We take nothing out of this world

1Timothy 6::7  ...for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8  but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9  But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 11  But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12  Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. .....

1Timothy 6:17  As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19  thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

Here is a letter to a church that is in disarray and in need to correction. The leadership is embroiled in dispute and “godless chatter”[1] and so renewal is required. An essential step towards this is the renunciation of the pursuit of wealth: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith.”  This is not a denunciation of wealth, but is rather the invitation to use wealth “to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share”.

Why invest time and energy in the pursuit of the uncertainty of riches when there is a better option: Jesus-followers choose to trust Jesus’ call to a simple lifestyle as offering certain hope for spiritual renewal.   

Ordinary 26 / Pentecost +19

48 God Supplies Our Every Need

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 292.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

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[1] 1Ti 6:20

Strive for God’s Kingdom

 Luke 12:22  He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24  Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25  And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26  If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27  Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you--you of little faith! 29  And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30  For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31  Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32  "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Luke writes about Jesus at a time when people judged each other’s value as human beings based on their possessions, their clothing, and their social location...... oh wait – this seems to be the world we live in today! For this reason the words of Jesus resonate across the centuries: “do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things”     

The challenge of every generation is to move our trust from the temporary security of material possession, to the eternal security of a spiritual connection with our Creator.

Ordinary 26 / Pentecost +19

48 God Supplies Our Every Need

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 292.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

    

On Being Truly Rich

Luk 12:13  Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14  But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15  And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." 16  Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17  And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 18  Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20  But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'21  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

The underlying ideology that informs much of our world’s culture is consumer capitalism. This results in never ending pursuit of possessions as the sign of achievement in life. In resisting this Jesus warns that “one's life does not consist in the abundance possessions." Instead we are invited to become “rich toward God” which Jesus calls “true riches” (Luke 16:11).  Later the Christian Church would refer to ‘true riches’ as being the kindness of God[1], the riches of His Glory[2], the riches of the knowledge of God[3],  the riches of God’s Grace[4] the spiritual inheritance of faith[5] and the assurance of faith[6]. All of these describe a relationship with our Creator which is greater than temporary material possessions. This is best summed up in the words of the writer of the First Letter to Timothy:

1Timothy 6:17  As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19  thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

Ordinary 26 / Pentecost +19

48 God Supplies Our Every Need

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 292.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

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[1] Romans 2:4

[2] Rom 9:23 Eph 3:16 Phil 4:19 Col 1:27

[3] Rom 11:23

[4] Eph 1:7 & 2:7

[5] Eph 1:18

[6] Colossians 2:2

Trusting our Creator

1Kings 17:1  Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." 2  The word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3  "Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4  You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." 5  So he went and did according to the word of the LORD; he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6  The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the wadi. 7  But after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land. 8  Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9  "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you." 10  So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink." 11  As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." 12  But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." 13  Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14  For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth." 15  She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16  The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah. 17  After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18  She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" 19  But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20  He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" 21  Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." 22  The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23  Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." 24  So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

We are told that Elijah the Tishbite fled for his life from King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. The royal couple were riding the crest of popularity: their marriage, which has been described by historian Israel Finkelstein as a "brilliant stroke of international diplomacy",[1]  had secured the peace between the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the powerful Phoenician empire – leaving the people satisfied that they were safe. Then Elijah delivers a rebuke from God to the effect that their security did not reside in the treaty, but in trusting the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

It is often tempting to think that our security needs are to be found in good planning: we put our trust in a police force that has orders to eliminate criminals; or in a military that is better armed than our neighbours; or in trade agreements that will ensure our domination of our economic footprint; or in politicians who can out-think the opposition. The fact is that all of these are fragile arrangements that can unexpectedly fail. The one enduring truth is that life is unstable, and change is inevitable.  When the systems we trust begin to fail us, our only security is that God will carry us though the storms of life.  The challenge of life is to shift our trust away from thinking that we have everything under control, to choosing to trust the One who gives us life each day: “he went and did according to the word of the LORD” (1 Kings 17:5).

Ordinary 26 / Pentecost +19

48 God Supplies Our Every Need

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 292.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

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[1]  Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2001). The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. Simon and Schuster. pp. 169–195. ISBN 978-0-684-86912-4.

Psalm 79

A Psalm of Asaph.

 A communal lament over the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

Psa 79:1   O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;

they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

Psa 79:2  They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food,

the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.

Psa 79:3  They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem,

and there was no one to bury them.

Psa 79:4  We have become a taunt to our neighbors,

mocked and derided by those around us.

Psa 79:5  How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever?

Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?

Psa 79:6  Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you,

 and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.

Psa 79:7  For they have devoured Jacob

and laid waste his habitation.

Psa 79:8  Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;

let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.

Psa 79:9  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name;

 deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake.

Ordinary 25 / Pentecost +18

47 Wise Stewards

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 287.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

An (Un)successful Pastor

2Corinthians 6:1  As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2  For he says, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3  We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4  but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5  beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6  by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7  truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8  in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9  as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see--we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; 10  as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

2 Corinthians was written after Paul left Ephesus, probably in late A.D. 55 or very early A.D. 56. He had struggled with the Corinthian Christians, who had been confused by opponents of Paul’s teaching on the Grace of God, and who had also exhibited some questionable moral and ethical traits. Paul was anxious to discover how his previous “stern letter” had been received, and at the same time he was determined to defend his reputation as a disciple of Jesus.

What is deeply challenging is the way Paul lists his credentials. Paul lists his “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger”; he describes himself as “unknown, punished, sorrowful and poor”.   We are so accustomed to the way modern Christian leaders describe themselves as ‘successful’, ‘popular’, wealthy’, and ‘anointed’ pastors to thousands of adoring fans that Paul’s credentials are quite startling.

A Christ-follower cannot use the language of success as defined by our post-modern culture. The only sign of success that defines a Christian is that, despite our weaknesses, the Grace of God was seen. All else is vanity.

Hymn:

 And are we yet alive,
And see each other's face?
Glory and thanks to Jesus give
For His almighty grace!

Preserved by power divine
To full salvation here,
Again in Jesus? praise we join
And in His sight appear.

What troubles have we seen,
What mighty conflicts past,
Fightings without, and fears within,
Since we assembled last!

Yet out of all the Lord
Hath brought us by His love;
And still He doth His help afford,
And hides our life above.

Then let us make our boast
Of His redeeming power,
Which saves us to the uttermost,
Till we can sin no more.

Let us take up the cross
Till we the crown obtain,
And gladly reckon all things loss
So we may Jesus gain.

Charles Wesley

Ordinary 25 / Pentecost +18

47 Wise Stewards

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 287.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

A God beyond limits

Ephesians 3:16  I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17  and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18  I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20  Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

A prayer for the people: to “know the love of Christ”.  And that this would lead to the realization that the power of God – its breadth, length, height and depth – “surpasses knowledge”. Anyone who claims to be able to ‘explain God’ shows in this claim their own lack of knowledge of God. God is beyond explanation – able to “accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine”.  

We serve a God of surprises who will never be fully explained by human language and experience.   Our Creator therefore constantly invites us to be surprised / to be perplexed / to be bewildered by the many new things we do not yet know…. but can learn because God reveals them to us.  

Ordinary 25 / Pentecost +18

47 Wise Stewards

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 287.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.