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Published on Leave a comment on Fight the good fight
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In the space of one verse Paul gives us two - if not three - phrases:

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7)

Both "fighting the good fight" and "keeping the faith" have become well-known.  If we added "staying the course" then we'd have a trifecta of famous phrases.  In a way, that's not surprising. Paul means to be memorable here.

This is the last chapter of the last letter he wrote.  Tradition has it Paul was beheaded in Rome in AD67 and here is the epitaph he chooses for himself.  He's a fighter, a runner, a perseverer.  And as he comes to the end of his life he inspires us all towards the same.

Paul is writing to his spiritual son Timothy, passing on the baton of gospel work.  Crucially, he was the last of a dying breed.  He had met with the risen Christ and been an eye-witness of His glory.  Soon there would be no-one left on earth who could say that.

So as the church's last foundational apostle, how does Paul encourage the next generation?  Chapter 2 gives a sense of his burden.

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.  (2 Timothy 2:1-7)

Paul knows that his eye-witness testimony will not die out with him.  In verse 2 he envisions four generations of gospel ministry.  From Paul to Timothy to Timothy's trainees to their trainees.  On and on it goes until it reaches you and me.

But, of course, it doesn't stop with us.  We too will commit this gospel message to others.  And they to others, and so on.  The saying is true: "God's grace always runs downhill."  It applies to proclamation too.  In fact grace and proclamation are almost synonyms.

From Christ's exaltation and the Pentecostal outpouring, there has been a gospel flow which has reached even us.  Now we are caught up in its movement.

As I say this, though, I might be conjuring up the wrong kind of imagery - fountains and babbling brooks and floating along.  Paul's imagery is much more robust.  How does it feel to be gripped by this gospel and pass it on?  Like a soldier, like an athlete, like a farmer.

Like a soldier - enduring, obedient, single-minded.

Like an athlete - compelled by a vision of the crown, striving to play things as they're meant to be played.

Like a farmer - patient, hard-working, but enjoying the fruits of his labour.

All of these callings involve unglamorous service, sacrifice, hard-work and perseverance.  But they also promise victory, crowns and harvests.  This is the long-termism Paul seeks to instil in Timothy.  After the exhaustion and self-sacrifice comes the prize.  And the prize is worth it.

Paul asks us to meditate on these portraits.  But only because he has been meditating on them so deeply.  As he writes his epitaph he returns to these same three visions: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

He goes on...

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.  (2 Timothy 4:8)

Here is the prize.  Just as Paul has participated in Christ's sufferings, so he will participate in His glory.  Christ's life had a shape - cross and resurrection.  The Christian life will have that same shape - suffering and glory.  And Paul is now retiring from his hard-working soldiering, running and farming.  Now he's entering into his victory, his crown, his harvest.  Truly he's being "promoted to glory!"

And perhaps we think to ourselves - that's wonderful for Paul, what about for us?

Well he says that all of us can likewise share in this glory.  And the way he phrases it is telling.  He does not say "This crown is for all who have soldiered as hard as I have."  He does not say "This victory is for all who have run as hard as I have."  He does not say "This crown is for all who have persevered as valiantly as I have."  No, the crown is for those who "love his appearing."

If we simply love Jesus.  If we simply want Him - then we will share in His glory.

It's just that those who share in His glory, will also share in His suffering.  That's not the price we pay - it's the privilege of living His life in this world.  Paul on his death bed wouldn't have it any other way.  And if we see things rightly, neither would we.

So then, as you long for Christ's appearing, as you pass on His gospel hope, meditate on your calling:

-- the soldier

-- the athlete

-- the farmer.

Anticipate the glory of Christ's return

-- the victory

-- the crown

-- the harvest.

And know that one day too, you will be able to say "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

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Published on 5 Comments on Itching ears
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2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

One of the most pervasive myths of the modern world is this: We think we know what we want.  We think we know what's best for us.  And we think we ourselves are the best judges of these matters.

The truth could not be further from this common misconception.

In the book of Proverbs, Wisdom spoke a frightening truth:

"All they that hate me love death."  (Proverbs 8:36)

The natural state of the human heart is to be estranged from Christ our Wisdom.  And in that perverse condition our desires are completely twisted.  We hate the Fountain of Living Waters and we love the pit of curses and death.

Therefore what do we look for in our moral and spiritual guides?  The truth?  Never.  Not naturally.  Instead we look for leaders who will tell us what we want to hear.

Notice how Jesus put it: "Because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." (John 8:45)

Jesus doesn't say 'In spite of my truth telling you don't believe.'  He says 'Because of my truth-telling you don't believe.'  We are not naturally oriented to truth.  We flee it when it's spoken.  Instead we 'turn to fables' as the Apostle Paul put it so memorably:

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.  (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

An "itching ear" is such an evocative phrase.  Itches aren't just satisfied by scratching - they demand to be scratched.  They only seem to increase if they go un-heeded.  Paul says our ears are like this.  We don't merely like to hear pleasant lies, we demand to hear them.  And Paul says there's always a ready supply of phoney prophets who will scratch us where we itch.  It's not just a problem for the last days.  The prophet Isaiah spoke of the same reality 8 centuries earlier:

This is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, "See not;" and to the prophets, "Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us."   (Isaiah 30:9-11)

I don't think Isaiah is imagining that the people are articulating these words.  I'm not sure any Israelite was literally saying "speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits."  It's just that they would not put up with God's word, they reacted angrily to the truth of the gospel but warmly to the "smooth things."  At an unspoken level they had struck a deal with the false prophets - "Tell us what we want to hear, and we'll give you an eager audience."  In every age people have found such a deal attractive.

Therefore we must question this myth of the modern world.  We do not know what is good for us.  As the Proverb says "Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out." (Proverbs 20:5).  We don't know ourselves very well.  We don't know what we need.  We need The Man of understanding to tell us the truth.  We need truth to come to us from the outside.  The kind of truth we would never conceive ourselves.

The truth that says we are utterly lost and damned in ourselves but completely loved and redeemed in Jesus.  The truth that leaves our own desires and schemes out of the equation but takes up our cause anyway.  The truth that puts us to death on the cross and raises us up in resurrection.

Don't trust your natural itches.  Don't pursue the lies that puff you up.  Listen to the truth from beyond.  It will burst your bubble but, then, it will give you a hope you could never have dreamt of.  The truth from which we flee is the most extreme but wonderful news in the world.  It's far worse than we'd ever feared - but far greater than we'd ever imagined.

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Published on 3 Comments on Money is the root of all evil

Here's a verse of the bible which everyone knows.  Except that they don't.

1 Timothy 6:10 does not say "Money is the root of all evil."  It says "the love of money is the root of all evil."  And if we really wanted to pick up on the nuances in the Greek, we would render it: "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

Not quite as snappy though is it?  Which is why the blunt version has survived.  It has the advantage of being comprehensive, memorable and sensational .  It gets dropped in conversations as an epitaph when the banker is busted for fraud.  "Ah, just goes to show, money is the root of all evil."

The (mis)quote was commonly placarded at the Occupy movements last year.  When I spoke to protestors at St Paul's I was surprised by how often the phrase was mentioned.  In fact I was surprised in general at how many spoke in biblical terms.  (And, by the way, their translation of choice seemed to be the good ol' King James!)

As a placard it's pleasingly reductionist.  If we're looking for radical solutions (remember "radical" means going to the "root") then money is an obvious target.  It's simple then to focus on the financial system as the source of our woes - and, hey, biblical support just adds weight.  For some anyway.

But it was interesting when I spoke to one protestor about the verse.  I said to him, "Do you know that the verse doesn't say "money is the root of all evil"?"  "No?" he asked.  "No, it says "the love of money is the root of all evil.  And you can love money whether you're rich or poor can't you?"

This hit home with him.  We'd just been chatting about the "fat cat bankers" who walked past St Paul's every day.  He'd been wistfully spinning a tale of these bankers' imagined lifestyles.  The protestor was unemployed, living in a tent, but he realised he was just as capable of a love of money as any pin-striped City worker.

He'd been plotting the demise of the global financial system.  He'd been speaking of "expropriating" the wealth of the 1% to build a better world.  But what if "money" wasn't exactly the problem?  What if the "love" of money was the radical evil at the heart of us all?

There's no 'new world order' that can get to the heart.  No fat cat tax can fix the affections.  If we're looking for "roots" we need to go deeper than money.  We must get to the heart.

Don't get me wrong, money can be a deadly trap.  As Paul has just said:

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."  (1 Timothy 6:9)

Such strong language.  And just after our phrase, Paul says:

Some coveted after [money, and]... have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Money is incredibly dangerous.  Just consider some of the phrases Jesus Himself gave us:

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also

Ye cannot serve God and Mammon

A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions

Camel through the eye of a needle

Money has every chance of becoming a competing god in our lives.  In Paul's language, it's something that can "tempt", "ensnare", enflame "lust" and make us "covet".  But money itself is not the problem.  It's the love of money that is so dangerous.

Which is why Paul's revolutionary teaching on riches does not focus on redistribution. Instead he rounds off the chapter  like this:

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.  (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

Sharing the wealth is part of what Paul charges.  But that's only part.  Notice the true riches Paul directs us to?  The living God gives us richly all things to enjoy.  Money promises to give us... freedom, comfort, protection, provision.  But money can't really deliver on those things.  And if we trust in "uncertain riches" they will prove a snare.

Instead, look to the unsearchable riches of Christ, who is given to us so freely and so fully.  He is Heir of the cosmos and shares all things generously with us.  One day - in "the time to come" - He will show us our inheritance here on the renewed earth and it will take our breath away.  In the words of Isaiah we will see the King in His beauty and a land that stretches afar (Isaiah 33:17).

How can money hold a candle to Christ?

 

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Published on 3 Comments on Passeth all understanding

Over the next few days I'll be filling in some blanks in the King's English back-catalogue...

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:6-7)

We can often feel besieged by worries.  Demands seem to threaten us from every side.  We dare not step out into our calling lest we be crushed by pressures too great for us.

Some of us respond by shutting down.  “There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets” we cry, bolting the door against such dangers (Proverbs 22:13).  Others of us raise a war cry and run into battle, confident of our own powers.  Paul has a different approach.

He says “Be careful for nothing.”

In the Greek, it’s the exact same phrase as Jesus’ repeated command of Matthew 6: “Take no thought”.  It means “Don’t have many and divided thoughts.”  Easier said than done.  When we’re besieged by worries our minds run in a thousand directions at once.  But Paul (and Jesus) counsel us to stop: “Be careful for nothing.”  It’s an all-embracing negative.  And it’s followed by an all-inclusive positive: “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Paul doesn't tell us to squash our many fears.  Instead he invites us to view them as “requests”.  Did you realise that all of your worries are actually requests?  Requests which so often go unexpressed.  Requests which God Himself is eager to hear.

What does this assume about ourselves and about God?

First, it assumes that we’re not very good at discerning our many desires... let alone expressing them... let alone addressing them to God.  But, second, it assumes that we have a God who is intimately concerned for our many troubles.  As the Lord’s Prayer teaches us, we have a Father who is not only interested in His kingdom coming but also in our daily bread.

Therefore, of course we pray "with thanksgiving."  We are grateful for a Father so kind and so powerful that He attends to our every supplication.

The little phrase "with thanksgiving" is so easily forgotten.  But there can be no peace if we simply bring our shopping lists to God.  Without an awareness of the grace of our Father and an attendant gratitude, all our petitioning is liable to heighten our fears, not allay them.  But with faith in a generous Father, Paul attaches this promise to our prayers...

"the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Here is something unknown to the world.  Not just stress management but a peace that "passeth all understanding."  No mere trick of the mind can deliver what Paul offers here.  There can be no earthly explanation of this peace.  It's beyond our wit and wisdom.  Because this is a peace that wages war on our fears.

What do I mean?  Well the word for "keep" is very strong.  Paul uses it in two other places.  In 2 Corinthians he uses it to describe a garrison of soldiers guarding a city (2 Corinthians 11:32).  In Galatians 3, he speaks of the saints of old "shut up" under the Mosaic law (Galatians 3:23).  It's a word that means "hold prisoner" or "besiege."

So this is the reversal of our fears.  Right now you may feel besieged by worries. But there is a cavalry.  There is a greater force to call on.  "Through Christ Jesus" you have perfect access to a generous Father.  So then, turn your problems to prayers and know: it's His peace that besieges you.

Published on Leave a comment on The King’s English: April – June – Now Available on Lulu and for Kindle

The King's English continues its journey through the Bible.

In this quarter we travel from 1 Samuel right up to the opening of the Gospels.

Purchase the book from Lulu or download the Kindle for a daily dose of the glory of Christ.

Support independent publishing: Buy this book on Lulu.

Kindle from Amazon.com ($2.99)

Kindle from Amazon.co.uk (£1.95)

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Thanks very much to James Watts for another great cover!

Published on Leave a comment on “God is love” — from The King’s English
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It's universally popular.  You can find it cross-stitched on Granny's mantle-piece and emblazoned on a rock star's T-shirt. It tumbles from the lips of bible-thumping fundamentalists and soft-spoken gurus. But what does it mean?

Let's consider four points...

Because God is love, there is relationship, radiance, room and response.

Relationship

1 John 4:8 says “God is love.”  It doesn’t say ‘God is loving’, which would be true.  But God is love.

This could not be true of a single-personed God.  Just imagine an eternity past of utter solitude.  If God was an individual, He'd never know anything of love, of sharing, of give and take, back and forth.  He is defined by being alone.  He is defined by being supreme.

If such a god brings creation into existence it will be the first time he has had to relate to anything.  And such a god is definitionally supreme.  So how is this god going to relate to its creatures?

This god can only dominate you.  This god can only lord it over you.  The very being of this god is power and supremacy.  And you must be its slave.

But what about our God?

Our God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit (as 1 John 4:9-14 unpacks).  Therefore, for everlasting ages past there has been giving, sharing, back and forth, give and take, exalting the other, blessing the other.  The early church used to refer to it as a dance (perichoresis).  And it’s a dance like all the best dances when the partners bow to each other and defer to each other.

That has been the Trinity's existence from all eternity.  Our God enjoys having others alongside.  Our God lives to bless the other.  Our God is love.

Radiance

When you read “God is love” in context you realise that "God" refers particularly to the Father.  In the next verse we read how “God” sent His Son.  So “God is love” tells us particularly of the Father’s being.  Eternally He has been defined by love because that is who He is – He is Father.  And fathers beget.  Fathers give life.  That is the definition of a father.  You are not a father unless you have given life.  But the Father has been eternally life-giving.

Wind back the clock into the depths of eternity and you will always find the Father begetting His Son.  (This is what the Nicene Creed means when it says that Jesus is "eternally begotten of the Father."   The Father has always been giving life to His Son).  There has never been a time when God was not Father - when He was not Life-giver, Lover.

There was a whole eternity when God was not Creator.  There was a whole eternity when God was not Lawgiver.  Creator and Lawgiver are not fundamental to who God is.  Of course we readily imagine that God's prime job description is Maker, Ruler or Judge.  But it’s not. And Trinity means it can’t be.  Far more fundamentally God is Love.  And He was love long before He was Creator, long before He was Law-giver.  Long before He was Judge.  His Fatherliness is the most basic thing to say about Him.

Which means that God has always had a radiating quality.  The Father has always been giving life (begetting), always shining His Light (Hebrews 1:3), always speaking His Word (John 1:1), always loving His Son - and this in the power of the Holy Spirit.  God's very nature is an outgoing, radiating nature.  He is a Fountain of life and blessing, because "God is love."

Room

All of this means that there is room in God.  Perhaps that sounds like an odd phrase, but just listen to how John speaks in verse 16:

God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)

What an astonishing thought! "Dwelleth in God."

Think of the lonely god for a second.  With such a god you might make your way towards him if you slave really hard.  But you would always be outside Him.  Now think of the Trinity.  By the Spirit we are grafted into the Son and brought to the Father.  In other words, by trusting the Son we are brought in on the love that God is.  We dwelleth in God!

All the other gods keep you at arm’s length.  In Islam only a few of the righteous will even get to see Allah, on one day and from a great distance.  But because the Living God is Trinity we are wrapped up in God.  Filled with the Spirit, clothed in the Son, doted on by the Father.  2 Peter 1:4: “We participate in the divine nature.”

Response

Finally, there is response in God. Think of the dearly beloved Son of God.  For all eternity He has responded to His Father - receiving His love, trusting His care, obeying His words, offering His praise - and all by the power of the Holy Spirit.  But at Christmas time, this perfect response to the love of God was earthed into our humanity.  Here's what John says:

God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  (1 John 4:8-9)

The Beloved Son takes flesh and lives a fully human life of response to God.  He receives, trusts, obeys and praises the Father in our name and on our behalf.  And now, says John, we live through Him.  In other words, we come in on the perfect response of the Son.  We live in perfect correspondence to the Father through Jesus.

Just as Christ lived our life in our name, now we live His life in His name.  We not only pray "in Jesus' name" but do all things, whether "in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him." (Colossians 3:17).

The wonder of "God is love" is immense.  But without the truth of Christ's response, "God is love" could only condemn me.  "God is love" but I'm full of hate and indifference.  "God is love" but my heart is sluggish and cold.  Yet God sent the True Responder to His love into the world.  And now we live through Him.  Hard-hearted, hate-filled sinner though I am, Jesus has saved me.  He has propitiated the Father's wrath (v10) and offers the perfect response of gratitude and worship on my behalf.

God is love and now, through Jesus, I dwell in love.  Hallelujah!

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Published on 3 Comments on Christmas at the King’s English

Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins

Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women

My soul doth magnify the Lord

She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Mine eyes have seen thy salvation

Behold, there came wise men from the east

Gold and frankincense and myrrh

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Published on 3 Comments on What’s the point of a devotional?

This is part of the Preface to The King's English.  Here I explain the point of daily 'Bible time.'

To live by faith means looking to Jesus for all our hope, joy and peace. In doing so we recognise that we have no spiritual resources within ourselves.  Instead we must constantly seek the gracious gift of Christ, given to us by the Spirit. The Christian life is a constant dependence on the Word from beyond. Every day I must hear of His grace and trust Him afresh. Why? Because every day I forget His good news and live in the flesh.

The Scriptures are where we meet the risen Christ.  We read the Bible, not as a spiritual offering but as a desperate receiving.  We open the Bible not to impress God, but that He might impress us again with His gospel.  We approach our daily devotions as beggars asking our gracious Father to please feed us again with the Bread of life.

In the history of the church there has been no better description of the Bible than: ‘The Spirit’s testimony to the Son.’  It is not a road map or an instruction manual for life.  It is a biography of Jesus: commissioned by the Father, authored by the Spirit and addressed to the church.

With this in mind, I’ve not written a daily pep-talk to inspire you to greater deeds. I have no idea what you face day to day. Most of the time, neither do you.  What I do know is this, whatever you face, you need Jesus. My prayer is that you will meet Him as you read the Scriptures.

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Published on 1 Comment on “The King’s English” Daily Devotional – Out Now!

Travel through the Bible, phrase by phrase, with this daily devotional from the King's English.

The first quarter takes in Genesis to Ruth - "In the beginning" to "Shelter under his wings."  Each day there is a suggested reading and then thoughts from Glen Scrivener.

Day by day you'll be drawn to the centre of the Scriptures - the Lord Jesus.  These are not daily pep-talks aimed at the will.  They are daily doses of the grace of Christ to warm your heart and establish you in the truths of the gospel.

Order now to be ready for January 1st!

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