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Daily Bible thoughts 896: Monday 8th June 2015: Colossians 2:16-19: Focussed on Christ

Colossians 2:16-19: Focussed on Christ

Here are some further reasons to keep your focus on Jesus:

The ‘reality’ we find in Him (17). The Old Testament ceremonies, rituals and symbols were but ‘’a shadow’’ of things to come. But Jesus Christ is the substance. All these things find their fulfilment in Him. Let’s not allow ourselves to get preoccupied with secondary matters, but always concentrate on Jesus. He is central. The so-called ‘Colossian heresy’ was taking people back into the shadows from the brilliant Sunlight of noonday. Would you rather have the shadow of the man you love, or the man Himself?! Now the Colossians had Christ, surely they would not let Him go for lesser things? Religion is no substitute for reality.

Verse 16 is interesting. You can’t stop people judging you. We are almost incurably judgmental, even though we shouldn’t be (see verse 18 also.) One sign that you have lost vital connection with the Lord Jesus (19) is that you start to try to do His job for Him. You want to run other people’s lives; tell them what to do. The judgmental people Paul writes about here were, of course, heretics. But you don’t have to be into heresy to be judgmental. (Verse 16 shows that there was a Jewish flavour to this heresy. But the eighteenth verse reveals that there was also an esoteric quality. There were people who were asserting their spiritual superiority over others on the grounds of heightened spiritual experiences. They were into visions; they believed they had joined in with the angelic worship of God. In short, they regarded themselves to be in the ‘first class compartment’ of spirituality, and proudly looked down on others who didn’t have what they had. They were the spiritual elite.)

He is the Head of the church (19a). Therefore He is your Head. Let Jesus run your life; allow Him to tell you what to do. Get your orders from Him. ‘’So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days…Don’t tolerate people who try to run your life, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They’re a lot of hot air, that’s all they are.’’ The Message.

Growth comes as you keep connection with Him (19b). The growth of the church (and of individual Christians) is God’s work. God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 6, 7). God causes you to grow, but it’s all about ‘’connection’’ with Jesus. As you ‘’abide’’ in Him (John 15) you will grow.

Don’t lose touch!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to never move away from you

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Daily Bible thoughts 894: Thursday 4th June 2015: Colossians 2:6-12: Sitting on a fortune.

Colossians 2:6-12: Sitting on a fortune.

Many years ago I heard a story about an old lady who lived in poverty in a simple cottage. Someone visiting her, who knew that her son was a successful business man, asked, ‘But doesn’t he ever send you any money?’ ‘No’, replied the poor woman, ‘but he does send me pretty coloured pictures from all over the world. Would you like to see them?’ Her friend was intrigued, and replied that she would. So the elderly lady disappeared into another room, and then returned carrying a big cardboard box which she proceeded to place on the coffee table. As she removed the lid, her visitor could see that the ‘pretty coloured pictures’ were currency notes from many different countries where her son had travelled. The old lady was sitting on a fortune whilst living like a pauper!

Now whether the above story is true, partially true or apocryphal, it makes an important point. We Christians are incredibly rich, spiritually speaking, yet we may not realise what we have ‘in the bank’, and fail to draw on it in our day to day lives. We are richer than millionaires but appear like tramps!

If two verses can be used to sum up ‘Colossians’, then surely (2: 9, 10) get the job. Paul’s concern was to focus the attention of these Christians on Jesus. He was saying to them, ‘Christ is all you need.’ ‘Everything you need is to be found in Jesus.’ The false teachers, who were having some influence in the churches of that region, were arguing that you need Jesus plus certain other things. Paul’s counter-argument involved an adamant ‘NO!’ to their message. ‘All that you need is in Jesus’, he taught.

  • In Jesus you get started as a Christian, and it’s in His strength that you will grow in this joyful, thankful Christian life (6, 7; 11, 12). Notice that the metaphors ‘’rooted and built up’’ (7) are drawn from agriculture and architecture. They both speak of growth and progress. Conversion is Christ’s work in us (11, 12). It involves being baptised, in which we totally identify with Jesus in His death and resurrection.
  • By looking to Jesus you can be protected from erroneous doctrine. Keep your eyes on Him (see also 3:1-4)
  • Through Jesus we can be winners (10b). He is ‘’the head over every power and authority.’’ This has implications for us. A song says, ‘Jesus is the Winner Man’. In Him we also can be winners. We can say ‘No’ to the fierce pull of temptation; we can overcome in every battle.

Every good thing is ours in Jesus, and In Him we find all we need to live the Christian life.

As I sit in my house right now, I know that I am surrounded by great (potential) power, through the electrical wiring system. But I cannot benefit from it without having to do something: put a plug into a socket and flick a switch. Something similar has to happen with us on an on-going basis. Otherwise we may find that, although we live close to immense power we do not benefit from it.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, teach me all that I am and have in Jesus.

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Daily Bible thoughts 893: Wednesday 3rd June 2015: Jeremiah 7: 30-34: Call it what it is!

Jeremiah 7: 30-34: Call it what it is!

Call it what it is! We have a habit of attempting to pretty up bad things by giving them nice names. But ‘a rose is a rose by any other name.’ This also applies to evil, ugly things; they remain evil and ugly however we label them. Listen to these words: ‘’ ‘’But soon, very soon’’ – GOD’s Decree! – ‘’the names Topheth and Ben-hinnom will no longer be used. They’ll call the place what it is: Murder Meadow.’’ The Message. Can you imagine a situation so wicked that people were actually burning their children as sacrificial offerings to false gods? (30-31). It is no wonder that this society was going to come under judgment. (In fact we sacrifice our children to our’ gods’ in other ways that look more acceptable and civilised. But we are nevertheless destroying them.) If we cover evil practices with a veneer of religion we may feel that this ‘coat of religious paint’ makes it look better. But God sees everything and He knows the truth. He knows that the house is ramshackle and about to fall down.

Use it as you should! The people of Judah had misused the Temple, set up for the honouring of God’s Name: ‘’In deliberate insult to me, they’ve set up their obscene god-images in the very Temple that was built to honour me.’’ The Message. According to the second big section of the Bible, the New Testament, a local gathering of Christians is God’s Temple (1 Corinthians 3), and so also is the physical body of a Christ follower (1 Corinthians 6). So it is important that in all we do in church life, and in our personal lives, that we should aim to honour God who made us for Himself and for His own glory. Let’s not misappropriate the ‘temple’ for our own uses.

Believe it because it’s true! As we read the Old Testament prophetic books we may find all the stuff about God’s anger and judgment a bit distasteful. But in everyday life we can find food that is good for us to be unpalatable. In a recent letter to the church in the U.K. the well-known preacher/writer R.T. Kendall pointed out that Jesus affirmed the Old Testament and was not ashamed of the God of the Old Testament. He called Him ‘Father’. Here are some key lessons we learn from the Bible about God:

  • He is Holy;
  • He hates all sin/wrongdoing/the breaking of His law;
  • He will judge and punish all evil;
  • He is also loving and gives ‘sinners’ many opportunities to repent;
  • In His love and justice, He gave Himself up for us all on the cross, in the Person of His Son; He took His own anger/judgment against sin, dying in our place. Therefore,
  • All who repent of their wrongdoing and trust in Christ will be saved;
  • All who reject Jesus will bring judgment on themselves.

This truth about judgment will not go away, and it is not for any theologian or preacher to re-write the Bible.

Prayer: Lord help me to swallow the parts of your Word that I find ‘tough’ meat along with the other bits that I find ‘tender’.

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Daily Bible thoughts 889: Monday 1st June 2015: Jeremiah 7:9-15

Jeremiah 7:9-15

‘’But I have been watching! Declares the LORD.’’ (11b).

‘’I’ve got eyes in my head. I can see what’s going on.’’ The Message

It can be a comfort to know that God is watching. How good it is to know that He watches over us. ‘’For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous…’’ (Psalm 1:6b); ‘’…he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you…he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.’’ (From Psalm 121:4-8). These, and similar words in Scripture, encourage us as we consider God’s watchfulness. ‘’Thou God seest me.’’ (Genesis 16:13).

But it is also a challenge to know that God is watching. That is the import of the words in today’s passage. God sees everything that goes on in His church (temple). Nothing escapes His notice. Jesus has ‘X-Ray vision’ (Revelation 1:14b) and He inspects everything. Psalm 1:6 concludes: ‘’…but the way of the wicked will perish.’’ God sees and knows what they are up to as well.

  • The Lord sees the sin of His people (9, 10) – and He calls them to repent. He warns them of the consequences if they will not (15. Isn’t this the essence of Hell?) In (9) mention is made of the breaking of 5 of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:3, 13-16). If we cherish sin in our hearts God will not listen.
  • The Lord sees the complacency of His people (10). No one is ‘’safe’’ who rejects God’s Word and pushes away His Son. It is a tragedy and a travesty that there are many false preachers who tell people they are safe when they are not. The people were no better off than ‘’robbers’’ who hide in caves, but who sooner or later will be caught (11).
  • The Lord sees the misplaced trust of His people (14). As we saw on Friday, their confidence was in the temple itself. They thought (and many of their ‘prophets’ had encouraged them to believe this) that because the temple was in Jerusalem it would protect them. They were so misguided. Unless our trust is in the Lord alone we will never be safe. Salvation is found in Jesus only. We should not look anywhere else. Centuries earlier (before the Jerusalem temple was built), the Lord’s tabernacle had been located at Shiloh (Josh.18:1), and at that time the Lord allowed Shiloh to be destroyed (although the Tabernacle itself wasn’t). But now the temple would be destroyed, and not just the place.

‘’Get smart! Your leaders are handing you a pack of lies, and you’re swallowing them! Use your heads! Do you think you can rob and murder, have sex with the neighbourhood wives, tell lies nonstop, worship the local gods, and buy every novel religious commodity on the market – and then march into this Temple, set apart for my worship, and say, ‘’We’re safe!’’ thinking that the place itself gives you license to go on with all this outrageous sacrilege?’’ The Message.

Pray: Lord God, your grace is amazing, but help me to not take it for granted and become careless about how I live.

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Daily Bible thoughts 886: Wednesday 27th May 2015: Colossians 2:1-5

Colossians 2:1-5

‘’I want you to realize that I continue to work as hard as I know how for you, and also for the Christians over at Laodicea.’’ The Message.

It is sometimes a good thing for people in local churches to catch a glimpse of something of the cost of ministry to their leaders. It will help them to appreciate that their leaders are authentic, that they love them and want the very best for them. We have already seen that Paul’s ‘struggle’ was carried out in God’s strength (1:29). This wasn’t simply a matter of expending human energy. But we should not fail to note that Paul twice speaks of his ministry in terms of ‘’struggling’’ (1:29; 2:1). He did not have a casual or careless approach to his life’s work. His imprisonment was one mark (scar even) of this intense struggle. As he gave himself so totally to this work he had certain clear objectives in mind:

  • Their encouragement (2a): In this world, many discouragements come the way of believers. Who can keep going without being hooked up to a saline drip of encouragement? We need regular ‘drips’ of encouragement into our veins. Paul could have said, ‘Where’s my encouragement coming from? Here I am in prison for Jesus, who’s going to encourage me?’ But he focussed on encouraging others.
  • Their unity (2b): The Roman soldiers carried shields (Ephesians 6:16) which interlocked at the edges, so that they could form a ‘wall’ against the enemy. Paul was delighted with what he already knew about their togetherness (5), but what is good can always be better, and so he prayed.
  • Their spiritual understanding (2c, 3): If we have Jesus we have everything we need. We find all meaning and purpose in Him. He’s the One the human heart is thirstily seeking, even when we don’t know that it’s Jesus we want, and we’re searching in all the wrong places. Paul wanted the Christians he served to grasp as fully as possible all the riches that are in Christ. He wanted them to know Jesus more and more. (Notice the implication that encouraged and united Christians are in a good place to grow in spiritual knowledge.) ‘’I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else.’’ The Message.
  • Their protection from doctrinal error (4): As you know, the churches in the Lycus Valley region were being affected by false teaching. As with their unity, Paul was convinced of good things regarding their faith (5). Nevertheless, he was concerned that they should be protected from heresy.

So, there was a price tag attached to Paul’s ministry. Recognise that all true leaders in the church will experience something of cost, and feel the heat of the battle. Pray for them.

Prayer: We pray for those called to leadership in your church that they will fight in your strength and not their own. May their hearts be encouraged today.

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Daily Bible thoughts 882: Thursday 21st May 2015: Jeremiah 6: 10-15

 Jeremiah 6: 10-15

‘’Who will listen to me?’’ (10)

‘’They’ve tuned out GOD. They don’t want to hear from me.’’ The Message.

This is Jeremiah speaking, but ultimately the issue was about listening to God, who was talking through Jeremiah. From one angle, a ‘disciple’ is someone who answers this call. They listen, and learn (and obey!) Attitude towards God’s Word is an index of the heart (10b). Every pastor longs to see hunger for God’s Word among God’s people. But this passage opens by talking about those who did not want to listen to the Lord’s Word. In fact, they loathed it. Jeremiah had a message the people did not want to hear (11). He preached an unpopular sermon about impending judgment. Are we guilty of going for the more ‘soft-centred’ Bible truths? Do we avoid the ‘nutty’ passages that are hard on our teeth?

Regardless of the negative attitude of his congregation, Jeremiah would not be silenced: ‘’The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. But…’’ (10b).

Although Jeremiah’s message was unpopular, it would come to pass (11b, 12: notice how God again speaks directly at this point.) The second half of verse 11 points to the comprehensive nature of the judgment that was soon to fall. It would affect people of all ages from right across their society.

Jeremiah would not be like the false preachers who served up only what the people wanted to hear (13, 14); who doled out false hope. He would not offer them only sweet, soft-centred sermons; his messages also contained nuts (and some people had a bad reaction!). Preachers who do not give a proper treatment of the doctrines of sin and judgment end up dealing with people’s deadly wounds as if they were just scratches and grazes. Their messages are not radical enough; they don’t go deep enough.

Somebody said that the gospel is bad news before it is good news. We must know how sick we are before we will be prepared to call in the doctor and ask for a cure. We must understand that we are sinners in the sight of a holy God, and what this means, before we will be prepared to cry out to Jesus to save us.

As we have seen, there were profound problems in Jeremiah’s society which were caused, or certainly exacerbated, by a corrupt ministry. Whether they realise it or not, preachers create a culture by their sermons. If they twist the truth, they produce a toxic culture. Let’s pray for all who teach God’s Word. They carry an awesome responsibility. May they not be moved from the truth.

‘’Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar, little people and big people alike. Prophets and priests and everyone in between twist words and doctor truth. My people are broken – shattered! – and they put on band-aids, Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’ But things are not ‘just fine’! Do you suppose they are embarrassed over this outrage? No, they have no shame. They don’t even know how to blush.’’ The Message.

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Daily Bible thoughts 881: Wednesday 20th May 2015: Jeremiah 6:1-9.

Jeremiah 6:1-9.

‘’This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression.’’ (6b)

We find in these verses a graphic preview of Jerusalem’s future. The clock had run down. The Babylonians from the north were going to come and ‘harvest’ the ‘’grapes’’ (9). The nation was ripe for judgment. (But after harvesting a crop there is always a small portion; a‘’remnant’’ ,remaining. This points to the survivors being carried off to Babylon.)

Why was this going to happen?

‘’You’re in deep trouble, Jerusalem.
    You’ve pushed me to the limit.
You’re on the brink of being wiped out…’’ The Message.

Jerusalem was:

‘’A city full of brutality,
    bursting with violence.
Just as a well holds a good supply of water,
    she supplies wickedness nonstop.’’ The Message.

We may feel like we’re dealing with an ancient and musty document, and ‘what has all this got to do with us?’ But the prophetic books tell us that God observes all human behaviour (see 7b), and His judgments are worked out in history. He is patient, but there always comes a point where God says, in effect, ‘Enough is enough’, and the time for repentance runs out. Yes, there is going to be a final judgment at the culmination of history, but many mini-judgments are being worked out even now. This should motivate us to pray for our nation and our leaders, if we don’t already. Don’t let yourself think the U.K. has an exemption certificate. Pray that the heart of this nation will turn back to God. Who knows when it may be too late for us? People need the Lord. Our only hope is in Jesus.

‘’I have likened my dear daughter Zion to a lovely meadow. Well, now ‘shepherds’ from the north have discovered her and brought in their flocks of soldiers. They’ve pitched camp all around her, and plan where they’ll graze.’’ The Message.

What could happen to ‘’England’s green and pleasant land’’ if we persist in rebellion towards God?

‘’In verses 6-7, the Lord speaks to the Babylonian attackers; it’s as if He Himself were leading the assault on Jerusalem. And, indeed, in one sense, He was; the Babylonians (just like the Assyrians before them) were the instruments of God used to punish His faithless people…But, in verse 8, God still speaks to warn His people; His longing for them continues to the last moment.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1086.

Prayer: Lord have mercy on our land and turn us back to you.

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Daily Bible thoughts 880: Tuesday 19th May 2015: Psalm 116:12-19

 Psalm 116:12-19

Do we live with a sense of gratitude to God for His grace in our lives? Somebody once spoke, in my hearing, about how the ‘shine’ can go off your salvation. Has that happened to you?

If you remember, this psalm was written by someone facing grave danger. Possibly, he was a persecuted believer, and he was staring death in the face. But God saved him. This was our dilemma too, but at a much deeper level. For us, God provided a rescue in Jesus that comprehensively dealt with the depths of our situation, and delivered us from spiritual death.

‘’I will lift up the cup of salvation.’’ (13). How do you do that?

  • By prayer (13b, 17b). By prayer we can enjoy our salvation. The word is actually ‘’salvations’’ indicating its fullness. Through communion with God we keep taking deep draughts from the well of salvation. We can never exhaust it;
  • By thanks giving (17a). When we give thanks in the company of believers we are holding up the cup of our personal experience for others to see and be encouraged to drink for themselves;
  • By living the life you have promised to live (14, 18 and 19); a life worthy of the God who saved you.( I think it was Gandhi who said that Christians would need to look a lot more saved if he was to believe in the Saviour);
  • By lifting this cup to the lips of others as we have opportunity. Alec Motyer, in the New Bible Commentary says that (17-19) give a strong description of going public in testimony.

Here is one final thought on today’s passage:

‘’Yet, (15), there is no such thing as an untimely death. For the Lord, death is too valuable thing to be squandered. The death of his saints, ‘his beloved’, is like a precious jewel which he bestows – precious to him and to them because at death he receives them home. In this sense, death is the final and greatest earthly blessing of God on his people.’’ J.A.Motyer: ‘New Bible Commentary’,p.564.

Believers drink most fully and deeply of ‘’the cup of salvation’’ when they depart this world to be with Christ.

Prayer: Lord enable me please to not be ashamed of the message of salvation, and help me to not keep it to myself.

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Daily Bible thoughts 879: Monday 18th May 2015: Colossians 1:21-23

Colossians 1:21-23

‘’Once…but now…’’

Have you ever seen those successful slimming photos that tell the story, in a snapshot, of ‘before and after?’ In these few verses Paul writes about how someone’s situation radically alters through coming to know Christ. ‘Every picture tells a story’, and here are two contrasting landscapes.

‘’You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted.’’ The Message.

Our pre-Christian state is described in (21). It was stark and it was dark. We were ‘’enemies’’ of God, and that is not a good place to be. The gospel call to repent (i.e. to change your mind) is indispensable because fundamentally the problem of ‘’evil behaviour’’ stems from a mind at war with God (Romans 8:7). To be ‘’alienated’’ in any situation is not a happy place to be. Thank God this is no longer our story. This is the ‘before’ photo and it’s one to keep in your wallet! I’m not proud of mine. How about you?

The emphasis on ‘’Christ’s physical body’’ in (22) is important. Reading between the lines, the false teaching that was infecting the church in Colossae may have denied the reality of the incarnation. There was a belief that matter is evil, and that God could not and would not contaminate Himself by coming into contact with it. But Paul emphasises that God really and truly did become a man (see 2:9) and that He was crucified in a body. Look at the great difference the cross makes. We no more face alienation and accusation, but we are brought into a place of acceptance with God, where we have a clean record in His sight. This is the ‘after’ picture, and it’s one you will want to take out of your purse and pass around the room. But the reason for doing so will not be pride, but praise for the One who has changed everything, at such great cost to Himself.

The gospel call is to repent of sin and believe in Jesus, in order to be saved ‘’through his blood’’ (20). But also embedded in it is the call to persevere; to endure to the end. I don’t want to get into a debate about ‘once saved, always saved’ etc. I just want to highlight the fact that the New Testament regularly warms of the possibility of drifting away from our faith moorings, and repeatedly exhorts us to keep going. We surely have to heed these calls, and take them seriously? Also, the parable of the sower highlights the uncomfortable truth that many who profess faith do not press on in the faith. I understand that Colossae was located in an earthquake zone, so Paul’s words in (23) would resonate with the Colossian Christians.

Just one other thought: if the gospel message is to be ‘’heard’’, it must be ‘’proclaimed’’ by those who are willing to be its ‘’servant’’. Paul was such a person (23b).

Prayer: Thank you Lord for your ‘amazing grace’.

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