The Lord, to be my shepherd

Inverting Psalm 23, some of us have probably seen "If the Lord is not my shepherd", laying out what we do not have, if we do not belong to God through Christ. No doubt you can find it quickly with a search engine.

But what did it cost the Lord Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd, the fulfilment of the promise made several times through various prophets that God himself would come and shepherd his people, to take on that role? What was his own experience, in order that ours might be that of this beautiful Psalm? This question invites us to have a go at the Psalm looking at it along these lines.

1 The Lord Jesus has become my shepherd; he suffered every want.

2 He left behind the green pastures; led into the waters of tumult.

3 His soul made an offering of sin; he was led away as one of the wicked for my sake.

4 Yes, he walked into the tomb, into death itself, and endured every evil; the rod of God's anger struck and no staff guided away, no comfort at his demise.

5 His enemies feasted at his death, as he was taken away from the table; his head was crowned with the thorns, and the cup of suffering overflowed.

6 Bitter hatred and scorn were his lot in life; he came and dwelt in our ruined house, to save us forever.

I'm not sure I've handled all the lines consistently and at the level of scanning there's infinite scope to do better. I hope somebody will! 

What or whom do you love?

Do you love the comfort zone of the Christian church in a world of chaos?

Do you love the beautiful order and comprehensive of Biblical ideas and doctrine?

Or do you love Jesus?

It's quite clear that there are plenty of influential people in the orthodox world of Christianity today who love ideas, at least as much if not more than they love Jesus himself. 

Or at least, if they don't, they have a strange way of going about things in their ministries.

What, then, about I or you?

If our initial reaction is to deny that there's a real difference between these things, then Jesus reminds us otherwise; this problem was there in the first century:

“2 I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have laboured for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." (Revelation 2:2-5)

The blessings of the Christian life, and the beauty of Christian truths are wonderful things. They are, though, simply rays coming from the sun. Jesus himself is infinitely above, and all other true beauty is coming to us from him. So let's admire God revealed to us in Christ first, and then admire what comes from him as part of our admiring of him. Let's love them because they lead us to him. Let's love them because they lead others to him too.

The cessation of the miraculous/charismatic gifts

Recently I was asked to make a presentation upon why we should believe that the miraculous gifts of the apostolic era (especially particular people who were given a spiritual gift of speaking in tongues, or prophesying) ceased.

I've put the slides for my presentation on the "Resources" page of my website, together with a booklet I wrote on the subject in 2007. The presentation proceeds under these four headings:

1️⃣ Today’s “gifts” clearly differ from those in the Bible.
2️⃣ The Bible’s gifts are tied to the age and ministry of the apostles.
3️⃣ Having those gifts today would be against God’s revealed purposes.
4️⃣ Answering objections. 

If you think the arguments have faults or need sharpening, fire away - comments are open!

In praise of United Beach Missions

https://www.ubm.org.uk

Whether you have, or have not, previously come across United Beach Missions ("UBM"), let me commend them to you!

Firstly, it's an organisation in which the purpose is to serve others, and particularly, to serve the lost by reaching them with the gospel. There are many fine Christian organisations in the world, and the work of the Great Commission involves many different tasks. Nevertheless, all armies and nations are especially grateful for those on the front-line. Without the front-line activities, nothing else would or could exist. UBM makes it easy for busy people to get to the front-line, and take part in the work of Jesus Christ, coming and being where lost people are, showing love to them and declaring him to them.

Taking part directly in such work, even if it's just one or two weeks a year, is very good for our souls. Life is full of many responsibilities once you reach the adult world, and faithful servants must be careful to remember the primary and direct purposes that their Master has given to them in their service. The Master has given us many helps in this: the local church, its worship, his word, prayer, the Lord's Day - and these are all things that UBM stands for. Team members are not only given service opportunities, but service opportunity in the context of the local church, worship, teaching, training, fellowship and prayer within the team, and the Lord's Day is honoured.

As such, I find it very much preferable to most Christian camps for teenagers and young people. I don't want to denigrate them: it's surely infinitely preferable to go on a camp where there's teaching in a Christian community setting led by godly people, rather than to spend the time at home gawping at the world's media. And no doubt on all camps there is some measure of service as you do the washing up and clean the camp toilets (though I think some misguided souls have eliminated even these minimal duties). But UBM reflects the fundamental principle of how Jesus taught his disciples (and indeed, what wise people do in pretty much every walk of life): learning by doing. Learning by working alongside the experienced folks who are not simply telling you what should be done, but doing it too, leading by example, encouraging and showing.

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up, Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 8. It's too easy for one's Christian life to drift into focussing upon comfortably accumulating knowledge at a distance. Alongside the teaching of the church, there are books, conferences, podcasts - all available from our preferred celebrity pastors, and glowingly endorsed by all the big-wigs who inhabit their particular circles to assure us that we're in the right place. But in the end, we may end up resembling the overweight armchair sports pundit who knows everything about his preferred sport, and can explain in detail exactly how the game should have been won, but hasn't done any exercise for years and whose confident proclamations have no beneficial impact on anyone, anywhere. The Christian life turns into an intellectual game, in which the aim is to be more right than others, to stake out our position better than others do. Meanwhile, our actual spiritual muscles atrophy, and we're good for nothing except illustrating the folly of knowing our Master's will but not doing it. (The New Testament tells us directly, many times, that this policy will have disastrous results for us on the final day). Jesus spent his time with needy people, and gave up his life for theirs. The church today has built vast "comfort zones" where Christians can live their whole lives in ease and only rarely come into contact with the lost. In the "secular" West, of course, there are often many barriers to making meaningful contact, and it can take a long time to move from "building bridges" to actually driving something across them. Many give up along the way. UBM makes it easy: it's a straightforward Christian mission (it's there in the title), which is up-front about what it's doing, whilst forcing nobody to be involved in anything they're not comfortable with. Moreover, there are pathways through its associated organisations to keep on serving in various ways, at whatever stage of life.

Another way in which UBM keeps you humble is the other Christians that you'll meet. It is easy for us to become "wise in our own conceits". We have worked out all the details of the Christian life, and are wiser than the ancients, or so we think.... until such ideas are best exposed by reality. There are many Christians with fine knowledge and reputation, who serve little. But at the front-line of service, there are many Christians at all kinds of stages, holding many beliefs we find strange, dubious or flat-out wrong, who love the Lord and are full of zeal to serve him in all sorts of difficult circumstances. They resemble Christ and remind us of him. We are reminded of  what the Spirit of Christ is really like, and led away from the pride that had started to grow, that all the best Christians are found in our own circles and look quite like us and hold our opinions. In fact, we begin to see things differently: there are lots of us who have every advantage, but are going in the wrong direction... but others who, despite many disadvantages, are doing a lot better than us with what they have. God's wisdom, and God's choices of who he uses, humble and correct us. Moreover, by being actually exposed to people who see things differently (and not only exposed to people who already agree with us who describe the beliefs of others), we might find out that in fact we were wrong!

UBM is not perfect; unfortunately every person involved is a son or daughter of Adam. But, it does have a track record of serving on the front lines whilst simultaneously giving people (both young and old) opportunity for evangelistic service, fellowship and growth. May God keep and bless them for many more years to come.

(Footnote: my parents encountered UBM on a beach on a holiday when I was a child and found that in one of God's "coincidences", that the team leader lived in our home town. Later again "coincidentally" meeting the same church in an "in the park" service, we began attending there. Not long after that a visiting evangelist, strongly associated with UBM for many years, came to our church and talked to all the Sunday School classes. That day the Lord saved me through the gospel of Christ which he explained. Over a decade later whilst at university my first UBM team week was led by the same leader as on the original beach; and indeed the visiting evangelist spoke at my first UBM annual reunion).

God wants us for ourselves

God doesn't want us for our talents, our time, our gifts or our energy. He doesn't need any of those things. He is himself eternal, infinite in power, infinite in wisdom and capability. He is himself absolute perfection in himself, not by anything that he does, seeks or finds, but in whom he is. He doesn't need us to be or become anything, because he already is. He is glorious.

And as such, it is not because of anything that he can gain from us that he sent his Son to die for us. It is out of pure love. He does not seek what belongs to us, but he seeks us, ourselves, that he may lavish his love upon us.

Christian service is a wonderful thing; but not because we are giving something to God in order to add to him. He is no Pharaoh, who demands a daily load from us, and is ready to beat us if we do not produce. He is wonderful in himself, and out of his generosity and goodness desires that we partake in his divine life. He saves us so that we might be joined to him, through our union with his Son. God so loved the world, that he gave, and in that giving, takes us to himself. If we see, we will give too: not because a quota of bricks has been demanded from us, but because such a glorious, all-encompassing, all-consuming divine life cannot but overflow in the same way to others: not because we want something out of them, but because the love that is in us, by its very nature, must flow out to them too. That is its nature, because it is God's nature. God loves us, not because of what is in us, but because of what is in him. For that reason, it is a love that cannot fail, no matter how much we do. He did not want us because he reasoned we would never fail. He wanted us so that his life might swallow up and overcome and dissolve all our failures, replacing them with his perfect love.

Stuart Olyott on Money

This is a pithy and precious summary of the Christian believer's attitude to money, as described throughout the New Testament: https://www.knowyourbiblerecordings.org/_files/ugd/6d6075_c5cdf7b33bdb480898a730e0592b6a5b.pdf. Here's a quote:

Unconverted people look on money as something they have earned, which belongs to them, and which they can spend as they like. This is true even of generous people. Unfortunately, when it comes to money, many Christians have an unconverted mindset. Little by little this mindset ruins them, until they are spiritually fit for nothing. 

From: https://www.knowyourbiblerecordings.org/notes-and-articles

Christian Nationalism, and the need for new hearts

As explained previously, I am no fan of "Christian Nationalism" (inasmuch as it's still possible to be for or against a label which increasingly appears to mean something different to each person who uses it. That in turn is a sign of a project that's dominated more by in-house debate rather than useful service of people in need).

It's certainly infinitely superior, for everyone, to have laws that are based on truth than laws based upon lies, and it's a good thing when the One who is the Truth is explicitly named and honoured by those under him. This observation, though, has only the slightest overlap with the Christian Nationalist idea that Christ has called churches in the West to take political power over nations, and that we are now at a stage where we can put such a plan into action.

In fact, such an idea completely contradicts important and central things that the Bible does clearly tell us.

One of the key lessons throughout the Old Testament is the need for a new heart. Without regeneration, we cannot even see the kingdom of God. Man's heart, after the fall, is blind, ignorant and deceitful - to such an extent, that there is no hope for man at all, unless he has a new heart. If the entire earth is washed clean in a cataclysmic judgment, man does not long retain the lessons. If people are scattered and divided across the earth and their languages confused because of man's pride, he soon puts it aside in his thinking. If a ruler's nation suffers plague after plague, he will carry on in his hardness of heart until all his people and even his own household is destroyed, rather than consider the wisdom of truly turning to the LORD.

But, but, what if man was given a perfect law, given directly from the mouth and finger of Almighty God himself? What if the people to whom it was given had seen his great signs and wonders, and been redeemed as slaves and brought into a wonderful inheritance, led there personally by the divine presence? What if his tabernacle were amongst them? What if he gave them peace from their enemies, insofar as they kept his law, giving them perfect freedom to walk in his ways, and brought them trouble only when they turned away from it, so that they would turn back? What if they actually heard his voice speak from the holy mountain? Surely, surely, then, they would be a wise people and walk in his ways forever?

No, they would not; because of their hearts. Only a New Covenant, in which the law is written upon their hearts, inscribed upon their very souls by the Spirit of God directly, can do this. Only by becoming part of this New Covenant can people be changed. Otherwise, they will love evil, and pursue it relentlessly, because it is what they admire and desire.

What, then, do "Christian Nationalists" hope to achieve by calling for laws that are explicitly based upon the Nicene Creed, whose fundamental principle is "Jesus is Lord", etcetera? Is it something more than an Internet parlour game for those apparently without enough other things to do in serving Jesus, or whose main aim is to gain followers after themselves by staking out their positions rather than doing the things Jesus actually told us to be doing? The very best laws, so the biblical narrative intentionally and explicitly teaches us, will not succeed in stopping the people under them from continually turning to rank idolatry. On the contrary, they will spectacularly fail. Even if God himself dwells in your midst, you will become a nation given over to grinding the faces of the poor, the most depraved vices, and open advocacy of what is evil, no matter how good your laws are (though if they are Bible-based, there is also likely to be a good dose of hypocrisy, the kind that God finds even an even worse offence than the above, around too).

So again, what are they hoping to achieve?

From what I can discern, at this point in discussion, a list of either/or fallacies and truths that aren't the pertinent ones to our actual context are likely to be trotted out. "So, you want ungodly laws!" "If you don't want ungodly laws, you're already a Christian Nationalist!" "We're just campaigning for to get rid of ungodly laws, what's wrong with that?" "It's Christ or chaos!" "He is the king of kings!" "You are supporting the secular consensus that is ruining us!", etcetera.

• "So, you want ungodly laws": no, I want godly laws.
• "If you don't want ungodly laws, you're already a Christian Nationalist!": no, the idea of building a "Christian nation" through political campaigning for better laws is a significant error. The Christian nation is the kingdom of God, which you enter through being born again, repentance and faith in Christ. The church is the city on the hill which acts in society as salt and light, but is not called upon to rule over it.
• "We're just campaigning to get rid of laws, what's wrong with that?" That's a classic motte-and-bailey move; Christian Nationalists in their published literature are arguing for vastly more than this.
•  "It's Christ or chaos!" - quite so, but please do not identify Christ with your particular campaign for political power, as that dishonours him and puts a barrier between people and coming to him. For the truth of that, please consult actual real-world experience, not empty theories; I don't think either of us find it convincing if  a Communist says "ah, but it just hasn't been implemented quite correctly yet, and the results would have been entirely the opposite if it had".
•  "He is the king of kings!" - Amen, and please read the New Testament when he has told you is the time when you can reign with him, and stop asking if you can yet now sit at his right or left hand.
•  "You are supporting the secular consensus that is ruining us!" - this is an empty slur. It's as likely to convince me as "you're just a wannabe theocrat who isn't happy unless he's policing the details of everybody else's lives" is to you (unless of course, you actually are).

If someone actually wants to see a nation that more closely reflects God's truth, the thing to do is to work on plans for spreading the gospel, to pray earnestly for God's blessing on those plans, and to put them into action, repeatedly. When I see Christian Nationalists online, their main interest seems to be in staking out their personal positions, drawing the already-converted into their folds, and enlarging their personal reach into more and more existing churches. The very thought of such a thing, in light of the fact that Christ will soon judge us for what we have done with the minas that he left in our hands, ought to make us tremble. Brothers and sisters, let us give ourselves to serving Christ by reaching the needy, and like the plague let us avoid empty talk, especially including empty talk about the law.