(Mary Pondered in Her Heart: Luke 2:19)

December 27, 2009

  The expectation, and then the arrival of Jesus, each in their turn, caused both Joseph and Mary to become intensely thoughtful. The parents of the Saviour set the pattern for appropriate Christmas observance. The Nativity is matter for deep meditation. From their personal reflections, and through the memories they related to trusted friends, Joseph and Mary reveal their inmost reactions to the fact of the Incarnation and tell us how it initially affected them.

  Such a stupendous event must have been profoundly thought provoking to the young couple intimately involved in God’s coming to earth as man. When it was impending, and Joseph’s suspicions were aroused at the discovery of Mary’s pregnancy, the just man’s world must have crashed, and yet his first concern was to preserve his fiance’s reputation. Unmindful of the miracle that had taken place within his bride to be he turned the sad prospect of divorce over and over in his mind as the only possible solution to his disappointment until the Lord settled his concern by making things plain to him in a dream: “What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). Joseph must have been relieved by the angelic message but his thoughts must have continued racing.

   When Jesus was born, announced by angels, and visited by shepherds, Mary’s mind was set to wondering. She carefully preserved the memories of the occurences that attended the birth of her exceptional son and turned things over and over in her mind in an attempt to understand the meaning of her babe’s arrival. From the outset of God’s great work in sending his Son human minds were perturbed and baffled. Those closest to Jesus in his early earthly life found their brains spinning. Joseph was sick with worry until he learned the truth of God’s surprising visitation. Mary was filled with wonder as she cradled in her arms the Truth made manifest in human form. The minds of Jesus’ parents were exercised at all that was taking place. It was a magnificent work of God and at each step of its fulfilment thoughts revolved ceaselessly in human heads. The dimensions were too great to comprehend. Angels had to interpret it. Humans had to slowly contemplate the clues. The hugeness and humility of the happening seemed to clash. A heaven-sent Saviour in swaddling cloths (throwaway rags), lying in a manger (animal fodder trough)! The circumstances didn’t match. The birth scene wasn’t grand enough and the chosen parents were not important enough. Yet the appearance and singing of angels sealed the truth. The glory of God had been revealed from heaven and his favour rested on men in the person of the infant found in a feeding box. It was a sign of the bread of life – the gracious gift from above that would save men from death, the starvation of the soul through sin that deprived mankind of the nourishing communion with God they were meant to enjoy.

  The birth of Jesus was the turning point in history. We are meant to turn it over in our minds, emulating Mary who treasured the facts and sought to understand them. It was not the only time she wrestled to understand the words and ways of the Son she bore. He puzzled her on his visit to the temple (Luke 2:41-52) , and seemed to contradict her at the wedding in Cana (John 2:3-4). Her grasp of the mission of her off-spring was not perfect but she was willing to learn and took things to heart.

   Someone (either Luke or another informant) was entrusted with the secrets of Mary’s musings, and Joseph, too, must have confided his original misgivings to a reliable friend. Such disclosures are proof that as we read the New Testament record we are very close to all that it describes. Real people over and over again turn over to us their heart’s response to the happenings they relate. We are the heirs of trustworthy testimony. The gospel is true. Mary, Joseph, and a crowd of witnesses say so. They tell us things to Jesus’ credit that are not necessarily to theirs, but they make the story of Jesus credible and convincing. It is all “inside information” that we are to take inside and turn over in our minds and treasure in our hearts. Jesus’ parents, disciples, followers, and those blessed by him in various ways, tell of their knowledge of him and how he affected them in his life and ministry. Christmas, like all the seasons of the Christian year, challenges us to think upon him and consider how he affects us.

  We are to read the memoirs preserved in the Gospels and let the facts revolve in our minds until we come to a settled conclusion about Jesus and acknowledge him as God’s Son and our Saviour. Our faith, strong and mature, is to emerge from honest meditation and a candid interrogation of the divine text. In the Book of God our meeting with Jesus is as vivid and real as that experienced by those who knew him in the flesh. “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may also have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1: 3).

  We may encounter him, now risen, just as truly as did the shepherds at his birth (Johann Bengel calls these humble men the first evangelists), as did Anna and Simeon in the temple, as did the disciples throughout his ministry. Luther has summed it up perfectly in saying that the Bible is the crib in which we find Jesus. He comes to us in the Word. There we find him in the thoughts, words, and descriptions of those who knew him intimately. We feel him through the racing pulses of those that knew his company whenever he appeared, spoke, or acted before them. The spirits of human witnesses still speak to us through the carefully preserved text. The Spirit of God addresses us as we revolve their memories in our minds, and the act of shared remembrance becomes real knowledge of Jesus that is sweet and saving.

   Enduring faith and understanding come through pondering “these things” as did Mary. We cannot skim-read our way to Christ, give him half an ear, or glance at him quickly with the inner eye. The Bible affords perception and comprehension to those who study the Word and ruminate upon its wonders. Its tidings become treasures. Treasures are enjoyed when they are turned over and over, fondly felt, and closely examined with the eye. When priceless diamonds are put on public display they are placed on a revolving pedestal beneath a brilliant light so that they may be viewed from every angle in their full splendour. The things of Christ are to be considered from every aspect. Every beam of spiritual illumination is to be trained upon them as they turn before us in our daily reading and ensuing contemplation. Slowly we realize the wealth of the word as we become its students like Mary, wondering at the ways of God. She hid things in her heart only to open them to us through storytellers such as Luke. Surely there is great validity in the remark of Alexander Whyte when he opines: “If we are to apply this sure principle to Mary’s case ‘According to your faith so be it unto you,’ then Mary must surely wear the crown as the mother of all them who believe on her Son. If Abraham’s faith has made him the father of all them who believe, surely Mary’s faith entitles her to be called mother”. RJS

(Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent)

December 20, 2009

There is an insistence in the special prayer for the last Sunday in Advent that is answered in the passages of Scripture recommended in the Lectionary. It is a plea that arises from the human predicament and all its repercussions: “O Lord, raise up, we pray thee, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us”. It is an urgent request that emerges from the extremities of human experience, but it is encouraged in its vehemence by God’s revelation in Scripture that he truly hears the cry of his people, inviting and answering it. Prayer is not the last resort in an attitude of despair but the first action of the believer alerted to a crisis or a need. It is instinctive to call upon God because the Spirit inspires the urge and the written word of God is the warrant. We appeal to God because he desires and demands that we should approach him. Prayer is faith given the voice of the supplicant, not the shout of the person who has run out of options. So the prayers of men do not prompt God to action: God prompts the prayer as his opening action in his work of deliverance. He awakens us to a need, we register concern, we formulate our request, and in doing so we are better able to recognize the intervention and aid of the Lord. Prayer makes us conscious of his constant and active concern. Without anxiety and petition we would be oblivious to the hand of God in all things and our gratitude towards him would be minimal. True prayer is always provoked by God and the best promoter of prayer, given our spiritual torpor, is some degree of trouble or perplexity: it stirs the soul effectually, otherwise we are apt to attribute good fortune to luck, or some clever move on our part. Rescue from our distresses, and amelioration of our sorrows, come from the Lord whose providence prevails everywhere without limit.

It is significant that in the cry for God to summon his power on our behalf there is the longing that he should actually be present in the midst of our troubles and not simply alleviate them from a distance. God could exercise remote control over our circumstances, but the craving is also for his consolation, and true consolation is always intimate in its contact. It is designed for the heart of a sufferer and there-fore it must be heartfelt. The believer does not just want extrication from his grief; he wants his God. He isn’t longing simply for the exercise of divine power; he wants the presence of the divine person. It is the touch of God that brings hope and comfort.

The hindrances and hurts in life are, in the broad sense, the results of sin and the Collect recognizes the basis of our general misery and danger for which we are responsible. It is from self that we need saving: “That, whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us”. Such is our plight, originating in ourselves personally, that our Helper must be near and at work “on site” in our hearts for deliverance to be of any avail. It is admitted to God that only, “Thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us”. Again, it is remarkable that the power sought from God is not merely his strength or the force of his nature, but power displayed in grace, and grace that is not meagre or minimal but bountiful. The nature of God is not only perceived as almighty but also as loving. God is almighty and attractive and that is why the Collect asks him to come among us. He is terrible and tender and that combination melts the human heart.

To the advent cry, “Come among us”, the Scriptures are responsive both with words of promise and fulfilment. In one sense God is on the way, with reference to the last day. In another sense, indeed several, he is already come. The Bible alternates in its assertions depending on the context. He is both already here in the historical and risen Jesus and his residence in our hearts, and he is hurrying towards us for his second appearing at the end of the age. Here we are blessed by his grace. Hereafter we will be amazed at the full blaze of his glory.

Our first portion of Scripture for Advent 4 (Philippians 4: 4-7) assures us that our pining for the closeness of the Lord is already being answered. Paul intimates to believers under pressure that “the Lord is at hand”. His aid to us in adversity is available. And in assisting his people the Lord is not only exercising “technical skill” but also tender care.

The second reading (John 1: 19-28) records a part of John the Baptist’s witness to Christ. “But among you stands one you do not know” (v26). Until his baptism the Saviour is incognito. It is necessary for him to be announced by the forerunner, and John points to Jesus when the time is right (v29). But when he alludes to the anonymity of the Messiah he may also be alluding to the spiritual blindness and hardness of the people. They may stubbornly choose to continue not knowing Jesus, especially those of the establishment who were quizzing John. These men formed the opposition to John and to Jesus. The majority never truly came to know Jesus for who he was or could be to them. They cut themselves off from that knowledge through malicious pride.

At heart every believer is always yearning for Jesus, and then more of him. At all times, whether the Lord is available or seemingly absent, the yearning grows more deep. The advent cry is perpetual, “Come among us”, and it is uttered in many variations by the waiting people of God, as expressed in the Psalms and Prophets especially.

“Come among us” is often the cry of God’s people in trouble as they plead for an abatement or cessation of their woes. The same words may give vent to the desire for fellowship with God in word, sacrament, worship, and private devotion. We call on God from a sense of emergency, or from the wish to enjoy him through the ministry of the Spirit. But the plea, “Come among us” culminates in the season’s celebration of the wondrous miracle of the Incarnation. John summed it up when he said, “One stands among you”. In our flesh God stood among us. He planted his feet upon our earth and dwelt among us. He lived in fully human fashion except for sin, the fatal sign of our abnormality through our evil rebellion as a race. Our yearning for God yielded the coming of Jesus and we are satisfied beyond all dreaming and imagination. Our plight and plea as sinners produced the most marvellous provision of God that only his wisdom and generosity could supply. Nothing can surpass the gift of Jesus. Our ill-desert necessitated his appearing. “O happy fault!”, exults the Easter Liturgy, for in Christ God has made himself sufficiently known and given himself fully to us: “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1: 18).

RJS

TEACHING MINDS AND TURNING HEARTS (Advent 3)

The Collect for the Third Sunday in Advent cites John the Baptist as a model for ministry. It is not that proclaimers of the gospel have to resemble the character of the Baptist or imitate his style, for the personalities of preachers differ and circumstances and manner of ministry vary just as do the gifts and degrees of grace of the servants of Christ. Deliberate mimicry of another person in ministry would be artificial and cancel out the unique God-given qualities in an individual that are meant to be the marks of authentic faith and growth in Christ. The differences in personal insight and expression may contribute to a comprehension of the multifaceted truth of Christ who simply cannot be summed up by the confession of any single believer or any organized body of believers. The knowledge of Christ is too vast for anyone to boast of a monopoly on the truth. Eminent ministers have shown their limitations in the mistakes they have made and great Christian denominations and movements have erred through various emphases and omissions. John is a model for ministry in the sense that he was the preparer of the way: “O Lord Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee”. The ministry of the word is the presentation of Christ to the people and the preparation of hearts to receive him. Both aspects of the sacred task are humanly impossible. The Holy Spirit must bring the word to those who listen so that they might truly hear and only he can turn their hearts to God. The minister is the instrument of preparation, not the instigator. The preparation and turning of hearts is solely the work of God: “The Lord opened her (Lydia’s) heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14). However, he chooses to use the word and so it must be spoken. Like John, the messenger must identify disobedience and point to the Saviour. Truth, passion, and persuasion must be employed to change the direction of the unconverted human heart: “Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just”.

Preparation serves the point of the “mysteries” to be proclaimed. In the Biblical sense the mysteries are not vague and incomprehensible statements that baffle the mind but rather the clearly revealed truths of the gospel that man could not discover for himself. Without the preparation God’s secrets would mean little or nothing. Sinners must know their condition before they are able to crave a Saviour. At that point of awareness the message of repentance as an obligation on our part, and as a gift from God, becomes the way of return to him, for repentance is a change of direction through divinely enabled volition, whether it is accompanied by strong emotion or not. To put it in basic terms, we need to be lost in order to be saved, and John pinpointed the sinfulness of his people and then pointed them to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Ruin and remedy were equally declared so that the penitent, through the message of free justification, could learn the wisdom of the just(ified) i.e. how to be put right with God, and live right before God.

Justification, pardon from God and acceptance with God, is preparation for the next great event on the divine calendar. The first coming of the Lord Jesus has occurred. The second advent is imminent, for a thousand years is as a day from God’s perspective (2 Peter 3:8), and the apostle declares that “the end of all things is near” (1Peter 4:7). Moving on from the necessity to turn to God and gain the wisdom of the just, the Collect then delineates the reason as to why we must become just, both by divine declaration and interior preparation through supernatural renewal: “That at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight”.

In status and character we need to be prepared for Christ’s second coming. It has been announced as a certainty and an event that will occur suddenly. Therefore the state of preparedness should be constant and as conscious as possible, and primarily, for the believer, as a basis of hope and joy. When the Saviour comes it will be the great moment of full and final deliverance and the beginning of pure delight in the kingdom of heaven.

Preparation is the burden of the Christian message and the priority of every human life. The teaching of the gospel is manifold in its emphases – preparation of the heart for the receiving of Christ, preparation of the person for the day of judgment, preparation of the just for their entrance of the kingdom. Christian teaching urges the turning of hearts to God and it is designed to maintain that turning by attuning and attaching the heart of the believer ever more firmly to God in strong faith and constant obedience through spiritual development.

Minds and hearts are the “targets” of the gospel and the desire is for the accompanying touch of the Holy Spirit. The message is sure and dependable. The messengers themselves are frail and fallible and fluctuate in strength and confidence. Moses, Elijah, Jonah, and Peter are sufficient examples of the weakness of men even under divine commission because they are under other pressures as well, either of infirmity or opposition. Paul reminds us that prophets and apostles are only ordinary and fragile vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7). John the Baptist displayed a God-given greatness in his call and in the conduct of his ministry. In it we see boldness, courage, and strength, but the vulnerabilities are always lurking in the heart of every servant of God – to keep them humble and dependent and to show that any useful work they do is performed by God within them and through them.

John did not enjoy a happy retirement at the conclusion of his faithful and forceful ministry. He did not have the luxuries of rest and rumination in order to review his life and calmly write his memoirs. He wound up in prison for his candour and condemnation of evil and before his execution, through dejection brought on by the isolation and rigours of confinement, he passed through a period of personal doubt, not the radical and blameworthy doubt of the skeptic, but the afflicted mind of one wearied and worn by the trials of his ministry and the assaults of the enemy. To the One he had proclaimed with such certainty and loyalty, supported by the evidences supplied by God in prophecy, personal preparation, and the divine approval of Jesus at his baptism, John posed the question; “Are you the One that should come, or do we look for another?”. The question is voiced in the tone of tired man facing a cruel end, and at the depletion of his physical and mental resources (cf Cranmer). It is not impertinent or irreverent. It is not unbelief but the search for reassurance. Inaction produces distraction. The messengers of preparation need the support of grace, the answers of Christ addressed to the perplexed heart, and the prayers of the faithful. The strongest and stoutest are weak, none are impregnable however they appear. John the Baptist is a model in this sense also.

RJS

MALACHI AND THE MESSENGER

(Malachi 3:1-6, 4:4-6 & Luke 1:5-25. Advent 1)

The linkage in the lectionary of the two passages from Holy Scripture for the First Sunday in Advent is a beautiful demonstration of the relationship between the Testaments and as to how each is to be understood – future hope followed by fulfillment. Just as there were two tablets of the law, so there are two manifestos to the divine mercy. There is a wonderful continuity in Scripture that should not be broken, as one scholar has commented, by the blank page in our Bibles between Malachi and Matthew. There may have been a chronological gap of four centuries between the prophetic message of expectation and the apostolic account of the Messiah’s arrival but the meaning of the Old and New Testaments merges in Jesus Christ. The former presents us with an extended period of preparation for the coming of the Saviour and the latter proclaims the fact of his appearing. Both Testaments contribute to a complete understanding of the Lord Jesus. Each is necessary to the other and any disconnection or division results in a deprivation of knowledge and a diminution of our joy in Christ. The witness to him spreads over both sections of our Bible and the way these fit together is a delightful education in the wisdom and ways of God. There is perfection in the fulfillment of his purposes and promises. The step from the Old Testament to the New is not a long stretch or wild leap but a pleasant walk through the Word of God from anticipation to actualization. In the foretellings of the prophets the depiction of Jesus is prospective and his advent lies ahead. The glad cry of the Gospels is that the awaited Lord is gloriously present. The two Testaments are two lenses that bring the Saviour into full and clear focus. The God given skill in Biblical interpretation lies in discerning what comes to pass because of the coming of Jesus, as related by the New Testament authors, and what necessarily passes away in the writings of the Old Testament. The message is the same but the method of instruction varies. Ceremonial pointers to Jesus, and certain customs observed by God’s ancient people, have served their purpose and passed into disuse now that the Reality has replaced the representations of saving truth to be fully revealed in Jesus. Symbols, shadows, types of his redemptive role, although once relevant and still illustrative to hindsight, are now redundant. Their efficacy to faith was promissory and temporary until the coming of the promised One. “The fathers . . . did not see God in any other way than wrapped up in many folds of figures and ceremonies” says Calvin, and, “Ceremonies . . . have been abrogated, not as to their effect, but only as to their use. It was only the use of them that was abolished, for their meaning was more fully confirmed”. In essence Calvin, in referring to Moses, is summing up the point of the whole of the Old Testament witness, “Moses had no other intention than to invite all men to go straight to Christ”. And now the New Testament echoes the invitation in bidding us to come to Christ.

John the Baptist combined the messages of “go” and “come” in his unique ministry of proximate forerunner to the Messiah. He prepared the way for the Lord and pointed to the Lamb. He is the messenger alluded to by Malachi. He is the bridge connecting the Testaments. He joins the expectation of Israel to the emergence of Jesus in the opening of his public ministry. Malachi’s long-range pronouncement about the forerunner travels over four centuries and terminates in John. And close on the heels of John the “suddenly” of the Lord is fulfilled in Jesus. Malachi compels his listeners to look forward to the future and forecasts the arrival of two eminent figures in quick succession. He brings us to the brink of a new era. The birth narratives of John and Jesus lock the Testaments together as one story, the history of salvation wrought by God through his Son, initially pledged in prophecy and then present as Son of Man.

The passage of time between Malachi and the messenger is not a rupture between the Testaments, but a suggestion that we pause mentally at the momentousness of God’s final installment of the one plan of salvation. We have an opportunity to brace ourselves for the breathtaking finale to his mission of mercy. Its as if creation must be warned to steady itself for the sight of God incarnate who, at the appointed hour, when heaven’s curtain is rolled back, and a company of angels herald his miraculous arrival in celestial song, arrives surprisingly as a frail human infant asleep in an animal food trough. The event is stupendous, its humility incredible. The angels attest to the glory which they have gazed upon since their creation. The manger means that God stoops low to elevate fallen man to new creation.

Both Malachi and John viewed the coming of the Lord in a mood of apprehension. “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? (Mal 3:2). ”The axe is already at the root of the trees . . . . His winnowing fork is in his hand” (Matt 3:10, 12). For the prophets the fact of human sin could only mean that judgment must be imminent and loom large in the approach of a holy God. Isaiah declared the gracious day of his advent as also “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa 61:2). The apprehension of the three was ultimately accurate. God would certainly unleash his wrath against recalcitrant and unrepentant sinners. But Jesus’ omission of the day of vengeance in his citing of Isaiah when he preached in the synagogue (Luke 4: 18-19) introduced a sovereignly determined delay, allowing him to bear the wrath on behalf of all who would believe. In Jesus mercy interposed itself and “elongated” the day of opportunity for salvation.

Only the “messenger of the covenant” (Mal 3:1), Jesus himself, could fully explain in detail the purpose of God in his grace, for he was the agent of the covenant of grace, called to make it work. He knew the programme. The Old Testament was given to outline the programme. The New Testament was written to show that the programme has been accomplished. The Old Testament is in the nature of a blueprint and the New is the record of completion. The task of the Bible reader is to pair the matching features and, to borrow the expression, excitedly declare, “This is that!”. The outcome is to know assuredly that God keeps his word. He keeps it in ways that are astounding, little and large. History is organized for the salvation of his people. But the Bible does more than enthrall us. It convinces us that God acts in judgment and mercy. We are to flee the judgment and embrace the mercy. Both have come and are operative in Jesus Christ. The climax of each is yet to come – suddenly! The correspondence and complementarity y of the Testaments primarily serve to encourage us with the fact that our God is reliable and that he can be trusted. If his providence can reign through history his power can save our souls, and the course of history is abundant proof that he is willing to do so.

RJS

SOUNDING THE ADVENT ALARM

November 22, 2010

  Everything moves to a climax and completion. So does time. And so, too, do our lives. For each of us there is a last day. For human history there is a last day. Our personal end, and the end of this present world, are indelibly entered in the Lord's diary. Only the Lord knows the hour of our departure and the day when the destiny of all souls will be decided. Our day will come, and the Day of the Lord, and both are predetermined. Daily life and all its duties, desires, and distractions should not exclude these solemn facts but afford diligent preparation for our crucial step from here into eternity. There is nothing else nearly as important as where we stand before God on the last day. Advent is the pastorally designed season for "the end" to be brought to the fore of our minds. Every clock, bell, siren, and alarm in the world should sound in unison on the first day of Advent to awaken us as to the preciousness of the soul and the permanence of its place of dwelling, with God or without him, from the last day through the endless aeons of eternity. " The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber. . . " (Romans 13:11). Everything temporal pales into insignificance when we consider the import of the last day on the calendar of time, or the last day divinely allotted to us: "Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath" (Psalm 39:4). Everything we gain or grasp in this life is of transient tenure or possession, and everything is soon relinquished: "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36). Riches, reputation, relationships are gone like a puff at the last beat of our pulse. We lay everything down as the hand of death leads us into eternity. What matters in time is what we seek and value beyond time. "What can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:37). Nothing matters more than the ultimate destiny of the soul. The prospect before each one of us should determine our priorities. But human souls are naturally somnolent and not easily stirred into thoughts of God and our eventual encounter with him. Life proffers many charms that entice the soul into other preoccupations and we drift along as though in a dream, reaching out for flowers and fruits along the wayside, deaf to the roar of the day of wrath that increasingly rumbles around us in the judgments of providence and the warnings of God's word.

  Overriding all our ambitions and aspirations are the opportunities in life for knowing God and growing by his grace into souls fit for unending companionship with him. Life's battles in the form of temptation consist in banishing those things that sever us further from him, the seductions of sin and selfish desire, and seeking all the means that he has provided for binding us to him in gospel truth and gospel ordinances. For Advent is not merely a season of warning but a time of warm invitation. It rings out the glad news that the promised Saviour of our souls has come. In Advent we joyfully mark his advance in the expectations of Israel, and contemplate his arrival in the Incarnation, and his saving action in his life, death and resurrection. Advent overlaps into every stage of the completed accomplishment of the Lord Jesus exhorting us to welcome and trust him as our Deliverer now, and look forward to his future return when he will gather us into his kingdom.

  Advent issues a dual reminder, first of our mortality which is sobering, humbling, and disturbing, but, second, of immortality through our life in Christ by virtue of a faith union with him. We are brought to spiritual consciousness through warning of sin, death, and judgment. We are brought to consolation and bright hope by the work of rescue wrought on our behalf by Jesus and effective for us if we call upon him and cling to him, as he invites us to do.

   The many themes of Advent are awe-inspiring as we take them in their proper order. But as we weigh them carefully grace looms larger and larger and the more we gaze on the Promised One the more we are assured. The Lord Jesus is greater than the power of our sin, the fear that emerges from our guilt, the death and hell that are our sin's consequences. He can pluck us from our predicament and bring us to absolute safety at the last. If at first we hear necessary sounds of alarm in the message of Advent, and we should, our steady attunement to the gospel and acceptance of its mercy can change the portent of judgment to peals of joy.

  The Collects of Advent are a four week course in prayer, and instruction in the way of salvation. They aid our urgent petitions, enlarge our understanding, quell our anxieties, and establish our hope. The beauty of these ancient prayers lies not only in what they request, but also in the truths they reveal. They assist us in reaching out to God and also afford teaching about God. They are rich sources for lingering meditation composed by persons of mature faith who knew God well and were equipped by him to edify and encourage our pilgrim souls on their journey from earth to heaven.

  First Sunday: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the deeds of darkness and to put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

  Second Sunday: Blessed Lord, you who caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our instruction: Help us so to hear them, to read, note, learn, and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of your holy Word, we may embrace and forever hold fast the hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

  Third Sunday: Lord Jesus Christ, you who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare the way before you: Grant that the ministers and stewards of your holy truth may in like manner so prepare and make ready the way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

  Fourth Sunday: Visit us, O Lord, we pray, with your power, and with great might come to our aid, because through our sins and wickedness, we are severely hindered in running the race set before us; may your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and forever. Amen.

  As the successive steps through Advent are carefully taken we may gradually come to concur with W. Griffith Thomas when he wrote: "No Christian life, then, is complete which does not include in it this forward look of joyous certitude toward a bright future, for hope as a grace is not a mere spirit of what we call hopefulness, or a natural buoyancy of temperament. It is a distinctly Christian virtue, the result of union with God in Christ; and it has for its immediate object the Lord Jesus at his glorious appearing, and for its ultimate, eternal and exhaustless substance the glories of heaven and God as our all in all. With this "forward look" in our minds the Apostle Paul's waking call to us may be completed. "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed".

RJS

WARMLY EVANGELICAL  11-01-2009

(The Mode and Mood of Bible Reading)

   Moods are transient and triggered by so many factors. Our thought and behaviour are not to be determined by their rapid fluctuations. One of the disciplines of life is to endeavour to maintain a consistency of attitude and action in spite of our feelings and the way we are affected by circumstances. Our relationship with others can be easily upset by erratic, uneven, unpredictable approaches or responses. Self control has to pay heed to the way our emotions influence other persons. Being even-keeled in a steady, dependable way that does not cause apprehension is not an easy exercise given human vulnerability of temperament and our sensitivity to ever changing conditions especially when they are adverse. Nonetheless mood matters in communication and it is important in our reading of reality. Our subjective state radically determines our appraisal of all that we observe or receive and our opinions vary accordingly. Mood changes minds and they can be altered not only by information but by our prevailing disposition at any given time. In matters of human judgment, for example, love can make us lenient and hostility can make us harsh. We are creatures of predisposition and bias, rationalizing our viewpoints long after they have been formed at a deeper level than our consciousness recognizes. This accounts for the complexity of human nature and all our dealings. We all come from different vantage points and espouse different aims and it is all determined by a heart that is too deep for us to comprehend and exceedingly more sinful (deceitful) than we can ever know (Jeremiah 17:9). The cultivation of consistency and objectivity can only come from the mind of the One who is the source and interpreter of reality, God himself (John 14:6), and our minds are guided and matured by dual exposure to his word and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. The truth of God is to govern our unruly moods, and flawed perceptions, train them in our difficulties, purify them so that they are not illusory like dirty lenses, and ennoble them so that our all our faculties are in tune with things as they are when we encounter them. Our outlook is distorted by bad temper, negativity, and fear. If things are not well within our outlook is gravely warped. People suffer when we are unbalanced by any unpleasantness. It is the unchangeable, ever-reliable word of God (Psalm 119) addressing us in all situations and through all events that delivers us from mood swings and gives us stability. The mind finds a repose in the sovereign purposes and omnipresence of God.

  Our mode of Bible reading is meant to determine the mood in which the truth of Scripture is received and then maintain the mood in which we continue after our moments of conscious communion with God has come to its necessary conclusion. We are to ascertain God’s perspective, gain his guidance, and receive his resources and resilience for all that providence will bring.

  How we regard and open the Bible will affect its influence upon us. Our commencing suppositions need to be supplanted by the sanctifying starting exercises and expectations of the Holy Spirit. It is his book and it is presumptuous to open it without the preparation of his assistance, illumination, and insight. Reading the Bible begins with deliberate reliance upon the author, prayer for purification, the plea for a tender and teachable heart. Our hubris of intellect and hasty confidence of prior opinion are to be replaced by humility and the willingness to be led wherever the teaching of the Lord takes us. So often we are not reading the Bible at all but looking for a reflection of our own ideas so that they become imbued with “divine authority” as far as others are concerned. The Bible will not endorse our pre-held preferences and prejudices; it is not an instrument for out-arguing others or demonstrating our acumen and acquired knowledge of divinity. To use it for our power or to our own advantage is to abuse Scripture (just as to use a library in ill-tempered disputation with others is an abuse of it). The Bible enables us to listen to God, think his thoughts after him, shape our conversation with him, and, as its sublime truth seeps its way to the centre of our beings, it miraculously fashions us into beings like him, ultimately speaking his words and working his works through all our speech and action. The Bible is a source of information, influence, and impartation that produces imitation. God makes us new through his word (James 1:18).

   In this sense it is not a book of law but the wellspring of spontaneous holy life. Our self-righteous nature produces a legalistic interpretation of Scripture, and legalism is adept at using the Bible, and even surviving from it in parasitical and pharisaical fashion. Legalism employs the word with the precision of the letter but without the life and leaning of the Spirit. It encourages the effort of moral obligation without the sense of personal helplessness and consequent personal enabling of grace. It harps on responsibility without the acknowledgement of culpable inability and contrite dependence on God in everything. Legalism hears the commands in death-dealing tones for our infraction (meant to render us helpless), but has no appreciation of the divine compassion (meant to draw the guilty helpless to the Saviour). Legalism pronounces “must” without mercy. Legalism negates the gospel. It can criticise and condemn the sinner but not lead him to restoration through the Redeemer. It has a head for what is right but no heart to understand the mercy of the One who puts us right. Mercy does not sit light to the law but it lifts us beyond its condemnation and grants increasing delight in the law as a way of life through love of God, not attainment of credit or human acclaim.

   Our mood in reading the Bible is to be created by a personal encounter with Jesus. It is to be warmly evangelical through a close intimacy with his tender heart. The Holy Scriptures not only afford truth about the Saviour, they extend his touch upon the heart of the humble sinner. Through the witness of Scripture the Saviour speaks – directly, authoritatively, earnestly, appealingly, invitingly, correctingly, and warningly, but always with concern and pity for the one he is addressing. The term warmly evangelical is meant to suggest that the mood of God in the message of the Bible is merciful. His righteousness is revealed with clarity. His hatred of sin is unmistakeable. His wrath against it is real and ultimately devastating. All these things he forthrightly teaches us for our warning and wellbeing. But the crowning feature and glory of Scripture is the grace of God toward the unworthy and undeserving who find neither help nor hope in anything they can do or become. At every point in Scripture we are faced with our iniquity and inability, but simultaneously we observe the approach of the Saviour towards us and cast ourselves into his outstretched arms for safety.

  Our mood becomes one of confidence in the Saviour and of compassion to those in need of salvation – and that means all without exception. We may discern the faults of others and detest their sin along with our own, but our plight is common to everyone and universal among all men. For all that we might deplore in others, if we have that right, we hardly differ. Evil is our common plague, the infection of every heart, the pandemic that threatens every soul with eternal death. The world moans, groans, and writhes in the agony of our fatal disease, and as we read Scripture we descry the features of our Physician come to help us (Matt 9:12-13), read his prescription for our healing in his message of atonement wrought on our behalf (Isa 53: 5), and are medicated and nursed by the Spirit who applies the gospel to us. The Bible is warm with the love of God and his ardour for restored fellowship with man. The Bible is evangelical in its intense desire for our return. The mood of mercy in God is a firm and unchangeable resolve which is meant to engender our mood of grateful trust in his goodness and form our firm resolve to run to him as our reliable refuge.

   Truth is unchangeable. As it fills the mind and penetrates to the heart in good time, it becomes mood-changing and stimulates and stabilizes right feeling. Instead of being “moody” in a capricious and unpredictable manner we are moved towards maturity in outlook and consistency of conduct. Word and Spirit make us steady in character and steadfast in endurance of all things. The process is not fast or without its pain. But if we are sensitive to the warmth and intent of the Saviour’s speech in Scripture, lose our suspicion of God or misunderstanding of his Person and purpose, we will sense his kindness in its sifting and severe aspects and be more kindly to others, less cold and critical towards them, more expectant of their sharing in mercy along with us. Our aim, by grace, should be to experience the spiritual power of the word as well as grasp its truth.

RJS

CELEBRITY  10-18-2009

Human nature, fallen and full of self-interest as it is, is always faced with the subtle temptation to fame and distinction. We are created to be worshippers of our God, but our praise is diverted from our Creator to the creature and we are apt to worship a pantheon of human heroes and, most of all, to exalt self either by effort or ambition.

Ours is the age of the celebrity and aspirants to elevated status pursue their dream by talent or trickery. Artists (artistes in the broadest sense), academics, activists and adventurers in any cause, anybody, and virtually all of us, vie for recognition to gain a sense of self-worth and achievement, hence the emergence of competition, criticism, and envy in every field of human endeavour. The benefit and beauty of every advance and accomplishment is marred by human pride. Ours is to be a life of purpose, and the praise for all talents, abilities, and opportunities is due to God the donor of every good thing in us and around us. We are to find our contentment in him. We come to personal completion through grace which generates a sense of utter dependence and deep gratitude. We become preoccupied with God and forgetful of self. Satan’s master plan is to point our focus towards self and to make the rule in everything the pleasing and prominence of self.

Appreciation and encouragement are virtuous. Flattery and idolatry are dangerous, both for participants and recipients. The turning of the head leads to the the turning of the path away from God who alone is to be glorified, and in whose praise there is the greatest pleasure. His excellence exceeds any commendable quality in anyone or anything else. When we look to the Source of all that is good the reflection of that goodness in man, culture, or creation is properly cherished and preserved. Our admiration is rightly placed and points to God. Our appreciation for people and things is proportionate, for their value and virtue is derived from the divine and happens to be a display of his everspreading glory.

Life is to be a celebration of God and a service to him in humble ministry to others and the administration of his creation to which he has assigned us on earth. Our sin frustrates our function. Our failures are due to the pre-eminence of self, an attitude fostered by the evil one who is the great would-be usurper of the position of God as supreme. He manipulates us in his schemes of rebellion against the righteous sovereignty of God and by dangling the allurements of self-gratification before us he dupes us into enslavement to his wicked purposes. Our pride is the infection we have caught from the devil and it makes us susceptible to his suggestions and control. Our pride is the manifestation of his rebellious nature that has been communicated to us in the inheritance of original sin. He knows how to operate the fallen and depraved tendencies within us, but we are mostly oblivious to his influences and operations. Our aims are instinctively akin to his for we are his kin and he is our father until God, by a mighty deliverance and act of liberation, snatches us from Satan’s family and makes us his children by a gracious and electing adoption. Grace alone is the antidote to pride and the cause of the gradual growth of the tender virtue of humility, a quality that struggles within us in its faintest form until we arrive in heaven. There we shall fully recognize the excellence of God, and all his energy and influences in our lives, and extol him as we ought. The crowns of his people will be cast before him. We shall take no credit for ourselves. The glory we stole will be returned and the fame will be entirely his. The goodness that he will have bestowed upon us in salvation will be a reflection of his. We will contribute to his praise rather than claim any for ourselves. It will be a total reversal of conditions on earth – the acclamation of God alone from the lips and lives of every redeemed creature. What a relief when the burden of pride and self-love is finally lifted from us in the unclouded vision of God and his splendour.

Until then, it is in our life in Christ that our ambition and pride is most unworthy. The presence of “celebrity” is a tarnishing of the spirit and the audacious taking from God what is rightly and essentially his. To attribute any good thing to ourselves amounts to theft. To withhold our thanks is rebellion.

John Calvin is often vilified for his faithfulness to the Scriptural doctrines of man’s utter corruption and lostness through sin, and the utter sovereignty and udeservedness of the grace of God as the sole means of our restoration. But these twin truths turn us from self and vain glory to the clear sight of the majesty and mercy of God and the radiance of his righteousness and love that stoop to rescue us from all that is false and fatal in our thoughts and ways, our distortion of reality.

Great Christian leaders, whoever they may be, must never be idolized or followed lemming-like by those to whom God has made them useful as his servants. The marks of imperfection in thought and life are too prominent in them for us to place them on the pedestal of infallibility. But where God happens to be we shall expect to see an increasing degree of modesty in the hearts of folk he indwells and hope for a decreasing degree of self promotion. The all engrossing desire becomes the glory of God in all things. “In the church”, says Calvin, “We must always be on our guard lest we pay too great a deference to men”. “There is no one of us”, he continues, “ that can take to himself the least jot of glory without sacreligious robbing of God.” Our remaining sin, though no longer ruling us, is still sufficient to deter us from self-reliance and self-assertiveness. “There is not a man who knows the hundredth part of his own sins” , the Reformer opines, and, “There is scarcely one among a hundred who makes the manifestation of God’s glory his chief end”. We are truly destitute of any grounds for self commendation and complacency. There is no room for boastfulness and much cause for beating our breasts, and in every sense of Christian service performed by the people of God this reminder from Calvin is salutary: “We must always speak of the efficacy of ministry in such a manner that the entire praise of the work may be reserved for God alone”. In Christ’s cause there are no celebrities, only servants with varying calls and capacities, but all distributed by God before whom we continually confess, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty” (Luke 17:10).

The natural man cannot comprehend that the desertion of self-importance clears the way, and cleanses the heart, for the sheer joy of absolute delight in God who wonderfully fills every space once occupied by the unworthy ego. He brings inestimable satisfaction to the soul and we find ourselves revelling in truths dear to Calvin’s and every believer’s heart: “We have no interest in him at all unless he prevent (come before or prepare) us by his grace. No man is rescued from the tyranny of the devil . . . till the grace of God go before; for no man will redeem himself. The grace of God has no charms for men till the Holy Spirit gives them a taste for it”. Lord, exert your charms; increase our taste.

Recommended reading: Calvin’s Wisdom, Graham Miller, Banner of Truth.

THE CONSUMMATE VICTORY OF CHRIST  10-11-2009

From a distance in time the Old Testament prophets foretold the coming of the Saviour and from things they observed in their time they foreshadowed his great work of deliverance. The God who inspired them gave them clues through his acts in history and the ordinances he gave to Israel. The Spirit illuminated the meaning of these acts and ordinances which pointed to Christ. From a distance the prophets described what they saw without fullness of detail. From a nearer vantage point the apostolic authors completed the picture. The Old Testament is forward looking and the New Testament is the witness of fulfilment. From a distance not everything foretold is visible in its entirety. The scene ahead is sketched in simple lines. Close up the friends and observers of the Messiah himself can complete his portrait to perfection. The Bible is developmental in character. By a series of steps or stages it advances our understanding of the divine purpose and it reveals the truth of the Lord in instalments. Paradigms of saving realities are established and patterns of divine behaviour are revealed and these are enlarged as the history of God’s dealings progresses until at last with the advent of the Lord Jesus we are able to appreciate the scope of God’s saving work through his Son. What he did in and for Israel as his chosen people, as recorded in the Old Testament, becomes a preview of what he will do for and in the people he has chosen from out of the whole world – the completed and true Israel comprising all believers Jewish and Gentile. The former acts in and for Israel are repeated and enlarged on a universal scale and in a spiritual way. The exodus foreshadows our deliverance through the cross, return from exile our conversion, resettlement in the promised land our grace-given entitlement to heaven. The Old Testament in a multiplicity of senses through sign and symbol is promissory. The New Testament assures us that things formerly pledged are now within our possession by faith in Christ.

Nothing is more thrilling than to find the intimations of Christ and his accomplishments throughout the pages of the Old Testament. We are given a taste of the excitement that must have been experienced by the ancient people of God who lived in anticipation of future events that would answer to their hopes and prayers for total redemption from sin and restoration to God in soul and circumstance. For those of us who now know the outcome of God’s plan of salvation for the world the clues given about the Messiah in prophecy are confirmatory. We see what he was meant to be and do, and to our delight the Lord Jesus matches the expectations exactly. The Old Testament outlines his assignment and the New Testament reports his achievement and both Testaments complete our comprehension of him. A “New Testament” Jesus alone, as some would have it, is impossible. The former writings indicate his identity and the apostolic writings are proof that he fits the description. To separate Jesus from prophecy and the preceding history of Israel is to virtually leave him in anonymity as a figure who has popped up suddenly with neither background nor destiny nor the rich theological significance that is predicated of him by the prophetic oracles that prepare us for his reception and appreciation. The sects and Christian societies that close the Old Testament or see it as merely a collection of interesting tales and character sketches from antiquity scarcely have an ample understanding of Jesus. The dimensions of his importance are constructed from all the pieces of information gained about him from the insights of Israel’s saints and spokesmen who the Lord guided to testify of him. However much Israel as a nation proved faithless to God the believing remnant within it upheld the divine commission effectively by giving us adequate witness to the Saviour and sufficient evidence to recognize him. Their intense and earnest longing increases our love him, for we see his desirability and indispensability to yearning souls and we cannot regard him casually. He is the culmination of human history that puts things to right in a sad world, and he is the portal to a new future where everything will be right. Christ is not just the darling of the chosen nation but the desire of all nations and the Old Testament heralds his appearing. Without it our knowledge of him would be impoverished. Purely “New Testament” churches that discount the Old lack the keys to the treasury of the gospel. They can only wonder at the assertions that New Testament writers make as if they are overhearing a conversation halfway through.

It is the long-range vision of the Old Testament, now verified, that establishes its validity and worth as a senior “second voice” sounding the name of Jesus for our attention, instruction, and joy. Any true witness to him is welcome and the prophets of old are authentic tellers of his story as they commence the narrative of our salvation in him, relating our need and relaying the news of his approach. The instances of these predictive announcements are abundant and the amplifications of their message occur with frequency in the gospels and epistles, and it is infinitely enriching to pair them together and see how the whole Bible hangs together as the convincing word of God replete in the internal evidence of its divinity.

The psalmist, for example, sees in a victory procession of exultant ascent to the temple the ultimate victory of the awaited Messiah. The facts before him are portents for a far more glorious future. A military success for Israel is but a forerunner for a mighty and miraculous conquest for the coming liberator of the captive people of God in the end times. “When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from (for) men, even from (for) the rebellious – that you, O Lord God, might dwell there” (Psalm 68:18). Whatever the precise meaning of the passage, it is clear that God is triumphant in battle, receives plunder (homage) from the defeated, submission from the rebellious, and glad acceptance of the fact he dwells among them. The victor is seen as distributing favour to his enemies and reinstatement to rebels and they are thankful for his restored rule. Captivity has turned to liberty and prosperity. The conqueror is kind to the vanquished. Those who fought him find freedom through him, and survive on gifts from him. The rebels who resisted him are renewed in their hearts and happy with his reign. His weapons that achieved their submission were mercy and love. Grace is overpowering. Here we have a succinct summary of salvation from the moral rebellion and captivity of human sin and all the benefits of Christ’s victory in our hearts. The church is the company of rebels released from their spirit of revolt and resistance to the gospel, who have been taken captive by the Saviour’s love, and under his gentle rule receive all the blessings of salvation, the necessary gifts for service, and the benefits of all forms of ministry that he confers upon his people.

This interpretation of an ancient ascription of honour is confirmed by the apostle Paul, for he says: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. That is why it says: ‘When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men’” (Ephesians 4:7,8). Christ having completed his work of atonement in his death and resurrection ascends to heavenly glory, and there in his sovereign majesty lavishes his gifts and graces upon the ones he has won to himself through the defeat of Satan and the ransoming of the elect. Slaves of sin and disobedience have been set free to follow him, subscribe to his Lordship, dwell in his presence, and do his bidding. Together, psalmist and apostle celebrate the well-deserved exaltation of the Saviour to heavenly majesty and our undeserved elevation to glory with him. It is only to be expected that King Jesus would be good to his subjects. It is even more wonderful that he would be gracious to rebels.

RJS

THE CHIEF SEATS  10-04-2009

(Luke 14:7)

  When Jesus visited the home of a prominent Pharisee he was closely watched by members of that party who formed the strongest opposition to his ministry. The invitation may have been bona fide and the host somewhat sympathetic and curious about Jesus and the motive and meaning of his message, but other guests were definitely there to entrap the Saviour and he knew their scheme. So he pre-empted their plan by posing a question they dare not answer for fear of revealing their legalistic lack of compassion in their literalistic application of Sabbath law (vv5, 6). Their silence made it obvious that they were dissembling by nature and ill disposed toward him. Already there was an air of arrogance in the room as Jesus alluded to the preciousness of all life, human and animal, and the need to alleviate suffering. Pride and punctiliousness is indifferent to the misfortune of others and “stand offish”. The absence of identification with the unfortunate is the root of non-involvement. The principal concern is the welfare of number one in situations where “me and not thee” is the dominant consideration – the source of most disputes.

  Whilst Jesus was being carefully watched by his enemies he was keeping a discerning eye upon them and couldn’t help but see the human preoccupation with social climbing in action before him. It was obviously a feather in the cap to attend a function at the prominent man’s house and to be seen among such society as he had invited. The atmosphere bred self-display. Jesus noticed how the guests “picked the places of honour at the table” (v7).

  The natural ego rates itself above others. This self-estimate has to be demonstrated in every way possible according to the standards by which human worth is measured by the world – pedigree, position, performance, and possessions. It all adds up to a sense of personal prestige, which we want to be evident in everything we are associated with from background, to school, to college, to career, to church, to residential location. It is true that many people of prominence can be characterized by a sense of their poverty of spirit before God and their genuine humility possesses a true beauty and exerts its charm, but social climbing has its allurements for everyone, and it can exercise a subtle influence even in the life of the church where distinctions between social groupings are drawn (demographics), and the patronization of certain folk can come into play. The quest for kudos is foreign to the family of Christ and our elder brother forbids it in his parable. “Take the lowest place” (v10) – an instruction that has little appeal and irks us.

  False humility is obnoxious as Charles Dickens shows us in his delineation of the character of Uriah Heep (I am very ‘umble) in the novel David Copperfield, and often this sinful tendency is detected within us when we silently register an offence to our pride and sense of place in the scheme of things. Prominence and power are often our prevailing pursuits in almost any activity, but the urge is so instinctive we are scarcely conscious of it. Jesus must have been shocked to see so many seemingly decent and respectable folk vying for pre-eminent position; grasping at honour from dishonourable motives. Often it is not affection or admiration that causes people to associate with the well placed in the social order but the desire to snuggle up to power and advantage for one’s own ends. Flattery can turn into fierce antipathy when it doesn’t seem to be paying dividends. It is the speech of the deceitful tongue. It is the fishing for favour with the hook of false praise.

  The most notorious example, perhaps, of climbing the ladder to prominence is exhibited in a certain mother’s request on behalf of her two sons (Matthew 20:20-28). Zebedee’s wife made a bid for advancement in the coming kingdom for James and John. “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left.” Amazingly, Jesus’ response was not scathing but sensitive, pointing out that such presumption emerged from ignorance. Mark tells us that the sons themselves were complicit in what amounted to family ambition (Mark 10:35-37), a not unknown phenomenon, and this sense of entitlement rankled with other disciples who disputed the claim and desired such rank for themselves (Matthew 10:24-28, Mark 9:33-37). Climbing and competitiveness not only emerges from our hearts, but also infiltrates even our best service. We, as believers, possess two natures in conflict and the conflict spreads if it is not promptly contained and cleansed within.

  The One who “made himself nothing” (Philippians 2:7) is not impressed by attempts at self elevation, but distressed at false classification and proud discrimination within the people of God. There is certainly respect to be accorded to genuine worth, expertise, and responsible authority, but there is also to be mutual respect and high regard all round for those who, by grace, will be royalty in heaven whatever their rank on earth, royalty not as a desert but a donation from he who won participation in his glory for us though his voluntary humiliation as the suffering servant.

  It is salutary and lovely to ponder Paul’s words to the believers at Corinth: “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29). Paul does not exclude the aristocratic, affluent, and able, nor does he favour the lowly and the poor. He simply says that no one may crow before God, nor can any qualify in themselves, or above another, for God’s acceptance. All without exception gain the divine approval in the same way: “It is because of him (God’s grace and calling) that you are in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30). Whatever the circumstances or station in life of any believer there is the instinctive avoidance of the place of honour, the chief seat, on the basis of merit or attainment. We are honoured to have a place at Christ’s table (Matthew 8:11) and we honour those at table with us. If they are Christ’s friends and family then they are ours also, receiving our affection, fellowship, and courteous acceptance.

  Brokenness, humility, and contrition are the marks of the believer and these qualities serve to put the brakes on assertiveness, rivalry, and self-interest in the family of God. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.(Philippians 2:3).