on ourselves we are like the tree in the barren land.

As Jesus himself put it:

"If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

24th Oct Jer 11-13, 1 Tim 4

"Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." (1 Tim 4:7-8)
A misapplication of the glorious truth of justification by faith alone (i.e. we're acceptable to God on the basis of what Jesus has done, not anything we do) is to think that godliness doesn't matter.
But the Bible is clear that godliness is important. We should "live a life worthy of the calling we have received" (Eph 4:1). But what strikes me about these verses in Timothy is that godliness is seen to be pursued for its own sake as well. It holds "promise for both the present life and the life to come". Not only will godliness lead to the "well done good and faithful servant" we all long for from Jesus on the final day. But also it has value for this life. We so often don't think like this. We think godliness is about sacrificing what is good and pleasing now, for the sake of something good and pleasing in the future. But in fact godliness is blessedness. Godliness is blessedness.
This makes sense when we think that godliness is being like God. God loves what is good, does what is good, and commands what is good. We should remember that in every situation, godliness is the best option - it holds promise for both this life and the life to come.
"And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?" (Deut 10:12-13)

4th June 2 Chron 13-15, John 14

The books of Chronicles and Kings are full of battles, which make for a good read, but what do they teach us Christians today? In the passage from 2 Chronicles, the good king Asa cries out to God:

“LORD, there is no-one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this great army. O LORD, you are are God; do not let man prevail against you.” (2 Chron 14:11)

This sounds like the kind of prayer we might pray – but what is the equivalent situation of coming up against “this great army”?

1. These enemies of God’s people are those who prevent them from enjoying rest in the land – in the kingdom of God. The enemies that threaten our rest in the kingdom of God are not physical armies, but Satan and his demons. These were defeated by Jesus at the cross (Col 2:15, Heb 2:14-15) – and so the ‘army’ we come up against is one that has already been defeated!

2. Satan does however still have power and influence in this world, even though he does not hold the power of death over believers. We do still have a fight to be fought – and so we are to put on the full armour of God (Eph 6:10-18). This prayer of Asa’s would be a good one to pray when facing temptation, when feeling guilt, or doubt, all of which can be used by Satan to undermine our faith.

3. Perhaps there is a more mundane parallel to the ‘army’ that was against Judah. In those days, kings went out to war  (usually in the spring! – 1 Chron 20:1.) So in some sense, as well as this battle having a spiritual aspect to it – “let not man prevail aginst you” (i.e. God) – it might also be paralleled with the ‘normal’ frustrations of life that we face. An unfair employment situation, family illness or bereavement, relationship breakdown. Asa prayed, remembering God’s power, and put his trust in God not in his own strength. We are not promised miraculous deliverances in all these situations – but we can be confident that in them God works for our good, and will not ultimately let us perish or fall away from faith.

We need to remember that the God we pray to and trust in is the ‘Lord of armies’ (often translated ‘Lord of hosts’ or ‘Lord almighty’ in our translations.) He is the one who fought the battles for his people in the Old Testament, he is one who is sovereign even over the most wicked and powerful forces in the world, he is the Lord of legions of angels who do his bidding.

When faced with circumstances beyond his control, Asa didn’t look to himself, but to the Lord, who was mighty and powerful to save. We should do the same, remembering that the God who can defeat vast armies of thousands, and has defeated Satan once and for all at the cross, is more than powerful to keep us safe and sustain us through whatever we are facing. If we are God’s people, then for our enemies ultimately to prevail against us, they would “prevail against you [God]” (2 Chron 14:11). And we can be confident that this will never, ever happen!

June 2nd 2 Chron 7-9, John 13:1-17

Think how wonderful it must have been to be in the court of King Solomon. Such opulence, such splendour and such riches. But also such wisdom, such justice, and such peace. At this moment in time, Israel is firmly on the map internationally, as proved by the visit of the Queen of Sheba.

This picture of life under Solomon is given to us as a picture of life under the true and greater Solomon, the true and greater prince of peace: Jesus.

Think what the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon’s wisdom:

“The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.  But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard.  How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the LORD your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.” (2 Chron 9:5-8)

How much more do these words apply to Jesus! How much more happy are we, Jesus’ people, who continually stand before him and hear his wisdom! How much greater God’s love for us in giving us not just a good king like Solomon, but the greatest ever king: Jesus!

Think of the opulence of Solomon’s reign:

 “Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with pure gold.  The throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to it. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them.  Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom.  All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's day.  The king had a fleet of trading ships manned by Hiram's men. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.” (2 Chron 9:17-21)

Splendour, abundance, riches, beauty, finery, exotic treasures from afar; this is no small, functional and miserly kingdom. This is a kingdom of riches beyond imagining. “Silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s day.” Imagine that – a precious metal like silver, in such abundance that it is not considered anything special. This truly is a remarkable kingdom being described. Picture being there, picture the finery, picture what is must have been like. How much more rich, and abundant is the coming kingdom of King Jesus! 

So often we can think that to become a Christian – that is to become a member of Christ’s kingdom – is to leave all that is good and wonderful and rich and exotic (the world) and to settle for what is dull and boring and stingy. Far from it! We need to read the Old Testament and see such passages as this. This passage, in all its richness, is just a pale shadow of the reality that is found in Christ. He is enthroned, not merely on a throne that is overlaid with gold, but a throne of sapphire (Ezek 1:26); he is surrounded not merely by 12 statues of lions, but by the 4 terrifying living creatures of Ezek 1 and Revelation 4; he is not merely visited by the Queen of Sheba, but the kings of the nations present him gifts!

How magnificent, how powerful, how wise, how just, how good, how – and there is no other word for it – exotic is this king. Solomon was a great king, but Jesus is the true and greater Solomon, the King of all Kings, and the Lord of all Lords! He is the beginning and end, the purpose and goal of all history, the one who holds the stars in his hands, whose eyes are like blazing fire, whose feet are like bronze in a furnace, whose voice is like the sound of a mighty waterfall. He is more glorious and alive and splendid and wise and majestic and powerful than we can begin to imagine.

And it is this King, this Jesus who washed his disciples' feet.

He washed his disciples' feet.

HE WASHED HIS DISCIPLES' FEET!

He washed our feet too.

He washed not only our feet, but our whole lives when he died on the cross.

A king like this, doing a thing like that. We would never dare to believe this if the Bible didn’t tell us so. But it does, and our only response can be to fall on our knees in worship of him:

   May his name endure forever;

       may it continue as long as the sun.

   All nations will be blessed through him,

       and they will call him blessed.

   Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,

       who alone does marvelous deeds.

   Praise be to his glorious name forever;

       may the whole earth be filled with his glory.

            Amen and Amen.   (Psalm 72:17-19)  

May 30th 1 Chron 28-29, John 11:47-57

So often we think that unbelief is due to lack of evidence. When discussing with our friends who are not Christians, we often think if we marshall enough evidence about the reliability of the Bible, the resurrection from the dead, and the miracles of Jesus, we will persuade them. Similarly, we often hear people say “I’d believe in God if he revealed himself to me,” or “I’d believe if I saw a miracle.” Our passage from John challenges this idea.

Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead, and many people have put their faith in him. So the chief priests and the Pharisees call a meeting of the Sanhedrin:

“"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." ” (John 11:47-48)

Here, more evidence of Jesus’ power and authority –and hence identity as the Son of God – does not lead to greater faith, but to greater hostility. We should notice that there is no doubting the miracles – Jesus’ opponenents were persuaded that the miracles really happened. But as they understood more and more of Jesus’ authority and identity, they understood more and more what a threat he was to them: “everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” (John 11:48)

Perhaps they believed that Jesus was indeed the long-promised Messiah – but like the rest of the people thought of God’s King only in political terms: someone who would challenge the rule of the Romans. Whatever they actually thought of Jesus, their concern was that a popular uprising following Jesus would lead the Romans to clamp down on the Jews – taking away the temple (our “place”) and ending the semi-autonomy of the Jewish “nation.”

The repeated use of “our” shows something of the motivation here. The chief priests and Pharisees are not concerned about the well-being of the Jewish people – they are concerned about their own power and prestige. They are the ones in charge of the temple (and in a sense the “nation”) and they are desperate not to lose this.

(There is an irony here: if Jesus is indeed who he claims to be (as backed up by the miraculous signs) then he is the one who has authority over the temple and the nation, not the Romans.)

What does this passage tell us about unbelief, and rejection of Jesus?

It shows that for this group of people, more evidence did not increase their faith ,it increased their rejection of Jesus. In particular, the more they understood about who Jesus really was, the more they realised that he would challenge their own autonomy – their desire to be in charge of themselves and others.

This attitude isn’t restricted to the chief priests and Pharisees then; it is the default setting of the human heart. All of us, when we see who Jesus really is, rebel against him as we don’t want to lose control of our lives.

Kings don’t really mind much when a peasant claims he should be king – but has no credentials to back it up. But if someone can prove they have a better claim to the crown than the man who is currently king… that is when people start being locked up in towers, or killed in their beds.

We are all naturally kings – on the throne in our own lives, ruling ourselves and doing what we think best. (Some of us are fairly moral kings of our own lives, others very immoral kings.) But when we are confronted with Jesus, we see that he has a claim to be king of our life, instead of us. The more we understand of who he is (and in particular the more we understand that his claims are real claims that can be backed up), the more we naturally resist him. For those of us who are Christians, it is only God’s spirit opening our eyes and softening our hearts that has led us to bow the knee before him, and enthone him in our lives.

So we must beware thinking that if we give enough evidence, people will turn to Jesus. More evidence will lead many to resist Jesus more strongly. We should also gently challenge the claim that “if God revealed himself to me I’d believe,” or “if God did a miracle I’d believe.” As Jesus said: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

We must remember that unbelief is not just a question of lack of information. It is a spiritual issue. To put it another way, there is no such thing as a purely “intellectual” objection to Jesus. There is always a moral component to it.

This should mean we are more prayerful as we talk to our friends and family about Jesus – knowing that they need the Holy Spirit to be at work within them. It should also lead us to praise God for saving us – for his remarkable act of new creation:

“For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ!”” (2 Cor 4:6)