1 Samuel 1 - God and the "impossible"

Last night we started a new series at Lighthouse looking at 1 Samuel 1, here are my notes:

Often we struggle with Old Testament narrative we love the stories but struggle to work out how they apply to us, so how can we read it and understand it for ourselves. Here are 5 big questions to ask as you read:

1. Why? – is it included, what is the authors point? “We will never go wrong if we focus on God.”
2. Where? Literally, what comes before it? What follows it? Where historically does it fit?
3. How? Is it packaged in a certain way? What is happening (Acts/scenes)? Does the structure reveal an emphasis?
4. What? Observation of text. What is puzzling?
5. So what? What difference does this make to us? “If what I study won’t apply, there is something wrong.”

There are also some other things to bear in mind or look out for when reading narrative:

• Readers edge- Sometimes we know more than the characters (Job)
• Selectivity – the writer includes what they thinks is important and excludes what isn’t.
• Sarcasm - is a clue (e.g. I Kings 18:27, Dan 3)
• Imagination – writers pile up images to convey danger.
• Surprise – What should shock us?
• Emphasis and repetition – used as underlining.
• Reports not recommends – sometimes it even assumes we can work out if something is right or not in light of Law.
• Intensity – does the writer cram a lot into a short space? (Ruth 1:1-5)
• Tension texts – we should feel the suspense and get thinking about God’s providence.

Read the text again, what shocks you? What questions do you have?

1. The way of the righteous in a sin sick world.
You can’t help but notice the righteous character of both Hannah and Elkanah as you read this chapter. Elkanah clearly leads his family in worship of Yahweh, taking them up to worship and providing them with sacrifices which would have been costly(3-4) both at the start of the chapter and twice at the end of the chapter. And Hannah is certainly portrayed as a godly woman. They live are righteous people, they live life in the light of God’s grace to them as his people.

But tragically (2)“Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.” Bad things happen to good people; that is one of the first things this text tells us. The bible does not hide from the difficulties which afflict God’s people. And the injustice of Hannah’s situation is rammed home by the actions of Peninnah, what does she do? (6-7)she provoked Hannah continually. The contrast here just makes you feel the weight of the injustice even more, how can godly Hannah be childless and yet spiteful Peninnah have children, it’s the wrong way round it’s just not fair!

And then we read (5-6)and what is the repeated phrase? “Yahweh had closed her womb...”. That ought to stop and make us think, it’s not what we expect to read is it? We expect to read Hannah had no children but not that God stopped her from having children. It ought to give us a clue as to what is coming, God is at work, in fact thinking about the history of God’s people it is amazing how often God takes and works through what is impossible, but we will think more about that later.

What this text confronts us with straight off is that being one of God’s people does not function like the ‘get out of jail free’ card in monopoly. It is not that when suffering comes we can play the ‘but I’m one of your people it shouldn’t happen to me’ card. Hannah and Elkanah are devout worshippers of God but they suffer the effects of living in a world ravaged by sin. It is not about a lack of faith on Hannah or Elkanah’s part, she doesn’t need to just believe in God’s promises more. God’s people are not immune from suffering or heartache.

We see though not just Hannah’s problem and provocation but God’s. In 1 Samuel one we zoom in on one family in Israel who are living righteously, but that is not the general pattern. Judges 21:25 ends with this summary of life in Israel; “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” That is the situation in Israel as Hannah and Elkanah go to sacrifice, they are the exception not the rule. Something which is brought home by the mention (3)of Hophni and Phinehas the priests. If the problem in Israel is that everyone does as they see fit then these two provoke God in much the same way Peninnah provoked Hannah. Just turn over to 2:12 where their lives are summarised like this “Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no time for the LORD.”  What was their job? They were priests, but priests who had no time for Yahweh, who didn’t love or care about God and therefore worship was a farce.

Here is chapter 1 we see two problems come together one on a national and salvation history scale in terms of the state of Israel, and another on a micro and personal scale in the barrenness of Hannah and the provocation she suffered. God is at work graciously and amazingly to resolve one problem as he answers another.

2. The prayer of the righteous in a sin sick world

Whenever we experience suffering or see others suffering we are faced with a choice; to run to God with it or to turn away from God because of it.

The author wants us to feel Hannah’s pain (6-10)load up the causes and pain felt as a consequence of her barrenness and Peninnah’s provocation. Hannah can’t have children and Penninah provokes her every time until she wept and would not eat, Elkanah tries to comfort her but just doesn’t get the pain she feels, and finally Hannah can take it no more and (10)”In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD weeping bitterly.” But notice that Hannah may weep bitterly but she has not become bitter, she still knows that God is the one to turn to. Throughout the chapter Hannah is a worshipper, she is a lover of God, she trusts in God. The character of God not the circumstances she is in determine her worship.

Hannah turns to God in her distress because she knows who God is and that he hears his people. Hannah knows that God is Almighty, she addresses him as Lord of hosts, Lord of the armies of heaven, the cosmic ruler and sovereign over everything. It is to that God she comes in prayer. But notice that despite acknowledging his might and cosmic power she also expects him to see and care about what is happening to her, a broken hearted woman from the hill country in Ephraim.

Her God is both universal and powerful and personal and concerned for her, but notice something else about her prayer she prays for a son to serve God. She doesn’t just pray for a child for herself but for a child to serve God.

Hannah knows that God is her only refuge – Peninnah provokes her, Elkanah doesn’t understand how she feels, and Eli accuses her(15) but Hannah “was pouring out my soul to Yahweh.” Isn’t that a brilliant definition of prayer – pouring out our soul to God.

It is understanding God that enables her to pray this way, her focus is on an Almighty God who cares and hears, she does not use the words “Our Father...” but she certainly approaches God as her Father. The answer to problems in our praying is to understand who God is not to focus on the mechanics of prayer. Our God is big enough and cares for us enough that we can pour out our soul to him knowing he is sovereign and he cares for us.

Hannah leaves with Eli’s benediction “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” She does not have a guarantee of a child but she knows that God has heard her and that is enough(18).

It is the comfort one of God’s children enjoys in coming to the Almighty God of the universe who cares for them and pouring out their hearts.

3. God at work to save a sin sick world

There is a real danger here that we can misuse this chapter to suggest that it is God’s will that every barren woman bears children. This is not a blanket promise to all God’s people, it is not prayer formula to use which guarantees pregnancy. The bible contains a number of cases of barren women whose wombs God opens; Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth. And as you look at them you see a pattern of God doing the impossible as part of his plan of salvation; Sarah has Isaac the son of promise, Rebekah has Jacob and Esau, Rachel has Joseph who saves the fledgling nation, Hannah bears Samuel who is a great prophet and anoints king David, and Elizabeth bears John the Baptist who prepares the way for David’s greater son Jesus.

God can do the impossible and throughout salvation history he brings life to barren wombs to fulfil his promises, because this is God’s plan to save and he will do it. But it is not a blanket promise, it is not a how to, which is liberating because it means continuing childlessness is not a result of our sin or our lack of faith, it is the result of living in a sin ravaged world.

At the end of this chapter as Hannah has a son just as she asked God for and as that son is given over to God we ought to stand where the chapter starts and finishes worshipping God. God who is his peoples refuge even in the midst of problems and provocation, God who graciously hasn’t abandoned Israel but will work out his plan to save his people, God who hears his people when they pray and answers prayer in accordance with his purpose, God who is worth worshipping and living for because of his character rather than our circumstances.

What would Jesus say to Rupert Murdoch?

When I mention the name Rupert Murdoch what immediately comes to mind? The phone hacking scandal with the News of the World. Rupert Murdoch is a global media tycoon, his empire spans newspapers, publishers, and TV channels as well as spanning continents Europe, America, Australasia and Asia. His influence cannot be overestimated. Forbes places him at number 24 on their list of the most influential people.

Murdoch is not a self-made man, he inherited his first two newspapers from his father but he has transformed that inheritance into a global force. He has not always enjoyed success in business or in his private life, having been married 3 times.

But what about his beliefs? His mother was from a Jewish family, his wife is catholic and Murdoch describes himself as a Christian. But that leads many to question that assertion because whilst his media empire includes Zondervan the Bible and Christian book publishers it also includes red tops which pride themselves of salacious storylines and soft pornography.

So what would Jesus say to Rupert Murdoch?

It’s not what you say it’s what you produce.
Turn to Luke 6:43-49. Jesus has been teaching the crowd who assume that they are in the kingdom because of their birthright and religious practices. He gives them two pictures to show the difference between claiming to be one of his people and really being his people.

The first is an image from the garden; a good tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit and he goes on to say that what comes out of our mouths reveals what is in our hearts(45).

In the second picture Jesus uses images from the building site as he describes two men, one builds on a solid foundation one doesn’t. Jesus words are the solid foundation to build life on and the difference between the two will one day be obvious.

I think the first thing Jesus would say to Rupert Murdoch would be to challenge him to examine the fruit in his life because it reveals where our hearts are. It’s not what you say you are you are but what you are you are and to encourage him to build wisely now for eternity by listening to his words.

The Gospel brings change
In many ways Rupert Murdoch reminds me of Zacchaeus, turn to Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus was not a popular man, in fact he has become something of a societal hate figure because of his work practices and the working practices of those who worked under him. But Jesus deliberately singles out and spends time with Zacchaeus even though money at the expense of morality is what has driven his living.

Jesus spends time with Zacchaeus because he knows the power of the gospel to bring change – even with someone like Zacchaeus. And the gospel does produce considerable change at considerable cost to Zacchaeus, it produces fruit as Zacchaeus gives back to those he has cheated and seeks practically to live in the light of the love he has been shown.

Jesus would welcome Rupert Murdoch and explain to him the scope and power of the gospel but that recognising that welcome, understanding that Jesus has given everything for you calls us to change, not to earn God’s favour but because we enjoy God’s favour.

Warning the watchers
Often in the gospels Jesus has more than one audience as he teaches and often he teaches more than one audience. Turn back to Luke 6, we see it here as Jesus is primarily teaching his disciples but he also warns the crowd. Similarly in speaking to Rupert Murdoch I think Jesus would also issue us with a warning similar to that found in v41-43.

Jesus warns us that often we find it easier to spot sin in others than we do in ourselves. Often we have a blind spot to our own sin. Jesus isn’t saying don’t help others see sin in their lives but be careful to examine yourself and invite others to examine your hearts and lives.

It is easy to sit here and question Rupert Murdoch - how can he produce papers like that and so on... But do we read them? Do we love the salacious gossip about celebrity love lives? Do we enjoy the pictures?

Be concerned about your fruitfulness and building your life as a response to who you know Jesus to be and what he has said. Help others but don’t judge always remembering your experience of grace and the power of the gospel to bring change.

The gospel has the power to bring change, to radically change us, to produce fruit.

Are our traditional modes of ministry sustainable?

Britain is littered with church buildings, they are everywhere.  Some may no longer be churches, they may be carpet shops or a mosques, or simply be boarded up or vacant.  It was driving past some of those that got me thinking; if that is what is happening to the buildings what does it tell us about the church?  What does it tell us about ministry in the UK?  What challenges does it indicate for us in terms of changing our thinking about ministry?
Britain has a great tradition and history of faithful bible teaching, we live daily with the legacy of that and its influences on our society and we ought to praise God for it but it must not make us blind or complacent.  There are big changes which have and are taking place in Britain which tradition might blind us to, and if we carry on with our traditional modes of ministry we will be in serious trouble.

One minister one church one location?
Traditionally many churches have had a minister - call it what you want; pastor, vicar, Father,....  But we are at a tipping point in terms of people entering the ministry.  There are hundreds of churches across the UK looking for a minister, many of whom have been looking for some years.  There are simply not enough ministers to go around, or enough being trained to meet the need.  The traditional model of ministry is failing our churches, or rather it is failing some of our churches - the church is dividing into those who have and those who do not.  And there is a geographical bias to this - it seems to be harder to get a pastor the further north you are. 

How are we as churches and as ministers going to react to this?  How can we help one another?  In many other parts of the world pastors pastor more than one church with lay leaders co-leading the churches in a much more active way than they do in the UK. Could this work in the UK? It is not empire building it is kingdom focused.

Is planting churches a good thing?
As someone who has planted a church I feel this is a question I can ask; is church planting helping or hindering?  Should we give as much time and effort to re-potting as we do to freshly planting?  There is a desperate need for churches in communities where the Bible is not taught but is starting something afresh always the best way to do it?  Would those resources be better served encouraging church renewal?  It may be harder but would it serve the kingdom better?

Who are we training and where are we training them for?
Yes we want to be training up young leaders and the increasing proliferation of training course is a real encouragement to see BUT most of the young men and women being trained are found in university town/city churches and they stay in their university town/city churches as young professionals and enter ministry in their university town/city churches.  Again haves and have nots.  It means that we are growing larger university town/city based churches whilst many other churches out of university city/towns are short of young leaders.  Our traditional model of training leaders is perhaps not as kingdom focused as we think it is or as it needs to be.  How can we remedy this?  How can we encourage each other to think about the unthinkable of giving people away?

The Kingdom and gospel of God is too precious for us not to examine our preconceptions and there are so many, these three suggestions just scratch the surface.  As ministers is my model of ministry sustainable?  Is it for us as churches?  Is it for us as a church and for us as a nation?

2012 - Do we need to be ready for the end of the world?

One of the big films of 2010 was 2012. It was a disaster movie that explored the idea that in 2012 the world ends in a whole series of cataclysmic events which destroy mankind. It is based on a series of prophecies some of which are being picked up in the media at the moment, as usually happens remember the fuss about the millennium and various other end of the world moments.

One of the big questions the film 2012 asks is this: ‘How would the governments of our planet prepare 6 billion people for the end of the world?’  It’s a great question, which the film explores as disaster after disaster hits the earth, Tsunami’s, earthquakes, meteor showers just keep on coming one after another. The question remains how would you save so many people?  How could they be got ready for the end of the world?

Unsurprisingly as the film explores this idea we see society’s cynicism about governments is shared by the script writers and production team. Because their conclusion is very simple ‘How would the governments of our planet prepare 6 billion people for the end of the world?’ ‘They wouldn’t’

The Bible is concerned with answering a similar question but with some important differences: God is very different from the governments, and the problem is more immediate than in 2012. In 2012 it is imminent global catastrophe, and the Bible does says that one day the world will end, but it also says that more immediately we each face death as a consequence of leaving God out of our lives.

Luke 2v10-11 shows how God prepares everyone not just for the end of the world but for death. So that rather than dying facing God as someone we rejected we can face God as a child being welcomed home by our Father.

The answer is that he sends ‘a Saviour’ - a rescuer, someone who comes to deliver people from the greatest danger they face. But this isn’t just any rescuer, two other words are used to describe him and they mark Jesus out as a unique rescuer; “Christ” and “Lord”. Christ means anointed one – he is God’s chosen and appointed kingly rescuer, but he is also “Lord” – the sovereign ruler a title applied to God – this is the divine royal rescuer, God made man to save man.

In the film 2012 the governments of the world prepare arks for a select few to preserve the species, but everyone else is left unaware, and unprepared to die. God by contrast does everything he can to effect a rescue, in 2012 the government see people as faceless numbers who cannot be saved, by contrast Christmas tells us God is mindful of us, loves us, and will save us.

Jesus as he lies in the manger is God become human to represent us, to warn us and to secure our rescue, he does so by living a perfect life and please don’t take my word for that – Luke’s gospel is the result of years of interviewing eyewitnesses to Jesus life take this home and read it. And then despite his innocence he dies as someone who is guilty, judged not just by Pilate but by God and punished. But he is raised to life again by God so that we can be credited with, given, his perfect record if we trust him and accept him as Saviour, Christ and Lord.

How would you prepare yourself for the end of the world?  It may not come in 2012 as the film portrays or as the prophecy predicts, but one thing is certain there will be an end of the world for each of us.  100% of the population dies and the question is are we ready for that be it because of a global catastrophe or because of old age and a wearing out of our bodies?

God in love sends his son to be the divine royal ruler, to be the kingly rescuer who prepares us to meet God and who restores our relationship with him, who comes to tell us how to be ready for the end of the world.

Our Identity in Christ; Sons. Galatians 4:4-7

Who you think you are, rather than who you are, determines how you live. Is that true or not, and why?

How does how you think about yourself affect your Christian living?

That was the issue for the Church in Galatia, because they didn’t think of themselves rightly they were in danger of living wrongly. In fact Paul says the situation is so serious that they are in danger of abandoning the gospel altogether. Here’s a quick overview of how Paul talks about where their confusion about their identity in Christ has led them:
(1:6)“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all.”
(3:1)“Who has bewitched you?”
(4:9)“how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces?”
(5:7)“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?”

You get a sense of the serious implications of their failure to understand their identity in Christ. It has led them to add to the gospel under the influence of Judaizers; they are being tempted to add circumcision, keeping religious feast days, keeping the law and so on. But Paul writes to warn them that to add to the gospel is to depart from the gospel, it is to deny the power of Christ to save and your identity.

In this letter Paul deconstructs this new legalism and in its place seeks to build a right understanding of their identity in Christ. 2:15-16 he reminds them that they are justified not by observing the law but by faith in Christ. In 2:20 he reminds them that believers have been crucified with Christ and now Christ lives in us and we live for him. That is our new identity.

In 3:23-29 he reminds them the law is like a custodian, like a chaperone who limits you and highlights your willingness to break the rules and only takes you to one place. The law makes you prisoners (23), it shows sins hold on you because you can’t keep it all. The law was designed “to lead us to Christ.” to direct us to him for life by showing us that otherwise we are destined for death.

And Paul calls on the Galatians to recognise the immense benefits and privileges that being in Christ brings, it is faith in Christ that makes us Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promises, full grown heirs. We aren’t just justified by faith, we aren’t just made holy by faith but in Christ we are adopted; made God’s sons with all the blessings that brings.

Now Paul turns to examine God’s purpose in redeeming a people for himself.

You are a Son
(4-5)**What does God do for us? Send his son to redeem us from under the law. It’s the image of the slave market, Jesus pays the price to buy our freedom from slavery, he redeems us, he purchases us for himself. Notice that it is not part payment, Jesus isn’t like a coupon that gives 10%, 20% or 99% off. 3:13 makes that clear “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us...” Jesus does it all for us, he pays all of the price to redeem us, we contribute nothing.

And he redeems us for a purpose, **what is it? “that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Before Jesus redeems us we are not sons but slaves, but in Christ we aren’t just redeemed for freedom from slavery but amazingly for adoption as sons of God, we become part of God’s family.

Knowing who are in Christ matters, we are made God’s sons, not slaves, not servants justified by our performance, but loved sons in relationship with their loving father, with all the rights privileges and responsibilities of sonship. We become part of the line of promise (3:14, 28-29), part of God’s plan of salvation history. Accepted, bought near, justified, included, secure.

And he goes on (6)to explore the relational reality of our Sonship(6) “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out ‘Abba, Father.’”

God having made us son’s legally by adopting us makes us sons relationally by sending the Spirit of his Son into our hearts so that we can live as sons.

As you read the gospels you are struck again and again by the closeness of the relationship between God the Father and Jesus his Son. God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us enjoy that same relationship. To assure us that we are God’s sons as we listen to him, respond to him and walk with him. And do you notice the words the Spirit causes us to echo are the very words Jesus used. We can relate to God as our father just as Jesus did because the same Spirit is at work in us, and he gives us his right standing as God’s perfect son. ‘Abba’ is a family word, it is a term that speaks of intimacy.

Imagine a couple who are adopting a child. **How would they feel when the adoption papers are signed and they have a legally adopted that child? They’d be thrilled. But imagine the difference when a few months later that child instinctively calls out ‘Mum’ or ‘Dad’ to them. Then it wouldn’t just be a legal relationship but a living, breathing, loving reality.

That is what God sends his Holy Spirit to do, to make our redemption and adoption a relational reality. So that we know our identity as sons, and increasingly to change us to look like and live out being sons. And that identity also brings a secure future as heirs of the promise, a promised inheritance that is kept in heaven for us by God.

We ought to be amazed at our Sonship, astounded at what Christ has done for us.

Who do you think you are?
But who you think you are, rather than who you are, determines how you live. If we think wrongly about our identity it leads us into danger just as it did with the Galatians. How might we think wrongly about how we are practically? How might we fail to live out our sonship?  Here are some ways:

Not a Son but a Servant
Sometimes we can find ourselves thinking and living as a servant rather than a son, we judge our relationship with God based on how we have done. If I’ve read my bible, prayed and shared the gospel with someone today I have done ok and God is pleased with me. If not well I am uncertain how God feels about more or I am wracked with guilt. We start or end every day with a performance management review of our life. Guilt not grace determines our relationship with God and fear determines our living not love.

But that is not right, it mortgages our joy and makes every action a chore not a response to grace and the gospel. It is to fail to understand we are sons.

Not Praying but Paralysed
I think often our failure to understand our sonship can be seen in the way we pray. We are paralysed by focusing on the mechanics of praying; on saying the right thing, asking for the right thing or reporting that we have done the right thing or using the right terms rather than focusing on God.

**When you talk to someone what do you concentrate on? The person. You don’t concentrate on the means of communication or the nature of the words themselves. When I phone and speak to someone I don’t think about the mechanics of the phone line I listen to and concentrate on the person I am speaking to. It’s the same with prayer it is the medium through which we get to know God. Don’t concentrate on praying concentrate on God, your loving heavenly Father who wants to hear from you. That’s why the words the Spirit causes us to say are so important “Abba Father”, a child approaching their father and a child doesn’t focus on or filter their conversation they speak relationally.

Not Living it but Feeling it.
Sometimes we put too much weight on our feelings, maybe you say I don’t feel like God is my Father or that I am his Son.

I’ve got a challenge for you, ask my boys if they feel like I’m their dad. If you did they would look at you like you were mad. But if you watched them you will see that they instinctively relate to me as their dad; they ask for things, they share things, they talk about their fears and joys, they are disciplined by me, and so on. They don’t need to feel like I’m their dad, they just know it as a relational reality.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t make us feel like God is our Father and we are his Sons, he causes us to practically relate to God as our Father, as we instinctively pray and he encourages us, changes our attitudes and appetites, causes us to see needs and serve others, causes us to love others, leads us to forgive, highlights our sin, gives up as appetite for the bible and draws us back to the cross.

But too many people too readily judge their relationship with God on how they feel. It is just as well Jesus didn’t as you consider Gethsemane and Calvary. Only knowing our identity in Christ as sons gives us the freedom to live out our sonship.

Not Discipline but Punishment
How do you think of suffering? Often I think we fall into thinking of suffering as God zapping us for something we have done wrong. Like Job’s friends who exhort him to look at his life and identify the sin God is clearly punishing him for. But that is a misunderstanding of our relationship as sons to a loving Father.

Part of being a Son is being disciplined and Hebrews 12 tells us that God disciplines those he loves to change us, discipline is a result of love, it is training us, changing us, causing us to rely on God not ourselves. But if we have a wrong understanding of our identity in Christ, if we haven’t understood our Sonship we won’t see it as discipline but as punishment for doing wrong, and it will not train us just make us bitter.

Not Secure but Scared
Sonship should make us secure, not complacent but secure. Notice here the emphasis on being included in the promise. There is a sense in which we haven’t fully realised our sonship yet, turn to Romans 8:14-18, 23 using the image of sonship and adoption Paul writes that we eagerly wait for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. We are adopted sons but we still live in a world which is sin sick, but our future is secure and it is glorious, we can be confident of it because it is secure in Christ.

Not Joyful but Dutiful
Does joy mark your life and your living for Christ? Joy flows from an appreciation of grace, a continually increasing amazement at what Christ has done for us, what he has made us, what he is making us and what he has in store for us. It is what fuels godliness.

That at root is the problem in Galatians, they mistakenly think that legalism is the way to please God, it is the way to be changed. It isn’t, it leads to a self righteous if joyless obedience. But knowing who you are in Christ liberates you to live by the Spirit for God’s glory. Understanding grace doesn’t lead to licence – whereby we do whatever we want – which seem to be the fear of the judaizers. Rather understanding grace and our identity as sons empowers us to live by the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit and to glorify God as we live out our sonship.

What would Jesus Say to Peter Kay?

Peter Kay is the down to earth northern who shot to fame as a stand up comedian but is now one of the UK’s top entertainers, with voice over’s for children’s shows, song writing credits, and parts in Doctor Who, Coronation Street and other shows. His fame is such that having been the warm up act on Parkinson early in his career he was a guest on the final show. He has also written 3 books, the first of which, ‘The Sound of Laughter’, sold a million copies in its first 3 months. But what he remains famous for is his wit and distinctively different humour.

Peter Kay was born in Bolton and was an altar boy at the local Catholic Church and attended the local Catholic school. Here is what he wrote about it:

“It made me realise how dangerous Catholicism could be. When I was at school I was always told that if I was bad God would punish me and in the same breath I was told that God would forgive me for my sins whatever they were. It was a bit like being slapped one minute and getting a big cuddle the next. Catholicism sure knew how to mess with a child's head...

Over the years I've come to the conclusion that Catholicism is rife with hypocrisy and confusion. It's preyed on people like myself while people like myself were praying.”

Peter Kay isn’t alone in having that problem with the church. So what would Jesus say to Peter Kay?
It might surprise him and you but Jesus would agree about the repellent nature of hypocrisy. Turn to Matthew 23:1-12 where Jesus leads a stinging rebuke of the Pharisees because of their hypocrisy and the confusion they cause. Jesus problem with the religious authorities of his day is that they don’t do what they teach(3), they burden others(4) and they put on a good act(5). Not unlike many people’s experience of church today.

Jesus would, I think, then move on to show Peter Kay that he did not come to call people to religion, in fact he preached against religion, instead he came to call people to understand and live by grace. I think Jesus would want to clear up the confusion that Peter obviously has about what Jesus taught and who he was.

Answering the big question: How do you get right with God?
Is God a vengeful God who punishes wrong doing or is he a God who forgives no matter what your sin is? I think Jesus would want Peter to understand grace.

Look on a few verses to v37-39, it is a staggering statement from Jesus. As he surveys Jerusalem he almost reads out a charge sheet against it as a city “you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you...” What does such behaviour deserve? It deserves judgement.

But what does Jesus go on to say? How often I have longed to gather your children together...” Despite Israel’s repeated rejection of the messengers God sent, Jesus God’s Son expresses God’s heart desire to gather Israel, to love them, to forgive them. God is not a harsh petulant, changeable monster doling out punishment on a whim. He is gracious, he warns again and again and finally sends his son to warn again.

But Israel is not willing, Israel reject even Jesus. And if you reject God’s loving warning you will face judgement, in fact it is right that you do. God can forgive your sins no matter how bad they are but only if you are willing to accept and trust in Jesus.

And there lies another of Peter Kay’s problems, here’s what he says about Jesus:

"I also believe that a man called Jesus did walk the earth at one time but I don't think he was the superhero that the bible makes him out to be.... I think Jesus was just an ordinary person like me and you (well, I'm comparing you with myself in the hope you're not a mentalist). I believe that Jesus spoke about peace, he spoke about turning love into hate (sic), tears into laughter, war into peace... Jesus' teachings spread and quickly he built up a passionate following. People hung on to his every word, some would even walk for miles just to catch a glimpse of him... Ultimately Jesus' success bred contempt, people of power weren't fond of this hip and trendy preacher and before you could say 'Happy Days' Jesus was beaten, whipped, nailed to a cross and crucified. They didn't understand him, so they murdered him, in their ignorance and fear.

But Jesus had the last laugh. Apparently two days later on Easter Sunday he came back from the dead. Well, he'd have been daft not to with all those chocolate eggs knocking around."
Yet despite thinking Jesus is just an ordinary man he goes on to say life would be better if we lived it according to Jesus teachings.

You can't sit on the fence
What would Jesus say to that? You can’t sit on the fence. Either I did the things I did and I am who I say I am or I am not. Turn to Luke 5:17-26 – Jesus would want to show Peter that he can’t say his teaching is good but he was not God because of the claims he made about himself. That’s what Jesus shows the Pharisees as he heals this man – and as an aside all it takes for miracles to be possible is for God to exist. But Jesus claims are astonishing – he claims to be able to do what only God can do, forgive sin, if that isn’t true then he is either mad and his words should be ignored or bad in which case they should be destroyed.

Jesus would want Peter to focus not on religion but on deciding who he really is and what he came to do, to forgive sin.

Reading the Bible - some questions to ask

How do you read the Bible?  There is a danger that we read the Bible like we read a newspaper article or novel, skimming over it without stopping to interrogate the text or think about what it is teaching us.  Whilst reading the Bible like that will still do us good, there is a better way; ask questions of the Bible.  But what sort of questions?  Here are some we gave out at church the Sunday before last as we prepared to read the Bible together:

1. What surprises you or haven’t you spotted before?
2. What don't you understand?
3. What is the big story of the passage?
4. What does it tell us about God?
5. What does it tell us about his plan of salvation?
6. What has just happened and is about to happen (context)?
7. So what difference should this make to us?

Its also helpful to have a notebook where you can scribble down your answers.