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Retired pastor

Daily Bible thoughts 964: Wednesday 9th September 2015: Psalm 119:25-32: Watch where you run!

 Psalm 119:25-32: Watch where you run!(click here for todays passage)

George Muller was famous in the Christian world for being a man of faith. This faith was linked to his absolute confidence in the Bible as God’s Word. He miraculously ran two orphanages in the Bristol area in the 19th century, feeding hundreds of orphans daily. He trusted God to meet every need. George Muller exercised a long ministry, and continued to travel the world and preach into his eighties. I read that he put his health and longevity down to the Bible and its recuperative power over his entire being.

We see in today’s reading:

  • The renewing power of God’s Word (25): This verse caused me to think about George Muller and what he said about the link between the Scriptures and longevity. Tom Hale makes the point that ‘’according to your word’’ means ‘’according to your promise.’’ The psalmist was ‘claiming’ a promise of God. He says that God has promised, on average, a ‘’long life’’ to His people if they remain faithful (Deuteronomy 6:1, 2). But he adds that it is sometimes God’s will to cut short the life of one of His faithful ones in order to accomplish some special purpose. The supreme example is that He ‘’cut short’’ the life of His own Son in order to provide salvation for the world. George Muller exemplified what it means to live by God’s promises. It is said that he read the Bible through nearly 200 times in his life, and he often put his finger on a promise as he brought it before God in prayer. He would ask Him, and trust Him, to do as He said.
  • The strengthening power of God’s Word (26): Amid the painful realities of life that bring us to tears, God’s Word imparts supernatural strength. In sorrow, there is no healing balm such as that which we find in the Bible. God gives the strength to go on.
  • The keeping power of God’s Word (29): The Bible is a ‘means of grace’. We live in a corrupt and corrupting world, but in the pages of God’s Word we experience the grace to be different; to swim against the current. Someone said, ‘’Either this Book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this Book.’’

If we are to experience this power it will not happen automatically. We will not drift into the life of holiness which God intends for us. There must be a commitment to the Bible, and to a Biblical lifestyle, such as that exemplified by George Muller. I finish today’s thought with another quotation from him:

“The vigour of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts.”

 

Prayer: Lord God, Author of all Scripture, teach me how to live on every word that proceeds from your mouth.

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Daily Bible thoughts 963: Tuesday 8th September 2015: 1 Thessalonians 5: Living in the future tense (Part 2).

1 Thessalonians 5: Living in the future tense (Part 2).(please click here for todays passage)

The film, ‘Marvellous’, captures something of the wonderful story of Neil ‘Nello’ Baldwin, who became kit man at Stoke City in the era when Lou Macari was manager. It’s a drama which truly deserves the epithet ‘heart-warming’. On reading (16) I thought about Neil and a comment his character makes in the film: ‘’I wanted to be ‘appy so I decided I would be!’’

We’re continuing to look at some of Paul’s practical injunctions set in the context of living in the light of Christ’s return. Here are some further points:

Live joyfully (16): Joy is a choice. Neil Baldwin was right. You can’t always choose your circumstances but you can select your attitudes. Living joyfully is very much about being a thankful person (18) – someone who counts their blessings rather than continually obsesses over their burdens. It is also about living to serve others (see 15). If you live for others you will almost certainly run into joy as a by-product. ‘’Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part…Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.’’ (13b-15) The Message. Good, healthy relationships are a key to joy-filled living.

Live prayerfully (17): This is not about always saying prayers, but living in a spirit of prayer. We need to be prayed for (25), and we need to pray for others (23-25). ‘’Friends, keep up your prayers for us.’’ The Message.

Live thankfully (18): As I have already begun to intimate, I see these three exhortations as being interlinked. A prayerful person who is learning to give thanks ‘’in all circumstances’’ will also be coming to understand the secret of joy. In fact, it is no secret. This is out in the open. There is a further dimension to this life of joy and it comes next:

Live with openness to the Holy Spirit (19-22): But do this with discerning wisdom. ‘’Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be gullible.’’ The Message.

To be able to live out the wonderfully practical instructions in this closing section of 1 Thessalonians, we will need the ‘’grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’’ (28). It is ours in abundance.

Prayer: Thank you Lord that you make possible what you insist on.

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Daily Bible thoughts 962: Monday 7th September 2015: 1 Thessalonians 5: Living in the future tense.

1 Thessalonians 5: Living in the future tense.(please click here for todays notes)

Today and tomorrow we will look at some down to earth, practical implications of believing in the second coming of Christ. Many get carried away with speculation. By and large I believe they are missing the point. Belief in the Second Advent should affect our ordinary everyday lives right now. Here are some points to consider:

Be alert (4-9; Luke 9:32): We are to stay spiritually awake. William James said, ‘’Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake.’’ (Think about Jesus’ teaching in the gospels about faithfully carrying on with the work we’ve been given to do. For example see Matthew 24:32-44).

Be people of faith, love and hope (see 1:3): As we saw previously, these are the ‘credentials’ of genuine Christian experience. Keep trusting in Jesus; keep on loving God and others and holding on to the revealed truth about your glorious future prepared by the Lord.

Be good congregational members (12, 13a): As far as it depends on you, make it as easy as you can for your leaders to do their often difficult work. Be a fellowship of encouragement, warning, caring, patience, forgiveness and goodness. There is such a lot encapsulated in a few short lines (14, 15). Each statement in this ‘rapid fire’ series of final exhortations is (and I know I am mixing my metaphors) like a sweet to be sucked and savoured. Every word matters.

Live in harmony with one another (13b): You probably have little idea just how much this will bless your leaders. It’s one way you can help them. I once read an article in ‘Time’ magazine about President Ronald Reagan. It said that he was such an affable guy, he hated it when there was in-fighting and squabbling among his staff. At the time that very much resonated with me because I was aware of the pain of having one or two people in my congregation who struggled to get on with each other – at least some of the time. Church leaders hurt when those they serve hurt each other. Remember this, and aim to live in peace. But do it not primarily for the sake of your leaders, but because God Himself calls you to such a life, and makes it possible.

Prayer: Lord God may my everyday life exhibit the truth that I belong to another Kingdom and that I am awaiting the coming of that Kingdom in all its fullness.

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Daily Bible thoughts 961: Friday 4th September 2015: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11: On tiptoe of expectancy.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11: On tiptoe of expectancy.(please click here for todays notes)

I heard a preacher tell a story about how he and his wife had been burgled, sadly not for the first time I think. He said, ‘Wouldn’t it have been nice if those thieves had popped round the day before, saying that they’d be calling the next day, and giving some idea of their time of arrival? We’d have been there to welcome them. We’d have had the kettle on…!’ Point taken. Burglars don’t operate in such a convenient manner.

I remember a quiet Wednesday afternoon some years ago. I had only been out of the house for a short time, collecting my daughter from her primary school. On returning home, I discovered that we had been visited by some criminals (or a criminal). Up until then it had been a peaceful day off! Now our quiet day was dramatically disturbed. It was totally unexpected. We were not ready for our uninvited ‘visitors’.

Paul says that the ‘’day of the Lord’’ will come unexpectedly ‘’like a thief in the night’’ (2) as far as unbelievers are concerned. It will take them by surprise. It will be a day of judgment (9).

But this will not be the case for believers. We belong to ‘’the day’’ and to ‘’the light’’ (5). We have the revelation of God’s Word. ‘’We do not belong to the night or to the darkness’’ (5b). So then we should be different to the rest of the people in the world. We’re in the know. We are aware of what is going to happen – at least to some degree (Luke 21:25-28).

The world will be caught by surprise, but believers should be on the tiptoe of expectancy.

(By the way, note that verses 10, 11 sum up 4:13-18).

If we believe that Jesus is going to come back to this world, this conviction will have some extremely practical implications for our lives now. Paul spells some of them out in 1 Thessalonians 5, and we will go on to consider them in the next couple of studies.

Prayer: Lord, help me to live as a ‘son of the day’ and make the most of the light you have given me

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Daily Bible thoughts 960: Thursday 3rd September 2015: Jeremiah 15: 15-21: The loneliness of the long distance leader.

 Jeremiah 15: 15-21: The loneliness of the long distance leader.(click here for todays passage)

Jeremiah’s suffering (15): God fully understood this and Jeremiah knew that He did. Jeremiah was a good man; a faithful man who was persecuted for his faith.

Jeremiah’s delight (16; see Ezekiel 2:8 – 3:4): Jeremiah knew something of the loneliness of ministry. In fact, he experienced more isolation and rejection than most. He received discouraging responses to his preaching during the ‘marathon’ years of his ministry. But he did find strength and joy and encouragement in God’s Word. Eugene Peterson wrote a volume entitled, ‘Eat this Book’. How’s your appetite?

Jeremiah’s loneliness (17): He didn’t marry and he had few friends. He could not join in with the party when he knew that the roof was about to cave in and the whole house come crashing down. He saw more clearly than most of his contemporaries, and he paid dearly for seeing so clearly and for having the courage to speak out what he saw on the horizon. He trod a lonely path. The party- goers saw him as a party-pooper and he was hated.

Jeremiah’s sin (18): I feel sorry for Jeremiah, and so do you. But all that he went through was not an excuse for sin. It is one thing to be honest with God, but it is quite another to say things that are untrue (18b). Jesus taught His disciples to pray these words: ‘’And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matthew 6:13). I understand that it can read: ‘’And do not put us to the test…’’ The truth is that a time of testing can be an occasion for temptation, so we need to be vigilant in it that we do not fall into sin. ‘’Jeremiah here lapses into acute self-pity and launches a bitter attack on God that reaches perilously close to blasphemy.’’ A.E. Cundall.

But God did not write Jeremiah off as a failure. He dealt gently with him as he did with Elijah (1 Kings 19:3-18; see also the story of Peter’s restoration in John 21). ‘’Remember how Peter sinned; but within 50 days he was speaking as the mouth of the Holy Ghost to thousands.’’ F.B. Meyer.

God’s kindness and gentleness (19): We who preach repentance to others will need to repent ourselves at times. We will need to drink the same medicine we prescribe. Jeremiah was a good and faithful man. But he was also sinful. At this time of great pressure his sin nature shone through. He needed to understand that sin could clog up the channel of his ministry, and he needed cleaning out. He particularly needed to repent of the ‘’worthless words’’ he had spoken in (18b; see Isaiah 6:5).

God’s commission (19b): We could say that Jeremiah was recommissioned at this point. (Hear echoes of his initial call in 1:8, 18).If Jeremiah did repent he would God’s ‘’spokesman’’. But although the people might come to him to hear him, he was not to ‘’turn to them’’. He wasn’t to become like them; to be enticed into their ways or squeezed into their mould.’ A faithful preacher of God’s Word will not only carry an authoritative message; he or she will have a distinctive lifestyle. They will be different. That difference also preaches! So if we spend time in the company of unbelievers (and I think the example of Jesus says we should) we should be careful not to take on their moral hues (17). Jesus was with them yet distinct from them, and that’s our challenge.

God’s promise (20, 21; see verse 11 and 1:8; 18): Hold on to what He’s said to you.

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Daily Bible thoughts 959: Wednesday 2nd September 2015: Jeremiah 15: 10- 14: The cost of leadership.

Jeremiah 15: 10- 14: The cost of leadership.(please click here for todays notes)

‘’The best of men are men at best.’’ Men who love God and love people, and who give their lives to serve, have soft hearts and they can be easily wounded. So it was with Jeremiah. See in these words:

  • Jeremiah’s lament (10): ‘’Unlucky mother—that you had me as a son, given the unhappy job of indicting the whole country! I’ve never hurt or harmed a soul,and yet everyone is out to get me. But, God knows, I’ve done everything I could to help them, prayed for them and against their enemies. I’ve always been on their side, trying to stave off disaster. God knows how I’ve tried!’’ The Message. You can feel something of Jeremiah’s pain in these words. Christian ministry is not all happiness. Genuine leaders can pay a huge emotional price. They are heavily invested in seeing people respond well to God’s Word. When that doesn’t happen the heartache can be overwhelming. Let’s support our leaders with love and prayers, remembering that they are men and women too. If cut, they will bleed.
  • Jeremiah’s humanity (10): We could even say his frailty and fallibility, and we will see yet more of this in tomorrow’s reading. Not only was Jeremiah a man; he was also a man with a sinful nature. He was capable of wrong thoughts and words.
  • God’s answer and encouragement (11): God does speak, and sometimes people have found that in the darkest moments of their lives the Lord has given them a word that they can hold on to. Jeremiah was told that God had a ‘’good purpose’’ for him still, and that He would cause the prophet’s enemies to come to him for help. Later in the book we will see how this happened.
  • God’s further word to Judah (12-14): Someone said that (12) is a figure of the nation’s obduracy in the face of God’s Word. The ‘’iron from the north’’ referred to Babylon. Judah would not be able to overcome the Babylonians when God had clearly said that they would defeat the little nation to the south as the outworking of His judgment for their sins. You can’t fight God and win.

Prayer: Lord God we commit to you those who work hard in Christian ministry and faithfully bring your Word. Support them with your strength. Help them to keep going and not lose heart.

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Daily Bible thoughts 958: Tuesday 1st September 2015: Jeremiah 15:1-9

Jeremiah 15:1-9 (please click here for todays passage)

‘’A nation which is beyond the power of prayer is in a bad way indeed.’ A.E. Cundall.

Yesterday we heard Jeremiah praying for his people, but it was a prayer God would not answer. Moses and Samuel were known to be effective intercessors (1; see Psalm 99:6-8; Exodus 32:11-14, 30-32; 1 Samuel 7:8, 9). But even they would not be able change this situation. (We should not miss the inference, however, that under normal circumstances intercessors can and do make a difference. ‘’History belongs to the intercessors.’’ Walter Wink. )

To my mind, ‘’no longer’’ is a key phrase in (1-9). The nation had passed the point of no return. They had not lacked opportunities to ‘change their ways’ (7b), but they had failed to take them. It didn’t have to end this way. But it was going to because they had persisted in their rejection of God and backsliding (6). The Lord laid a major part of the blame for Judah’s plight on the wicked King Manesseh (4), who was the grandfather of the godly Josiah (see 2 Kings 21:1-16; 23:26, 27).

In an excellent book, ‘AHA’, Kyle Idleman ,the author, quotes this old saying:

‘’Sin will always take you farther than you want to go.

Sin will always cost you more than you want to pay.

Sin will always keep you longer than you want to stay.’’

He goes on to say: ‘’Scripture doesn’t minimize the consequences of sin. We repeatedly see just how seriously God takes it. In the Old Testament, when God wanted to warn the people that destruction was coming, He would most often send a prophet. The prophet would confront the people with the truth of where things were heading. The people would frequently minimize the prophet’s message. Instead of repenting and turning back to God, they would continue down the same path. But when the people were brutally honest and repented of their sin, God would respond with compassion and grace.’’ p.127.

Sadly, Jeremiah’s contemporaries stayed in the place of minimisation and did not progress to brutal honesty and repentance.

Idleman goes on to say: ‘’There’s a temptation to avoid using words like sin, sinner, hell, and punishment. But as I write this, I am convicted once again that perhaps one of the reasons people minimize sin is because preachers don’t seem to take it seriously.’’ P.128.

But the above comment was not true of Jeremiah. He faithfully told it like it was. He laid it on the line, and he paid a very high price for it, as we shall see.

Prayer: Lord keep me faithful. May I never change my ‘shape’ to be moulded to the world and what it wants to hear.

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Daily Bible thoughts 957: Monday 31st August 2015: Jeremiah 14:13-22: Only the truth sets free.

 Jeremiah 14:13-22: Only the truth sets free.(please click here for todays passage)

‘’…only the real word of God will stand the test of time and experience.’’ A.E. Cundall.

False preaching (13-16): Jeremiah protested to God that the people had been misled by false prophets. The Lord agreed with him that they had been, and he assured him that these counterfeit preachers would be punished by experiencing the very judgments they said would not happen. Those who say there is no Hell will end up there themselves if they do not repent of their sins and trust in Christ. Tragically, the people in the pulpit who preach error take many of the people in the pews down with them. (For bodies to be left unburied in the streets would be considered a terrible disgrace by Jewish people: verse 16). The people in the pews, by the way, should have known better, because they had been given clear tests to apply to know whether a prophet was true or false. ‘’The sermons they’ve been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.’’ The Message. No genuine prophet would encourage people into idolatry. The people could check the preaching with the Word of God (Isaiah 8:19, 20).

Genuine feelings (17, 18): ‘’None should preach destruction who cannot weep for those under its threat.’’ In these verses God’s heart is expressed through the mouth of Jeremiah. He doesn’t have physical ‘’eyes’’ that ‘’overflow with tears’’, but throughout the Bible His feelings and actions are described in human terms, because these are the only ones we understand. The Lord wept for Judah as a father might weep for his ‘’virgin daughter’’ who had been violated, beaten and left to die. There is deep heartbreak here. God was not indifferent to their suffering, even though He was the One who had to inflict it.

True praying (19-22): Here are some timeless elements of authentic prayer:

  • It is honest (19): It faces up to disappointments and difficult and unanswered questions (19);
  • It confesses sin (20). Jeremiah stood in a grand Biblical tradition of spiritual leaders who showed solidarity with their own people, confessing their sins as if they were their own;
  • It seeks the honour of God’s Name (21a);
  • It appeals to God’s Word (21b; see Leviticus 26:44, 45);
  • It recognises that God is our only hope (22).

Prayer: We pray for all who preach that they may first hear from you Lord, and bring your messages. Protect us from all error. Help us to be discerning.

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Daily Bible thoughts 956: Friday 28th August 2015: Jeremiah 14:1-12: When fasting will not do.

 Jeremiah 14:1-12: When fasting will not do.(please click here for todays notes)

Chapters fourteen and fifteen consist of a kind of conversation between Jeremiah and God. Prayer is not a monologue but a dialogue; there are two ends to the telephone line. Are you listening as well as talking?

Jeremiah was driven to prayer by a time of drought (1-6). These verses paint a desperate picture and must be linked to the nation’s breaking of the covenant (Deuteronomy 28:12, 14; Leviticus 26:19, 20). It wasn’t just a natural disaster. In the rainy seasons that normally occurred, the ‘’cisterns’’ (3) would fill up with water as a result of flash flooding. But at this terrible time there was no water. (I couldn’t help but think that some people experience the spiritual equivalent of verse 3 when they attend certain churches!) The ‘’doe’’ is a creature renowned for her care for her young (5) and the ‘’wild donkeys’’ were among the hardiest of animals (6). These, then, were desperate times indeed.

In (7-9) Jeremiah presents the pleas of the people before God:

-Their confession of sin and backsliding (7);

– Their desire for God to do something for the sake of His Name (7; see also 21);

– Their sense that although God was with them, His presence was not being manifested; they were aware of His presence among them, but also conscious of His inactivity. He felt like a ‘’stranger’’ to them; like a ‘’traveller’’ who had moved on (8); like someone who should have been able to help, but couldn’t (9). ‘’Why are you acting like a tourist, taking in the sights, here today and gone tomorrow? Why do you just stand there and stare, like someone who doesn’t know what to do in a crisis? But GOD, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are – you named us! Don’t leave us in the lurch.’’ The Message. ( ‘’…a large number of inconsistencies and insincerities may make God powerless to help you, or to work mightily through you to the salvation of others…The Lord Jesus could do infinitely more in us, and through us, if we did not hinder. Be sure that the Kingdom of God is within, but you must let it possess you.’’ F.B. Meyer. )

– Their request that God should not forsake them.

God’s answer in (10-12) shows that the people’s confession was but words. Although it sounded sincere enough, God saw right through it. There was no genuine repentance in evidence (10; see 3:10; 15:6, 7; Isaiah 59:1,2). They mourned for their land but not for their sins; they were sorry for their plight but not for their evil. So God told Jeremiah not to pray for them anymore (7:16; 11:14). They had past the point of no return. Not even fasting could help now: ‘’When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won’t listen to a thing they say.’’ The Message. True confession involves forsaking sin (Proverbs 28:13). It is more than just repetitively saying ‘Sorry’ to God. Note the ‘’this people’’ in (10, 11) and compare with the covenantal ‘’my people’’ (9:7).

(The trio of disasters mentioned in verse 12b is intended to cover the full range of human misery. The curses for breaking the covenant, found in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, are basically variations on these themes.)

Prayer: Lord God, may nothing in me prevent the outflowing of your power.

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