1 Corinthians

It has been a long time since I last blogged! So as I sit on the train back to London from Aberdeen I thought it would be good to get a few thoughts down on 'paper'.

Over the past week i've been going through First Corinthians using the ESV study bible (very good resource!).

Here are just a few things i've learnt:

1. Unity

Paul seemed to plead for the church at Corinth to stay unified and humble through a love for Chirst and each other. In Chapter 1 verse 15 Paul asks the question "Is Christ divided?" and so requests his followers not to be.

In chapter 3 we find that there are problems with certain people saying that they followed Apollos, and others saying they followed Paul. In response to this Paul says "what after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe - as the LORD has assigned each to his task".

To me this speaks of unity in diversity: that we're not all called to do the same thing, clearly Paul and Apollos had different tasks (see 3:6-9), but instead we are called to be unified above all in giving Christ glory.

2. To some The Cross is foolishness

In chapter 1:18 Paul says that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God"

I was reminded of that this week after bumping into a friend who has no religious background at all. He came to a free lunch and talk that our University's Christian Union was hosting last week, and straight away he brought up the lunch and told me that all us Christians are mental with all this Jesus stuff! But amazingly he said it was great and wants to find out more.

3. Love. Judgement. Mercy

Love is everywhere in 1 Corinthians. Whether Paul is talking about worship in the church, food laws, marriage, Spiritual gifts, unity, idols; it all leads back to the question 'does this show our love for Christ and for others?'

Love. Love. Love.

But where does God's judgement come into love? Often I find it difficult to see how discipline or judgement can go hand in hand with love and mercy. In chapter 11 I think we find a verse that can really help us in our understanding of this:

11:32: "But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world"

WOW! For me this is huge a verse! Right here loud and clear we find that the reason why, as Christians, we are disciplined by the Lord is because of his great love for us so that we will not be condemned! We receive judegment but it is in essence a great sign of mercy.

The ESV study bible's footnote to this verse says that "When suffering alerts a Christian to the presence of sin and leads to repentance, it functions as an act of both disciplinary judgment and mercy".

To me this drastically changes a lot, for if I realise that everything that God does is out of love then it demands a trusting of him in all things.

So those are just a few messy thoughts, which are definitely not 100% water tight...please weigh all this up for yourself!

And now I get to enjoy three weeks off uni for easter! :-D

The purpose of the Lord will stand!

So it's my 20th birthday today!!! Yes! I'm no longer a teenager and have entered the 20s-30s age bracket! Haha what a joke!

As I look ahead I am incredibly excited as to what God will be doing as we faithfully seek him.

I am reminded of Proverbs 19:21
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand"

I wholeheartedly believe that his Kingdom is being extended in wonderful ways and will continue to do so in ways which will blow our minds! But I don't want to forget that we can make all the plans we like, however unless they are made in Christ and for Christ they are completely worthless.

But isn't this that idiot?!

In Luke 4 we find that Jesus is back in Nazareth, where he had grown up, but now teaching and receiving praise from people (v.15). One Sabbath he was in the synagogue and he read publicly from Isaiah then boldly stated "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (v.21)

This passage from Isaiah that Jesus read out is ACTUALLY AMAZING! It speaks of great hope with freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind and the oppressed being released! Wow! And Jesus is central to this because it is fulfilled in him!!!

The people of Nazareth knew Jesus' seemingly insignificant background and they compared those memories they had to what he was doing now...and they were confused. Luke 4:22-"..."isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked". I think it can be a great comfort to us. Because the same thing can happen to us.

As we go about living Christ-centred lives people may start saying things like "wait a minute, isn't this that guy who used to be so selfish?", "isn't this that girl who went off the rails?", "isn't that the guy who was depressed?", "isn't this the woman who neglected her family?"...because they now see something new.

I guess the main difference behind Luke 4:22 and people asking that question about us is that our past is full of sin, but Jesus' wasn't, so we can't claim any glory for ourselves as we're "saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone" (Martin Luther)

As we are transformed more into the likeness of Christ we may find that people start saying "isn't this 'x' who... but now he/she is..." but with joy we can respond "yes, that's what happens in the Kingdom of God!"

Faith, Love and Christ

So I was reading Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians about a month ago and have found that a couple of verses have really stuck with me...

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3-"We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ"

I took three things from this that the Thessalonians were doing well:

They were

1. Working by faith
2. Labouring in love
3. Enduring because of Christ

What a great way to live!

The Good Shepherd

Last night I was reading John 10:14 and was encouraged by its incredibly deep message.

V.14- "I and the good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me"

I see Jesus making three statements here.

(1) "I am the good shepherd"- Jesus shepherds us. And he is good! Shepherds will protect, look after and guide their sheep and I love how Jesus uses a term here which everyone in his day would have understood.

(2) "...I know my sheep"- A shepherd would spend so much time around his sheep that he'd know each one well. Jesus is saying that we're his sheep and he knows us completely! And I don't think this is a passive knowing. What I mean is that because Jesus knows us, we each have a unique relationship with him and not a one-size-fits-all relationship. If Jesus shepherds us as a whole body (the church) and individually as well it means that he calls us knowing what we can and can't handle. 1 Corinthians 10:13 "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear".

(3) "...and my sheep know me"- When we say "I know Jesus" it doesn't mean "I know everything there is to know about Jesus", but instead it means that we're on a journey with Jesus. That means there's no room for religious arrogance! Earlier on Jesus says "But they (my sheep) will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice" (verse 5). To know Jesus is to know his voice. I think this is done through the Holy Spirit by reading the bible, praying and being part of the body of Christ doing life together.

So those are just a few thoughts on John 14. I moved to Aberdeen in Scotland this week for university so now I'm off to find a church I can start going to!

Approaching Jesus

Bartimaues was a blind man who came to Jesus for healing. He'd probably been blind for many years and may have received a lot of abuse from the community because of his condition. When he approached Jesus, Jesus asked him "What do you want me to do for you?" (Mark 10:51). Bartimaues said "I want to see!". And in response to this Jesus healed him.

Bartimaues knew what he wanted Jesus to do for him.

Romans 8:26 is a great passage to help us in our prayer struggles

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

This verse is talking about those deep cries out to God through the Spirit when there is so much going on, that we just don't know where to start in our prayers. But I think there's a difference between that crying out to God, and general non-specific prayers out of laziness. It's not for anyone else to judge where you're at in your prayer life; only God knows where your heart stands.

I was fascinated by the passage of Bartimaues because I wondered how often i'd have an answer for Jesus if he asked me that same question! Do we really know what we want Jesus to do for us?

I don't think it's a bad thing to have general prayers, because at times there is an overwhelming amount to pray for and it's hard to know who or what to start with. It's probably even good to have times of general crying out to God.

But if our prayers are continually general because of laziness (not pain) I think it could come across to God like this: Imagine going round to a friend's house who you don't really want to see, but haven't spoeken to in a long time. You knock on the door and they answer seeming very pleased to see you. They next invite you in but you say you'd rather stay in the doorway. Then he or she asks if you came over to talk about anything in particular to which you reply "errrr i'm not sure to be honest. But do you mind if I just hang around here for a minute? Then I'll leave if that's okay".

That seems really strange to me but sometimes I think that my relationship with God and prayers are like that.

So i'm convinced that Jesus wants us to be specific with our prayers for both ourselves and others. Time and time again in the Gospels we read of people who approach Jesus knowing they need him to heal something specific. Or where people bring others to Christ knowing that they need him in some way. And the Holy Spirit will guide us.

The bible is clear in showing that there's no one way to approach Jesus. So for me, at the moment, the challenge is this.

If Jesus sat down next to me, told me to be quiet and looked me in the eyes right now and asked, "Don, what do you want me to do for you?"...would I be able to respond?

And it's only by the Cross of Christ that we are able to even think about a relationship with our heavenly Father.

Left in the boat

In Matthew 14: 22-36 we read about Jesus (and Peter) walking on the water.

The thing I noticed most reading it this time was that there were 11 other disciples left in the boat when Peter decided to step out and meet Jesus.

12 disciples. Eleven left in the boat. One out with Jesus.

Who wants to be one of those left in the boat?

Turning on my community

So I haven't blogged about what's been going on since I've got back from Canada so I thought I'd do a bit of a double post; a quick update then move onto some other stuff.

Very soon after I got back from Canada I started working for 'Youth For Christ' with a project called 'Kick London'. 'Kick London' is looking to transform the lives of young people through sports. My role is to support the coaches with the sessions they run and also support them through prayer, bible studies and devotional times. The work is challenging but great.

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Now onto what I really wanted to blog about!

I was reading Daniel and was struck by his prayer in chapter 9.

" I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong..."

This man has given up the royal food, been used by God to interpret others dreams, been willing to break the law by praying to God, and then got thrown into a lions den for refusing to bow down to anyone but God, yet he says "we have sinned and done wrong".

Daniel just isn't willing to turn his back on his community.

I am so quick to separate myself by saying to God "they have sinned, forgive them" rather than "we have sinned, forgive us".

I can learn a lot from Daniel!