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Episodes
Thursday Jan 18, 2024
Thursday Jan 18, 2024
Study 1 : Job 1 - 2
Terrible disasters hit Job. The book of Job is totally fascinating – but difficult. It is deeply concerned with the question of wisdom – how does one live well – but we will leave consideration of that to later in our studies when the question rises to the surface.
In particular the book deals with the questions that arise when disaster strikes. There are no clear answers to the questions it poses. Instead there are lengthy dialogues between Job and his three friends, then between him and a rather brash young fellow and only finally with God. We are left to think and puzzle over what is said and draw our own conclusions rather than treating it as an authoritative text that tells us things we should believe or do. One commentator says “we need to be transparent about the hazards of being human and teach the full witness of Scripture, which is messy, complex and, ultimately, wonderfully true.” That is nowhere more the case than in the book of Job. This is an attempt to teach that full witness as we are given it in this book.
Job Chapter 1
What a situation! Before looking at it in any detail here is an overview of what is to come.
The book tackles two major questions in particular:
Question 1: why is it not true that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. A Psalmist realised that when he said “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. This is what the wicked are like – always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence”
Then the major question 2) is: how can it be that our world, and our life in it, is subject to so much chaos.
It also raises two other questions that follow from those two: 3) how can we live wisely in this difficult environment and 4) how can we trust in the reliability of God if he presides over such an erratic world.
We will not get complete and totally satisfactory answers to those questions but we will be forced to think through our attitudes towards them and come to a deeper appreciation of this world we live in and the God who created and now controls it.
Question 1 revolves round one false idea that was common in those days and is still very common today. That is that everything that happens to us has a moral cause behind it leading to the effect we see. We will call this a CEP – cause/effect principle. It suggests that if I am good only good things will happen to me; if I am bad then bad things will happen to me. That leads to commonly heard statements like “he didn’t deserve that”, implying that something terrible has happened to an essentially good person and that it shouldn’t have done. The CEP does, of course, operate in the physical world: if you put salt in water you get salt water; if you kick the table leg you will get a bruised toe. The book of Job teaches us that a principle like that does not operate in the moral and ethical world.
Question 2 revolves around what we will call the NCL – normal chaos of life. Many Christians would query use of the word chaos in relation to the way the world works but it does seem to be the right word to use in this book. We will question the use of it more closely in study 9. As we shall see the book of Job teaches us that life is not well ordered. It hasn’t been since the Creation. However difficult it may be to accept that God did not create a neat and well ordered world but one that appears to us to be a thoroughly erratic one that is what he did and we have to live in it.
To move on to the detail of chapter 1, here it is.
Job was probably a real person who gave rise to many stories. He lived in the Middle East, but not in Israel, sometime about the same time as Abraham. The book was written by an Israelite much later, probably about 700 BC possibly using an old beginning and the end as a frame into which he put the lengthy poetical dialogue which is the main part of the book. The obvious intention was to do something to answer some of the questions raised by the old tale. We will look at selected sections of the book, not all of it, which can be thought a bit repetitive.
The Satan of this chapter is not the devil of later books of the Bible. He is a member of the Angelic Council (1: 6). He is the Accuser, the prosecuting counsel before the Lord, a sort of Attorney-General so we are straight into a courtroom type of thinking. We shall soon find that much of the book is concerned with Job wanting a judicial review of his case. He wants to be able to argue his case before the Lord.
Chapter 2
The challenge and counter-challenge between the Lord and the Satan in these first 2 chapters are curious to our eyes. The point in that culture is that if Job does not love God for his own sake, but for what he can get out of it, the honour of God is severely damaged. He would be shamed. To explain that: if a woman loves a man, not for his own sake but because he is rich we – in the Western world anyway – would not think well of the woman. But in this ancient culture it would bring more shame on the man. Similarly if Job does not love God for his, God’s sake, that brings shame on God rather more than on Job.
I’m going to ask some questions, pause briefly to let you think about them – and possibly use the pause button to do so – then pass comments on them.
Question: Some people’s first reaction to extreme trauma would be like Job’s; tearing his robe’s and shaving his head (but perhaps not worshipping as Job did). Stop and think for a moment: how would you react to extreme trauma? Would you let everyone know about your grief or would you bottle it all up inside? How long for? Would this be a healthy thing to do?
Answer: Of course I don’t know what your reaction would be. Possibly you don’t either as we often don’t know ourselves very well in situations like this until we actually experience them. The way we react to such things is very dependent on the culture of our society. Westerners tend to bottle things up. Other cultures are often more open about grief and better at sharing it.
Question: Which of the 3 friends actions here would you think most helpful to Job? How would you act in such a situation? How should you act?
Answer: Their silent sharing of his grief would most helpful to him. There would be a great temptation to say all the culturally approved things, many of which are not very helpful. It is a great gift to be able to say truly helpful things in a situation like this.
The Lord said to the Accuser “you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
Question: What are the implications of that statement? What does it tell us?
Answer: all things are in the hands of the Lord, both good and bad. The Bible never teaches the existence of a good God and a bad Satan, or nature, or anything with a power that God does not control. Even when Paul talks about “the devil’s schemes. … the powers of this dark world … the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. … and the evil one” he is talking about powers that are acting only with the express permission of the Lord God. That is hard to understand, but it is the way the Bible speaks of such things throughout.
The most stunning statement in these chapters is Job’s reaction to what has happened: the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
Question: What does this tell us about Job’s view of God and his relationship to him – and therefore of what ours should be?
Answer: Job had a deep sense of relationship with God that had not been shaken by the appalling external events. For those of us (Westerners in particular) who are encouraged to seek our own good before anything and everything else, thus doing things like divorcing a spouse who no longer seems best for us, this approach to our own gratification is a fundamentally important lesson.
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Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Psalm 133
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 How good and pleasant it is
when God's people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron's beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,even life forevermore.
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Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
Psalm 134
A Pilgrim Song
Come, bless God,
all you servants of God!
You priests of God,
posted to the night watch
in God's shrine,
Lift your praising hands to the Holy Place,
and bless God.
In turn, may God of Zion bless you-
the God who made heaven and earth!
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Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
Spiritual Armour (Armor)
- Truth - know, understand and live truth. Your life is to be controlled by truth as revealed in the Bible. When you know truth, you will be able to recognize the lies of the enemy! Righteousness - live a righteous life. As a Christian Disciple, you have been granted the righteousness of Jesus Christ! But that righteousness needs to be lived out in every aspect of your life!
- Gospel - be ready to share it and rely upon it. You have peace with God if you are a Christian, but you are to exhibit peace with others. Where peace is, the discord of our enemy cannot prevail!
- Faith - show total trust in God for your life. The faith you have is a defensive weapon against the mistruths that come into our head: lies, blasphemy, lust, greed, selfishness are all little darts thrown at us by satan. By maintaining our trust in God's promises and God's power, these little darts are extinguished.
- Salvation - assurance of salvation. Be assured! Let your mind be controlled by the Holy Spirit, so that you will not be led astray. Your salvation rests in nothing apart from God's promises and Jesus' righteousness!
- Bible - read and study God's Word. The Word of God, the Bible, is your attack weapon! Allow the precious Holy Spirit to lead and reveal it to you as you read it! Read it and grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus!
- Prayer - talk to God. This is how we are energized! When we talk to God, we strengthen our relationship with Him! Prayer is a sign of intimacy between God and yourself! It develops your relationship with Him! When we ask other Christian Disciples to pray for us, Church unity is strengthened!
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Monday Jan 15, 2024
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Psalm 55
For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David.
55:1 Listen to my prayer, God.
Don’t hide yourself from my supplication.
55:2 Attend to me, and answer me.
I am restless in my complaint, and moan,
55:3 Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they bring suffering on me.
In anger they hold a grudge against me.
55:4 My heart is severely pained within me.
The terrors of death have fallen on me.
55:5 Fearfulness and trembling have come on me.
Horror has overwhelmed me.
55:6 I said, “Oh that I had wings like a dove!
Then I would fly away, and be at rest.
55:7 Behold, then I would wander far off.
I would lodge in the wilderness.”
Selah.
55:8 “I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm.”
55:9 Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language,
for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
55:10 Day and night they prowl around on its walls.
Malice and abuse are also within her.
55:11 Destructive forces are within her.
Threats and lies don’t depart from her streets.
55:12 For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it.
Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me,
then I would have hidden myself from him.
55:13 But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend.
55:14 We took sweet fellowship together.
We walked in God’s house with company.
55:15 Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into Sheol.
For wickedness is in their dwelling, in their midst.
55:16 As for me, I will call on God. Yahweh will save me.
55:17 Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress.
He will hear my voice.
55:18 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,
although there are many who oppose me.
55:19 God, who is enthroned forever, will hear, and answer them.
Selah.
They never change, who don’t fear God.
55:20 He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant.
55:21 His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war.
His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
55:22 Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you.
He will never allow the righteous to be moved.
55:23 But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction.
Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.
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Monday Jan 15, 2024
Monday Jan 15, 2024
God Gets His Hands Dirty
14. Why is He called Jesus?
With all that has been said in this series so far, ask yourself this question in relation to Jesus: “What’s in a name?” I wonder what your name means. Parents usually name their children after the hopes and aspirations they have for that child. For example, the name John means “the gift of God”. I know somebody called Grace, and her nature is that of somebody full of grace. My name of David means “beloved” and when my parents named me, it was meant to symbolize the love they had for me.
But what does the name Jesus mean? When Jesus was born, his very name imbued the reason he was born. The name Jesus as we discovered in an earlier message means “Saviour” or “One who saves or rescues.” The entirety of His birth, life and death was centred on this very role - saving and rescuing all those who would believe, receive and follow Him. We have seen in the testimony of the Apostles John, Peter and Paul how Jesus came to save sinners, to call people to follow, believe and receive Himself! This Jesus who proclaimed He was the only way to God!
Jesus’ conception and birth were extraordinary at every level. So important is our understanding of his birth that, according to the Gospel accounts, no fewer than 4 angels came to give a full picture of the event. Do you think that his parents, Joseph & Mary, ever gazed upon him, and thought “How misnamed He is”! They did not, because they knew the very purpose for which He was born. This Jesus, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is the most talked about person in history. Almost everyone has an opinion about Him. Jesus was born to confirm God's promises, to reveal God as a Father, and to be our representative before Him. Jesus gave us an example of how to live a holy life to the full. Jesus was not merely a man who received some special power. Jesus was not some strange creation that was half man and half God, with his human nature somehow absorbed into the divine. He was, as we shall see in the coming studies, much more than those ideas – Jesus was fully God and fully human!
Jesus came to serve all others and not to be served! Jesus came in order to call others to a life of following, receiving and believing in Him! Jesus came to reconcile people back into a peaceful and dynamic relationship with God by means of shedding his blood on the cross! Jesus trusted God to raise Him from the dead – and he did! Jesus – resurrected, ascended, glorified and exalted! Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world. Jesus Christ, who proclaimed “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
Jesus is a name, which is especially sweet and precious to believers. It has often done them good. It has given them what money cannot buy - that is, inward peace. It has eased their wearied consciences and given rest to their heavy hearts. The Song of Solomon describes the experience of many, when it says, "Your name is oil poured forth" (Song of Solomon 1:3). Happy is the person who trusts not merely in vague notions of God's mercy and goodness, but in "Jesus." Jesus proclaimed by the Apostle John, Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul as the saviour and rescuer of the world – just as his name Jesus means! I am bound to ask is Jesus your saviour and rescuer? Are you following, believing and receiving Him?
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Sunday Jan 14, 2024
Sunday Jan 14, 2024
Psalm 32
32:1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
32:2 Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn't impute iniquity,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.
32:3 When I kept silence,
my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me.
My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.
Selah.
32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you.
I didn't hide my iniquity.
I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Selah.
32:6 For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.
Surely when the great waters overflow,
they shall not reach to him.
32:7 You are my hiding place.
You will preserve me from trouble.
You will surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah.
32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.
I will counsel you with my eye on you.
32:9 Don't be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,
who are controlled by bit and bridle,
or else they will not come near to you.
32:10 Many sorrows come to the wicked,
but loving kindness shall surround the one who trusts in him.
32:11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
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Sunday Jan 14, 2024
Sunday Jan 14, 2024
God Gets His Hands Dirty
13. Jesus’ Kingdom
1 A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.
2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. (Zechariah 14:1-5)
As we saw in Isaiah 61 to 63, God has commenced doing a good thing through the Servant Messiah. At His first coming as a baby, this Servant Messiah ushered in the Year of the Lord’s favour. We live in that period of time now, and it will continue until the Servant Messiah, Jesus Christ, comes again in glory and majesty. He will take those obedient followers to the City of God. For those who reject Him and the free offer of God’s grace, there is the Day of Vengeance. Now in Zechariah 14, we get a different perspective. We get a vision of the Kingdom of God at that tie in the future. So let us take a flight with Zechariah, into the future to see what this Messiah’s Kingdom is like. Where Jerusalem is mentioned, is in fact talking about the New Jerusalem, the City of God!
To discover more, please do listen and/or download the mp3 using the links below.
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Saturday Jan 13, 2024
Saturday Jan 13, 2024
God Gets His Hands Dirty
12. Jesus’ Proclaimations
1 Who is this coming from Edom,
from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?Edom,
Who is this, robed in splendour,Edom,
striding forward in the greatness of his strength?Edom,
‘It is I, proclaiming victory,Edom, mighty to save.’Edom,
2 Why are your garments red,Edom,
like those of one treading the winepress?Edom,
3 ‘I have trodden the winepress alone;Edom,
from the nations no one was with me.Edom,
I trampled them in my angerEdom,
and trod them down in my wrath;Edom,
their blood spattered my garments,Edom,
and I stained all my clothing.Edom,
4 It was for me the day of vengeance;Edom,
the year for me to redeem had come.Edom,
5 I looked, but there was no one to help,Edom,
I was appalled that no one gave support;Edom,
so my own arm achieved salvation for me,Edom,
and my own wrath sustained me.Edom,
6 I trampled the nations in my anger;Edom,
in my wrath I made them drunkEdom,
and poured their blood on the ground.’Edom,
Isaiah 63:1-6
Here the prophet Isaiah gives two contrasting certainties. They can be found in Isaiah 61:2. The two certainties are “the year of Yahweh’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God”. There will be the year of favour and the day of vengeance. The year of honour, as we shall see has already started. We don’t know when it will end, but we know that it will. The day of vengeance will be in the future sometime. Again we don’t know when that will be either. But we know it will all happen quickly, suddenly and without warning (Isaiah 60:22). Therefore people need to be ready and alert! The time of when it will occur is not known, but it is known who will end it – Almighty God.
To learn more about this mose amazing passage to do with Jesus Christ, use the links below to download and/or listen to the mp3 file. Thanks
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Friday Jan 12, 2024
Friday Jan 12, 2024
Psalm 20
20:1 May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble.
May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high,
20:2 send you help from the sanctuary,
grant you support from Zion,
20:3 remember all your offerings,
and accept your burnt sacrifice.
Selah.
20:4 May He grant you your heart's desire,
and fulfill all your counsel.
20:5 We will triumph in your salvation.
In the name of our God, we will set up our banners.
May Yahweh grant all your requests.
20:6 Now I know that Yahweh saves his anointed.
He will answer him from his holy heaven,
with the saving strength of his right hand.
20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,
but we trust the name of Yahweh our God.
20:8 They are bowed down and fallen,
but we rise up, and stand upright.
20:9 Save, Yahweh!
Let the King answer us when we call!