How bitumen shows that the Bible’s all useful

The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah, a painting by John Martin (painter), died 1854, thus 100 years. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Partly in response to this post I recently decided to knock my Bible reading plan on the head and just go ahead and read the thing from start to finish. (Or should that be ‘the Thing’?)

Anyway, I opened at page one and went to work, and it struck me pretty quickly that the book of Genesis moves through events way faster than I’m used to in a book. The author (Author?) decided that descriptions that would give you a sense of time or position are simply not as important as the things that needed recording, so a conversation is recorded over 500 words, immediately followed by hundreds of years of people having babies over 500 words, with seemingly random bits and bobs thrown in here and there.

I was thinking this when I was reading Genesis 14. Verse 10′s an odd one, which shows this off perfectly. Right in the middle of an account of a battle we’re told that ‘the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country.’ Why are we told that some fell into the bitumen pits? Who knows? Nothing else happens to them, and they’re never mentioned again in the entire Bible. Maybe they’re still there now!

But the reason it really stood out to me was that a couple of chapters earlier I’d just been introduced to bitumen.

…they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens…” (from Genesis 11)

That’s the start of the Tower of Babel, which led to the peoples of the earth being scattered and unable to communicate with one another. But again we have this question: why mention the bitumen so specifically?

2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is useful: why is this useful?

Well, I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that the material used to build a tower designed to escape from God is the same material that ends up as the downfall of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah! At this point none of the horrific scene involving Lot and the angels has happened yet, but it just goes to show that God is in complete control. Every little detail in the Bible is there for a reason.

But the reason for the bitumen is even more mind-boggling.

Bitumen is mentioned one other time in the whole of Scripture, in Exodus 2. It’s the material that’s used to keep the baby Moses’ basket waterproof. This is how God shows redemption in bitumen:

• Man used it to try to become like God.
• Man fell into it and suffered as a direct result.
• God took what we intended for evil, and used it for good.

God’s grace is phenomenal.

Aah! Legalism! Run!

Without money (Photo credit: Toban Black)

A bit of a thought for you this bright, joyous Wednesday morning.

Christians have a bit of a love-hate relationship with routine, because we love grace and dislike rules. We should read our Bible every day, but not become legalistic about it. We should keep Sunday meetings consistent yet free. We shouldn’t sin, but that’s because we’re free not to, not because God is some control freak who demands his own way.

And then, of course, there’s giving. Despite some having a different understanding of tithing, the concept of giving a minimum of 10% of our gross income is pretty common in Christian circles…but we shouldn’t get legalistic about it, that’s a rule!

Here’s my thought: some rituals aren’t just ok, they’re important, and can even be fun! I eat every day because it’s healthy for me to do so; that’s not legalistic. I spend date night with Anna because it improves our marriage and it’s actually fun to spend time with her!

I think giving (among other Christian disciplines) is like that – it’s important, vital, healthy, and can even be fun…doesn’t God love a cheerful giver? Is giving precisely 10% (or 18%, or 50%, or 85%) legalistic and therefore bad, or just a way to make sure we’re staying healthy?

A bit too much context

Bible (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

A while ago I posted about the importance of not quoting random verses out of context. When I was reading a book about evangelism earlier this week I was therefore pleased to note that an entire chapter had been included about the importance of context when understanding the Bible.

But I actually disagree with the extent to which the authors take their argument.

Here’s the problem: I think that, as Christians, we’re all tempted to take Bible reading to one extreme or the other. One is to randomly quote our favourite verses to justify whatever doctrine we choose to have that day, but the other is to do exactly the same through over-using the ‘context’ card.

Here’s what that looks like in practice. The book I was reading took Jesus’ observation of the widow who gave all she earned from Mark 12, and said that this isn’t talking about giving money at all! Instead, it’s telling the Pharisees not to judge widows.

Now, I don’t disagree that Jesus had an issue with the Pharisees’ judgmental attitude, but this short account is so clearly about the heart of giving that I think it’s intentionally missing the point to take away from that! The authors are over-using context for the sake of the doctrine they’re trying to promote (however good that may be). To prove it, here are Jesus’ words regarding the widow’s gift:

And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:43-44)

It would appear that the authors are disagreeing with Jesus’ own interpretation of the events, and that has a sort of alarm bell sound to it, doesn’t it?

I suppose I have to reach the same conclusion here as I did with my earlier post, so I’ll just quote myself:

How about we treat the Bible the way it should be treated? …how about we read it, study it, and apply its lessons.

Thinking like God thinks

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I think it’s fair to say that my thought patterns don’t follow God’s, but it would be nice to think that I’ve been heavily enough influenced by him that in most scenarios I’d be able to determine some broad principles that would fit in with his thoughts. Seem ok to say that?

Well, I was recently challenged about church sermons in terms of what tends to get preached about in comparison to what the Bible teaches. Not so much whether or not the church teaches what the Bible teaches (although of course that’s phenomenally important), but whether or not the church teaches things with the same consistency and regularity that the Bible does.

Perhaps an example will help. I reckon most churches (most, not all) teach well to some extent on money: we’re stewards, money can be good when given to God, money can be used for evil, etc etc.

But.

I certainly doubt that most churches talk as regularly on money as the Bible does. Churches tend to talk on money maybe once a year, but money apparently features in Jesus’ teaching 15% of the time. That’s a lot, like once every six or seven weeks. Certainly not as often as I’ve ever experienced it.

So I thought I’d do a quick sense check of this blog. And, surprise surprise, it turns out I don’t think like God thinks! I tend to talk about evolution, logic, abortion, the church, sex, worship, humour, the Bible, and influential leaders in the global church a lot, and significantly less (although not never, to be fair) about sin, hell, family, the poor, work, money, and so on.

What’s funny is that my immediate response to this was: ‘maybe I need to read the Bible more,’ or ‘maybe I need to listen to more sermons by influential leaders in the global church,’ both of which are in my ‘used most often’ list. Maybe I just need to be a bit more biblically balanced. Maybe I need to blog through the whole Bible.

Maybe I just need to admit I’m still under construction.

Any ideas?

Proverbs 2:9-15

Image by Oldmaison via Flickr

We’re in Proverbs 2, and in our third week of looking at an extended passage in which the character Wisdom, who represents God, is instructing us in how to become wise. Two weeks ago we looked at how our level of wisdom is essentially based on our attitude towards Scripture, and last week we looked at how our wisdom is only found in God, and our identity found in Him. This week we see the results.

‘Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.’ (Proverbs 2:9-15)

You will understand

It’s fair to say that some parts of the Bible are a little bit cryptic, but this passage is not. If God gives you wisdom, knowledge and understanding there is a simple promise: you will understand righteousness and justice and equity. To put this another way, our consciences become truly awakened when we become Christians. One of the defining factors of being a Christian should be that we understand righteousness, justice and equity. It should make us uncomfortable when we see injustice.

I’m sure we’re aware of the recent disaster in Japan; the company I work for had a week of fundraising to make a donation to one of the charities. We raised something like £15,000, which is good, but I know that some people in my company would personally earn thousands of pounds in a week, and this donation is meant for enormous populations on the other side of the world! Something within me screamed out ‘injustice!’ Of course this gives us an uncomfortable challenge. My non-Christian coworkers do not ‘understand righteousness and justice and equity’ so you could argue that they have an excuse; I do not. Are you aware of injustice and should be standing up for what’s right?

No mention of the mind

Something which stood out to me from this passage is the fact that intellectual understanding is not mentioned. Solomon mentions wisdom coming into your heart and knowledge being pleasant to your soul, but there’s no talk about our minds understanding anything! This seems odd; aren’t we talking about knowledge here? Surely that’s all about our minds? Someone once said that the longest distance was the distance from the head to the heart, and that rings true for us. As good Christians we love to engage in Bible studies where we talk about what the Bible says. We study, and talk, and learn, then go home feeling good about ourselves…but we’ve not changed a bit. The Christian walk is not one in which we can sit back and simply increase in knowledge, it’s one in which our lives must be changed! ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind‘ (Romans 12:2)! We must pray, seek God, and do everything in our power to pursue that difficult journey from ‘head knowledge’ to ‘heart knowledge’.

Protection

If we truly develop this heart knowledge of God, this passage suggests that we get an impenetrable armour against attack. We will be protected against ‘the way of evil’, and we’ll be protected against ‘men of perverted speech’. The description of these men is detailed but the underlying message is this: if we allow this knowledge from God to become written on our hearts, it doesn’t matter what temptation gets in our way, and it doesn’t matter what anyone says to us – we will not be moved from the centre of God’s will. That sounds like a good result to me.

By meditating on God’s Word, and by allowing Him to change us we will become shining lights for His Kingdom in our world. We will stand up for righteousness, justice and equity. We will not be led astray by false teaching or temptation. We will embrace purity and be so different from the world around us that unbelievers will be led to ask, ‘who is your God who gives you such strength and wisdom?’ Let’s allow ourselves to be inspired by the triune God to increase in wisdom and everything that brings with it.

Proverbs 1:24-33

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The biggest challenge of working systematically through a Bible book is that you can’t simply pick out the nice, easy passages. This is Wisdom speaking:

‘Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.’ Proverbs 1:24-33

Who’s this talking to?

It’s always important to look at these tough passages in context. Looking at the previous verses we’ve learnt that God defines foolishness as not having fear of the LORD, and it is these fools which Wisdom is addressing here. In other words, this passage is targeted at non-Christians.

Because, because, because, because, because…

There’s quite a significant introductory sentence to this passage which makes abundantly clear the reasons why Wisdom, who represents God, is saying what she is saying. Read it through and you’ll see that Wisdom initiated in a number of different ways, and the people just stiff-armed Him. Look at the things they’ve done: they refused to listen to her call, they did not heed her stretched-out hand, they ignored her counsel, they wouldn’t listen to her reproof, they hated her knowledge, and they didn’t choose the fear of the LORD. The blame for the consequences listed in this passage sits squarely with the people. They’ve been given plenty of opportunities to avoid the unpleasantness, but have not taken them.

The knee-jerk reaction for most people when reading a passage like this is ‘but that doesn’t seem very fair! How mean of Wisdom to mock when terror strikes!’ The simple truth is that non-Christians have been given innumerable opportunities to escape from this insane wrath, yet they have actively chosen not to take them. This punishment is deserved. God is fair, just, and kind when He sees distress and anguish coming upon those who have actively rejected His help and says ‘this is your fault’.

But God seems mean

He does, doesn’t He? This passage would suggest that it’s describing hell (the eternal consequences for unbelievers’ sin), and that the suffering souls call to God and He says ‘no, too late’. But I don’t think that’s the case. Have a look at the particular words used to describe God’s response: ‘they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices’ – again, the fact that God will not respond is their fault. This same idea is mirrored in the language of Romans 1, where Paul writes that God ‘gave them up’ to their sin. God pursues and pursues and pursues, but if someone is dead set against receiving His grace, He will hand them what they have been begging for, even though they will not like it.

John Piper explained this well in a blog post when he talked about the consequences of our actions. He said that a person who enjoys excessive amounts of food is effectively begging to become obese and unhealthy. Of course, no-one wants to get fat, but it’s the clear and well-understood consequence of a person’s actions. Similarly, no-one smokes in order to get breathing problems or lung cancer. If it happens, however, it’s an obvious result of that person’s actions. C. S. Lewis summed this entire idea up so well when he said, ‘There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’

Our response

Are you a Christian? If not, you should read this Bible passage again, very carefully. Clearly you don’t believe in hell and Jesus being alive and everything else, but if you’re going to say that you must also be comfortable saying that, if it is all real, you are happy with God’s just wrath being poured out on you. I’m sure that God does seem mean, but there is good news. The wrath that you have earned, that punishment that you deserve, has already been poured out on a substitute. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified as a criminal despite the fact he had done nothing wrong, and in that historical event he won eternal life and joy for all who will accept the saving hand of God. If you, by faith, will accept that your punishment has already been spent on him, you will be raised into new life as he was. The same promise given in this passage will be for you: ‘whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease’. If you do, please contact me.

If you already are a Christian, you should respond too. We must accept the truth of hell. Now, having accepted that, think for a moment about those you know who are not Christians. Family members, friends, colleagues, customers, the ice cream man…if they have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour, that eternal torment is also their destiny. The idea of hell must serve as a kick up our behinds to get into conversations with those around us who don’t know Jesus and to be God’s stretched-out hand in our communities.

Lots of Bible reading

If you’re a member of the Crown Church in Hillingdon you may remember that a bit ago I encouraged us to pick up Professor Grant Horner’s Bible Reading System. I’ve been doing this for a while now and am loving it – I just wondered how anyone else was finding it?

So, please comment here saying whether you’ve tried it and failed, or whether you’ve tried it and are finding it useful, or have developed your own way of doing it! I’d love to hear how it’s been going!

The law is our pedagogue

That’s the comment I read someone make on Galatians 3:24 recently:

The law is our pedagogue.

Great.

So I looked up pedagogue in the dictionary. I turns out that the commentator was correct, well done.

But why use that long word when you could have used ‘teacher’ just as well? Long words have a place, but not when you’re commenting on something in order to make it more straightforward for your readers!

If in doubt, KISS. Keep it simple, stupid.

LifeChange: Psalms by the Navigators

I had already worked through the Philippians LifeChange guide so was excited to see how the Navigators would deal with the Psalms. I was not disappointed.

The book works through each genre of prayer shown in the Psalms, providing in-depth study questions, practical applications, useful illustrations, and hands-on group guides for each. Each chapter gives a series of Psalms which could be studied, and works through a selection of verses in great detail to give a headstart.

The language is straightforward but not patronisingly simple. The concepts are complex but the application is easy to understand and thoroughly biblical. The historical context and word studies cast real light on this important Bible book.

In case you haven’t picked it up, I am a fan. If you’re looking for a personal or group study guide for prayer or the Psalms, look no further. There’s even an immensely useful list of resources at the end.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

500th post and preaching

Well, apparently this is the 500th post on this blog so I thought I’d revisit why I do it.

I think God gives people gifts but that it’s the responsibility of the individual to nurture and make best use of them. Apply when required.

For me, I think God’s called me to communicate his truth. I don’t get the chance to preach every week and currently don’t have a book contract (but I’d you want to offer me one get in touch) – as a result I thought I ought to keep up the practice here and with my Bible studies so that when I eventually step into that role more fully, I can do so more to the glory of God.

At the end of the day I’d rather make my mistakes and learn my lessons now rather than if I publish a book. Ironically, more people are likely to read this blog than I’d preach to if I were up there every Sunday

That all said, it’s my privilege to let you know that I’m preaching this Sunday morning at the Crown Church. It would be wonderful to see you there!