Bible

God willing (* see James 4:15) I will be speaking on an "Unlocking the Bible" weekend at Otford Manor, the fine home of the fine Oak Hall Expeditions, next weekend (November 18-20).

That is one of the most fruitful questions I've asked of this familiar Psalm.

As I explained about a year ago, the book of Psalms is not 150 prayers and hymns in random order. It's sometimes hard to know exactly what conclusions we should draw from the order the Psalms are in, but that they have been carefully arranged is beyond doubt.

I'm delighted to commend to readers of this blog an upcoming day conference in North London. It is organised by Emmanuel Church in North London, where my friend Steve Jeffery is the minister. One of the things I have always appreciated about Emmanuel is the way they enjoy putting events on that will serve the wider church.

Here's some of the blurb from their website.

Next Sunday falls as part of a week off for us, so we won't be at Kemsing or Woodlands churches.

The week after is 30th October. For a couple of years now, we've taken the opportunity that comes around four times a year (the fifth Sunday of the month) to have one joint service for both churches. In the main they've been happy celebrations, and the aim is always to worship the one Lord Jesus Christ, and to remind ourselves that the gospel which unites us is far stronger than any cultural, geographical, or ecclesiastical-taste differences we might have.

Yesterday, I quote from John Stott (paid link) on the Sermon on Matthew 5:38-48. It may seem impossible that we live in the way Jesus teaches.

Here is Stott again:

“It had been written of [Jesus] in the Old Testament Scripture: ‘I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.’ And in the event first the Jewish police spat on him, blindfolded him and struck him in the face, and then the Roman soldiers followed suit. They crowned him with thorns, clothed him in the imperial purple, invested him with a sceptre of reed, jeered at him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews,’ knelt before him in mock homage, spat in his face and struck him with their hands. And Jesus, with the infinite dignity of self-control and love, held his peace. He demonstrated his total refusal to retaliate by allowing them to continue their cruel mockery until they had finished.” (page 106)

John Stott, in his magnificent commentary (paid link) on the Sermon on the Mount, makes these remarks on 5:38-48:

“Our duty to individuals who wrong us is not retaliation, but the acceptance of injustice without revenge or redress.” (page 105)

Jesus then gives 4 example of what this looks like in practice.

“Each introduces a person (in the context a person who is in some sense ‘evil’) who seeks to do us an injury, one by hitting us in the face, another by prosecuting us at law, a third by commandeering our service, and a fourth by begging money from us.” (page 106)

All 4 of those example feel very contemporary, with the possible exception of the third (conscription). But, look at the cultural situation in which Jesus said this, and:

The third example “could be applied today to any form of service in which we find ourselves conscripts rather than volunteers.” (page 106)

In summary:

“In each of the four situations, Jesus said, our Christian duty is so completely to forbear revenge that we even allow the ‘evil’ person to double the injury.” (page 106)

Whet your appetite for more? Why not join us this coming Sunday morning in Kemsing church at 9.30am.

As I look at Psalm 6, in preparation for this coming Sunday evening, I went back to visit a blog post by Adrian Reynolds over at The Proclaimer.

He says this, which is very helpful indeed:

Some sobering words from Chris Green (paid link) as he comments on 2 Timothy 4:10

Matthew 28:19 has a command ("go and make disciples"), followed by two participles: "baptising... , and teaching...".

Here's France (paid link) again:

The order in which these two participles occur differs from what has become common practice in subsequent Christian history, in that baptism is, in many Christian circles, administered only after a period of ‘teaching,’ to those who have already learned. It can become in such circles more a graduation ceremony than an initiation. If the order of Matthew’s participles is meant to be noticed, he is here presenting a different model whereby baptism is the point of enrollment into a process of learning which is never complete.

This coming Sunday, I am preaching on the closing verses of Matthew's gospel, Matthew 28:16-20.

Here's R T France (paid link): ... Enjoy!

The risen Jesus, vindicated over those who tried to destroy him, is now established as the universal sovereign, and his realm embraces not only the whole earth, which was to be the dominion of the ‘one like a son of man’ in Daniel’s vision, but heaven as well. At the beginning of the gospel, Satan offered Jesus sovereignty over the whole earth, but his offer was refused (4:8-10); now Jesus, going the way of obedience to his Father’s will even to the cross has received far more than Satan could offer. (Page 1113)