eDevs: August 2020

Thursday, August 20, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-20 [Walk between the Lines] The Lines

The Lines

We start a new series today.

The Bible Society celebrates 200 years of work this week!

So I'm going to spend a bit of time reflecting on the importance and value of God's Word in our lives...

I want to start with Psalm 119 which is all about God's Word. It is a wisdom psalm which means that it is about our relationship with God and a practical guide to life. It is an acrostic poem with 22 stanzas of 8 verses each. (This makes it the longest psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible!)

Acrostic means that the poem follows the Alphabet: in stanza 1 all the verses start with the first letter of the alphabet, in stanza 2 the verses start with the second letter of the alphabet and so on. This was done to aid memorization and to imply a full and thorough treatment of the subject.

The subject of the Psalm is the value, relevance and blessing of reading, knowing and loving God's Word.

When I was at University, the gospel singer, Russ Taff, put out a song entitled "Walk between the Lines". In an environment that sometimes put intellectualism before simple faith, Russ's song was a great reminder that everything goes back to God's word...

Here's the lyrics of his song and the first 8 verses of Ps 119.
Enjoy!

WALK BETWEEN THE LINES
(Written by David H Perkins, performed by Russ Taff)

When the night breaks in I won't spin
Far away from what I know is real
In this heart of mine - Light will shine
For I have found my chart to pilot me

Walk between the lines
Through this life and times
My heart is hitting hard upon the Word
Walk between the lines - seeing surer signs
My heart is hidden deep between the lines

When the days ahead seem full of dread
And I'm afraid of what the future finds
There's this place I know I can go
I'll find the peace to clear my clouded mind

Walk between the lines
Through this life and times
My heart is hitting hard upon the Word
Walk between the lines - Finding deeper finds
My heart is hidden deep between the lines

(To a secret place)
(Protected, protected in your arms)

When the night breaks in I won't stay
So far away from what I know is real
If my friends turn away I won't sway
For I have found my chart to pilot me

Walk between the lines
Through this life and times
My heart is hitting hard upon the Word
Walk between the lines
Finding deeper finds
My heart is hidden deep between the lines
Walk between the lines
Through this life and times
My heart is hitting hard upon the Word
Walk between the lines
Seeing surer signs
My heart is hidden deep between the lines

You can listen to the song at: https://youtu.be/h1g7VKYVpuA

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.
2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart.
3 They do nothing wrong;
they walk in his ways.
4 You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
6 Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous laws.
8 I will obey your decrees;
do not utterly forsake me. (Psalms119:1-8)

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-19 [Jude] Doxology...

Doxology...

And so Jude ends where he needs to...
- Not focused on false teachers
- Not focused on pet doctrines
- Not focused on activities or good works
But on God's identity and His Glory

Who is God?
He is the One who keeps us from falling and presents us faultless...
Unlike the gnostics who promoted a "pull yourself up by your bootlaces" self-help religion, Jude makes it clear that we need God. We can't save ourselves through positive thoughts and self-actualisation. Knowledge can't save us. He will present us faultless before God with a righteousness that is not ours, but earned for us by Jesus on the cross. It is not what we know but Who we know.

And He is the God who can keep us from falling. He's forgiven our sin and His Holy Spirit lives in us to transform our lives and help us be more like Jesus. We may stumble, but through Grace, Forgiveness and Restoration we do not have to fall.

And this journey is one of great joy. We don't have to live in anxiety hoping that we've done enough good deeds to "have St Peter let us through the gate". We live knowing that our lives are immersed in Christ and that His sacrifice was sufficient. As Paul says: "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

How do we respond to this God?
In unabashed, unrestrained and extravagant praise and adoration!
Glory!
Majesty!
Power!
Authority!

It all belongs to Him and we can be part of the choir because of what Jesus did for us.
And that praise will endure forever more!

When the last word is praise and thanksgiving, we call this a "doxology." "Doxa" means glory/praise/honour and "ology" implies a "study of" or "study in". Jude has left us a superb one...

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- 25 to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude1:24-25)

That brings us to the end of our series in Jude. I hope you have enjoyed it!

Friday, August 14, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-14 [Jude] When the going gets tough... #4

When the going gets tough... #4

We've been exploring Jude's advice for Christians facing false teaching in troubled times. His response is not to obsess over trouble or falsehood, but to work in three key areas:

Personal Devotion
Loving Perseverance
Compassionate Outreach

Today we come to the third area, which, I believe, is absolutely critical for our faith to remain vibrant and meaningful.

Jude urges his readers to an outward focused and compassionate lifestyle and I believe that this is particularly important in these unsettled times.

Let's pick up a few thoughts...

It is very easy to become impatient and intolerant of those who are thrown into doubt and confusion when tough times and bad teaching abounds. Jude calls us to be "merciful" and it is the same word that Jesus uses in the beatitudes. It's also the same word that gets used over and over in the gospels when people ask Jesus for help and His compassion toward them is our guideline.
The word Jude uses for "doubt" is very interesting: It can be translated as "doubt", "contend", "criticize", "discern", "hesitate", "see differently", "waver" or "weigh". It really describes someone who is wrestling intellectually. It's very easy to be dismissive of those who doubt or are critical. Jude says we should be merciful to people in these circumstances - it is our compassion and not clever arguments that win people over.
We also need to be reaching out to those "in the fire". I think there are two ways of seeing this: Jude could be pointing towards people who are in urgent physical, emotional or spiritual need. I also think it could be that Jude considers those who are being sucked into the false teaching as being "in the fire". The bottom line is, it doesn't matter what fire people are in, we should be reaching out to them.
We need to be merciful but cautious. Sometimes the very situations that we want to rescue people from can suck us in... While we we need to care hugely about people, we have to recognise that we can get sucked into the darkness that sucked them in.

If we only do the first two things that Jude talked about (Personal Devotion and Loving Perseverance) then our faith is in danger of becoming a self-centered indulgence that bears no real fruit. Even in lockdown we can reach out in prayer, through phone calls, encouragement and charity to others...
... and we must!

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (Jude1:20-23) (Jude1:20-23)

Thursday, August 13, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-13 [Jude] When the going gets tough... #3

When the going gets tough... #3

Jude's advice for Christians facing false teaching in troubled times can be summarised in three headings:

Personal Devotion
Loving Perseverance
Compassionate Outreach

We looked at "Personal Devotion" yesterday. Today we look at "Loving Perseverance."

Jude invites us to "Keep yourselves in God's love". The verb he uses for "keep" is also used for "keeping the law" and "keeping watch". It implies devotion, diligence and alertness.

When we colour inside the lines demarcated by God's love we find peace and joy. Unfortunately we are easily sucked into fear, anger, jealousy, insecurity and many other destructive spaces.

And God's love works in two directions: It impacts how we see and treat ourselves and it impacts how we see and treat others.

But we also have to "wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." The word for "waiting" is the same word used to describe Simeon who was "waiting for the consolation of Israel" (i.e. waiting for the Messiah). His waiting wasn't escapist withdrawal. He was active and responsive.

Keeping ourselves rooted in God's love, while we hopefully wait means that we live constructive lives in a broken world, motivated and comforted by our sure hope in eternal life.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-12 [Jude] When the going gets tough... #2

When the going gets tough... #2

Yesterday we looked at Jude's advice for Christians in troubled times as they face the threat of false teaching. His advice comprises 7 points that can be consolidated into three groups:

Personal Devotion
Loving Perseverance
Compassionate Outreach

We'll start with "Personal Devotion."

The big danger we face when dealing with false teachers is that they can become "the moon that eclipses the sun." We can spend so much time looking at what is wrong, that we forget what "He who is right and good" looks like.

So Jude offers advice for the head and the heart.

The head needs to "Build itself up in your most holy faith". The word he uses for "build" is a construction word and it is a participle in the present tense - implying it is a present continuous ongoing process. Paul uses it in 1Cor.3, Eph.2 and Col.2 and it is accompanied by words like architect, foundation and cornerstone. It implies a systematic, orderly and thorough building process. "Faith" is qualified in two important ways: "your" and "most holy". The "your" implies ownership, connection and loyalty. The adjective "holy" is in the superlative form and is thus translated "most holy". Our faith in God is precious. It is sparked by the Holy Spirit and should be nurtured by us with "awe and wonder". Just think about it - we have the privilege of a faith-based (not fear-based) relationship with the Creator of Heaven and Earth!

The heart needs to "Pray in the Holy Spirit". The verb also implies a continuous and ongoing process. Some think that "praying in the Spirit" means praying in tongues or prayer that is accompanied by various "ecstatic" rituals and practices. But if we look for the phrase "in the Spirit" or "in the Holy Spirit" we see that we can pray in the Spirit, love in the Spirit, have joy in the Spirit, go in the Spirit and just "be" in the Spirit. On the basis of this I think it is best to simply understand that "in the Spirit" means empowered, inspired, guided and assisted by the Spirit on the basis that He will do whatever it takes to help us with prayer, love and service. The important thing here, in contrast to the gnostics who turned prayer into a self-help-monologue ("C'mon I can do this..."), is that prayer is a dialogue with our loving God prompted by the Spirit.

And so we have the head that needs to build up in faith, through faithful study of the Scriptures and a devotion to learning and the heart that needs to deepen the relationship with the One who walks beside us on the road (for this is what one of the Greek words for Spirit "paraclete" means.)

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-11 [Jude] When the going gets tough... #1

When the going gets tough... #1

So what do you do in trying times where the church is beset by false teachers?
- Go on a crusade against the false teachers??
- Do everything you can to "cleanse" the church of them??
- Pull away and start a new "pure" church??

Surprisingly, Jude recommends none of the above.
After providing a clear warning and making a clear statement about the error of the ways of the false teachers, Jude pushes the church in the direction of faithfulness, service and outreach...

This is in line with Jesus parable about the wheat and the tares, where an enemy sows tares in a wheat field. Tares look just like wheat, but produce nothing of value, stifle the wheat and use up nutrients. But the farmer in the parables tells the workers that they should not try to pull up the tares because they may pull the wrong thing or they might damage the roots of the healthy wheat. It is at harvest time that this will be sorted out.

Inquisitions and witch-hunts are a blight in the church's history...
Jude does not advocate this course of action...

He points the faithful in a different direction:

"Build yourself up in faith."
"Stay dependent on the Spirit."
"Keep yourself in God's Love."
"(Patiently) wait for God's (judgement and) mercy."
"Be merciful to those who are struggling."
"Rescue those in the fire."
"Be merciful but don't get sucked in..."

We'll spend the rest of this week exploring some of these in detail... For today it is important that we take Jude's point: Once we are aware of the dangers of false teaching, we should not be distracted by it, but maintain our own faith and then reach out in love and service.

Friday, August 7, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-07 [Jude] Abusive Religion

Abusive Religion

Today's reading is long... but I want to finish with the gnostics...

Remember that our essential (as in "essence") definition of gnosticism has been "self-centred and self-referencing religion". This kind of faith will often involve intricate interpretations of obscure passages taken in isolation to justify a selective application of subjective "truth" which often sounds very authoritative, but is often self-serving, hypocritical and selectively applied.

Jude is so frustrated by these people who bully and bamboozle people with their intellects and/or authority that he really ramps up in his tirade against them:

Let's highlight his main points:

They're like Cain who gave second best and then eliminated Abel who showed him up. They're like Baalam who was willing to curse people for money.
They're like Korah who wanted a share in the limelight with Moses.
Then he uses a couple of images to illustrate the threat they pose:
1.Blemishes at love feasts - abusing hospitality
2.Shepherds who feed themselves
3.Clouds without rain
4.Blown by the wind (don't stand firm)
5.Fruitless trees without roots
6.Frothy waves just producing flotsam
7.Aimless stars (maybe shooting stars) impressive but heading nowhere
The book of Enoch was a Jewish apocryphal book, but even Enoch (a very old text) warns about these people and warns about their fate.
They're gamblers (who are often good at manipulating people) and faultfinders (faultfinding in others draws attention away from themselves) who serve their appetites and inflate themselves and flatter people to get what they want.
They're scoffers who use their intellect/charisma/authority to squash others and who follow their own desires.
Divisive people who follow their desires and do not have the Spirit.

I can think of a number of examples of "gnostics" on the liberal and the conservative ends of the theological spectrum who have used their knowledge/charisma to hurt the church.

Jude has given us a number of characteristics to watch for...

While this isn't particularly "inspiring" it is very relevant in these times where the church has lost a lot of credibility precisely because these kinds of people have done us damage....

It is good to have our eyes opened to this danger...

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16 These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. (Jude1:11-19)

Thursday, August 6, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-06 [Jude] Gnostic Traits

Gnostic Traits

(You may have noticed that these devotions are arriving later in the day. That's because I am struggling to write them! These are technical passages which are heavy in meaning and urgent in application --- but they don't lend themselves to "easy inspirational" writing!

They force us to wrestle with old heresies that now beset the church afresh in these post-modern covid times...

So, bear with me please! As my mentor in ministry, Glen Craig, said, some messages are milk (easy to swallow and digest) others are beefsteak - they need some work in the chewing and digesting...)

In today's section Jude offers us three traits visible in those who opt for a "gnostic" faith i.e. a self-centred and self-referencing religious framework:

They are soft on physical self-discipline. They don't rein in their appetites - be it material, sexual or around food and drink.

They reject authority. They become a law unto themselves. They don't want to answer to anyone or anything. They're the kind of people who say "MY God would never..." And there's the rub: He isn't our God, we don't possess Him, we don't get to decree what He can and can't do and we don't get to pick and choose which commandments we will keep and break.
They slander celestial beings. This sounds strange at first and the example of the archangel and Satan fighting over Moses' body raises more questions than answers! But, while we can speculate on all sorts of facets of the story, the bottom-line is simple: God created the angels and the spiritual realms, even the ones that became evil. We should be humble enough to realise that we don't have authority over them, but God does. (Read the very informative encounter of the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:14-16)

There are plenty of sad examples in our modern day church of those who claim to be believers but have:

Let their appetites drive them.
Flouted authority and become a law to themselves
Arrogantly made pronouncements and prophecies beyond their authority (for example the USA pastor who claimed he was going to exorcise the Corona Virus while another confidently prophecsied that it was going to "disappear" by May.)

These are "heavy" thoughts, but at a time when a healthy church is needed, it is vital to make sure we don't fall into these pitfalls...

In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them. (Jude1:8-10)

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-05 [Jude] Expressions of Gnosticism

Expressions of Gnosticism

Gnosticism is a form of religion that puts individualism, reason and rationalism at the center.
It's not Who you know, but what you know and how you feel about it...

Jude was very concerned about this false faith that threatened to infiltrate the church. He warns that this is nothing new - it has been around since the beginning.

Here are Jude's three examples of where self-centred and self-rationalising gnostic religion takes one:

The Israelites who'd been freed by God's mighty hand from Egypt, now hardened their hearts, longed back towards "Egypt days" and did not believe in God's future promise of a Promised Land. Many who are tempted by Gnostic faith tendencies, tend to reject future hope as "pie in the sky" and choose to focus on the "Steak on your plate while you wait for your fate." They failed to believe in God's future for them, settling for what they could know in the here and now or trying to return to the past.
The angels who rebelled against God. This hints at the rebellion of Satan and one third of heaven's angels. Scripture does not document this in detail, but what we do have indicates Satan's rebellion against God and angels who joined that rebellion. The point Jude is making is that they rebelled against the structures, authority and roles that God had given them.
The residents of Sodom and Gomorrah had adopted all kinds of sexual excess. They replaced commitment to God with sensuality. This insistence on the pleasure of self is an expression of the self-centric focus of the gnostic movement.

Jude is clear:
Lack of faith, rebellion against God's purposes and selfish sensuality has consequences. The faithless did not enter the promised land, the rebellious are awaiting judgement and the sensual were destroyed.

Self-centered and self-rationalising religion is not harmless - but very dangerous...

When we see a diminishing of hope in a God-ordained future, when we see a rebellion against God's structures and norms and when we see an increase in sensuality and we when see all this in those who call themselves Christians, then Jude would have been very concerned...

...and so should we...

Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
(Jude1:5-7)

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

EmmDev 2020-08-04 [Jude] Saviour but not Lord

Saviour but not Lord

In verse 4 Jude gets to the nitty gritty of the false teaching that is so dangerous that he deviates from his natural inclination to celebrate the salvation he has in common with his audience.

He makes two important points:

And we're going to start with his second one...

What is it that these false teachers do that has him so concerned?
In a nutshell, these people are perfectly willing to take what God offers (providence, grace and mercy) but they are completely unwilling to let God be God in their lives.

As I mentioned in the introduction to Jude, the heresy he was dealing with was an early form of gnosticism which reduced faith to a cerebral affair. Drawing from Platonism, they argued the body and soul were separate entities and, as such, the body was just the cage or vehicle of the soul. This meant that what you did with your body didn't matter. These "gnostics", who argued that their thoughts (their "knowledge" - gnosis(Greek)) were what mattered, would indulge in immorality and other fleshly excesses with impunity.

Basically, they were happy to have Jesus as their Saviour, but they didn't want Him to be their Lord.

Today there are many who fall into this trap. Maybe not as blatantly as the gnostics did, but in many subtle ways they are quick to talk about God as a forgiving and merciful God, but they are not willing to accept His laws and standards.

They want to be their own god but still expect Jesus to be their Saviour.

The first point that Jude makes is that this tendency has been around for a long time and warns us that this was as wrong then as it is now... (tomorrow we'll look at some old examples of this.)

So this is the bottom-line... False and Fake religion often boils down to this very simple point: People want to have what God offers without doing what God requires. We are not immune to this temptation - we want Him to be our Saviour, but we don't always want Him to be our Lord.

For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude1:4)