Forget Harold...and get busy!

The BBC have reported again on Harold Camping and his failed rapture prediction.

It's a real joke! He now says that there WAS a judgement on 21st May, and that it was actually a SPIRITUAL judgment, which is rather convenient. Furthermore, the 21 October date is related to an earlier prediction about the end of the world. It's actually quite annoying that a) the media give this charlatan such air time, but b) they can't even report it properly! They are giving the impression that he is issuing a new date.

What's galling is that his revision to the nature of the judgment does not deal with the rather embarassing question: why are the Christians still around if God has judged the world, albeit spiritually? The fact Christians still walk the planet totally discredits the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture if he now says we're all under judgment??

I know countless theologians and journalists have made the point, but it is worth restating, "no-one knows about that day [the second coming] or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36). Jesus' words are unequivocal and any attempt to colour, manipulate, revise, or change these represents gross heresy. Furthermore, the idea that someone might receive a special revelation from the Father is also offensive, for it implies (as the ancient gnostics did) that faith and knowledge of God is about 'secret' knowledge.

But I suppose I should ask myself: what is my personal response to the predictions?

Jesus speaks about His return and the signs that will preceed this in Mark 13, which is largely repeated in Matthew 24. As I read Mark 13 I am struck by the following phrases: "Watch out that noone deceives you" (v.5), "Do not be alarmed" (v.7), "Be on your guard" (v.9, 23, 33), "Do not worry" (v.11 about witnessing), "Be alert!" (v.33), and "Keep watch" (v.35, 37).

Perhaps the key verse is 13: "he who stands firm to the end will be saved"

So what is my personal response?

Firstly, we are to cling to the truth of scripture. We will not be deceived by Satan or fellow man, or by circumstance if we cling to the truth of His word. It is also important that we allow others to correct our understanding, for we can all very easily be drawn to adapt our theology to fit our life. Am I regularly plugging into the Bible to shape my perspective on life. The Bible counsels us to not worry about our future, either from a personal point of view (Matt 6:25,34) or from an apocalyptic point of view. We're to trust Him and cast all our anxiety onto God (1 Peter 5:7). It is the panicked response seen in so many of Camping's followers that upsets me - why are they not dismissing him as contrary to the teaching of the Bible? We are required to expose lies (Ephesians 5:11) so we should, by the same token, be alert and on guard from deceitful ministers (2 John 10; 2 Peter 2:1).

Secondly, we're to take Jesus' return seriously. Accepting that Jesus does give us some indicators of the beginning of the end, which admitedly cannot be scheduled, there are three things I'm to do in connection with His return:

1. Preach the gospel (v.10)
Some believe that until the entire world has heard the gospel in their own language Jesus cannot return. Again, it's important not to put arbitrary conditions on Jesus return, but how am I helping this aim. Do I actively engage in the preaching of the gospel? Does my life speak of the good news? Do I share the good news? Camping does not appear to be using his confidence in a fixed point of judgment to urge greater works of evangelism - or so it seems. I wonder whether this is what Jesus is aiming at when he asks the disciples to not be caught sleeping (Mark 13:36). There is no excuse for inactivity, especially about shining as lights in the world. Indeed, one sign of Jesus return is the increased demand on Christians to witness in front of mankind, which we're not to fear - for the Spirit will lead our words (v.11)

2. Prepare for suffering (v.19)
I think the idea of the rapture is distorted (especially by pre-tribulational dispensationalists) to imply that God doesn't want Christians to suffer. Whether or not we are not to be removed from the world, God has sanctioned that our lives are not free from pain, sadness and suffering. In fact, the Bible counsels that we will suffer for being Christians (see v. 13; 1 Peter 1:6; 2 Timothy 3:12). In my day to day life, do I allow God to use the tough times to teach me, am I able to learn how to trust Him, to pattern my life on Jesus' (1 Peter 2:21)

3. Practice purity (v.34)
We are to continue to live our lives patterned on Jesus and his teaching. I was particularly helped last summer by a talk at the Keswick Convention. Our life of holiness is a response to Jesus first coming and his work on the cross, and the hope Jesus' second coming. 1 John says "everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself" (1 John 3:3). We are called to live in God's will, which also means living free from sin. So perhaps Jesus is saying to his disciples, "Be alert! Be on guard!", not to be only concerned with those around us, the rumours and lies, but we are to look to our own lives - be aware of the deceitfulness of sin. Jesus' reference to sleeping could be a reference to inactivity, but also that state of unrighteousness, a state of spiritual death (Ephesians 5:14).

I can dismiss Harold Camping as a nutter, or a fraud, but I cannot dismiss that to which he refers.

Is my life patterned on the truth of Jesus' return:
- Do I regularly read my Bible to ensure I know truth?
- Am I casting my future worries on God?
- Do I expose and explain the lies in the world to those around me?
- Am I actively sharing the good news of the gospel?
- Do I accept suffering or seek to avoid it?
- Is my life patterned on holiness and a desire to root out sin?

...phew...you know what, I should stop stressing about Harold, and look to my own walk!

Your body needs rebuilding

I failed to get to church yesterday, which has left me feeling decidedly ill at ease. I miss the shared fellowship that comes from being stood with other Christians singing, praying and being challenged by God's word.

As a result, I committed to reading the evening service passages last night and briefly meditating on them, particularly as my close friend had preached at the evening service, so I was curious. I was quite struck how much jumped at me from Haggai 1:13-2:9, John 2:13-22, and 1 Corinthians 3:10-17.

Jesus is our temple (Jn 2:21). We do not, like the Jews, go to a physical temple made by hands. We worship Jesus, our holy place.

Yet, we believe that Jesus is in us (Col. 1:27) and we are in Jesus (Col. 3:3; Eph. 1:7).

Following the logic on, it then stands to reason that we are temples, if Jesus (our temple) is in us.

Now let's pause for a moment. I've heard this dozens of times...we are God's temple...blah blah blah...but what real significance does/should this make?

Firstly, we are made for the worship of God (Eph. 1:12). I consider this to be quite a profound thought, which does stand at odds with the randomness of evolution. I do not believe we are accidentally residents on earth, but made by God, for a reason - worship.

Secondly, in order to worship we are designed, if you will, to act as temples regardless of what we specifically worship. We're made to seek out things to worship, which is why the ten commandments injunctions are relevant for all mankind, we all seek to worship - but do we worship God? Sadly, the Israellite's own history tells us what is to happen when a temple is given over to false worship (1 Cor. 10:7-8). Paul states that idols have no place in our temples (2 Cor. 2:16) but we allow idols to reign - whether money, power, emotions, clothes, our family, our ambitions... Secondly, our temple is made unclean through sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:19).

And here comes the clever theology...

We are temples, but like the temple in the Old Testament, we are given over to idolatry and all manner of sinful behaviours which make the temple both invalid (as a place of worship to God) and unclean (they could not be used for real worship even if purposed to be such). As a result, the only just thing to do with the temple - destroy it. The Babylonian exile speaks of our exile from God as humanity - both individually and corporately we have polluted our temples and God has declared that we should die (Romans 3:23). We retreat from this truth, but it seems quite stark. We are made to be places of worship, carrying around with us God's holy presence, but through our idolotrous and immoral behaviour we cease to be set apart, we cease to be holy and when this happens God retreats.

However, the return from exile includes important prefiguring: the temple can be rebuilt (and it is promised to be more splendid than the one that preceded it (Hag. 2:9)), and the temple, once rebuilt needs to be cleansed.

This is where Jesus comes in.

Jesus body is a temple, and as an untainted body, when he suffers the punishment (exile) we deserve (death) the temple is rebuilt (resurrection). However, unlike the second temple (which was not actually as grand as the first (Ezra 3:12)) Jesus resurrection body is a rebuild on quite a different scale. Furthermore, God promises that if we believe in Jesus - accept him as Lord and Saviour - God no longer sees us as ourselves alone with our broken temple, but he sees Jesus in us and us in Jesus with a temple that is holy and righteous, both clean and holy.

Which is why Paul is so unraged at the sin which threatens to pollute the new temple in us.

- Do I commit sins of idolatry?
- Do I commit sins of sexual immorality?

In our resurrection bodies we will worship Jesus forever.
In my current fallen body I can taste this in advance as I worship God and live a life of service.
Sin seeks to dominate, indeed Satan longs to cause our current temple to fall into ruin, into disrepair, and in time to be destroyed - he seeks my daily death.

I in turn am forced on God's grace which welcomes me to a daily return from exile, to a daily resurrection of the temple.

How do we live a pure life??

It's post Easter, and I've realised with horror that I've drifted an enormous amount these last few months. There is a lacklustre feel to my walk with Jesus - it's half-baked and most of the time it's simply that I don't prioritise my life to include time in his Word. I realise that many people would consider my expectations to exacting and demanding, but I know that my life craves time in His Word.

Consequently, I'm trying to stick to my plan of completing the five offices each day (but in my own way). The Common Worship lectionary has three sets of readings for each day: Main office (which can be used at communion services midweek), Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. In addition, I use Prayer During the Day for a midday pause, and Compline (Night Prayer) before bedtime. The psalm reading in the main office is usually quite short. Yesterday's were Psalm 119:9-16. It packed a punch!

It opens with the blog title: How can a young man keep his way pure?

It gives some straightforward advice.

1. Word
It refers to living a life according to the Word, which includes adhering to its commands, hiding the Word in a person's heart. There is also a clear sense of wanting to be taught. I have been acutely challenged this last week that when I sin I become more hostile to God, my fleshly nature deconditions my moral compass. When I am in God's word, the cleansing properties enable me to not stray into sin. Verse 11 suggests that the hidden word "in my heart" is there that "I might not sin against you". Of course, Bible reading is no magical incantation that protects me as a spell would, but proximity to God's thoughts, His morals and desire for me ensures that I see sin more plainly for what it is.
Are we all committed to reading His Word?

2. Seek
The idea of seeking God with my whole heart is a real challenge. I know that I can do a lot of the word stuff from a theological perspective. It's an academic challenge. But do I do it because I want to spend time with Jesus...
This is a real challenge when my life is modelled on a pattern of prayer that is so strict. I can easily become convinced that my failure to meet deadlines or habits will guarantee sinfulness. This is where the guts come in.
I cannot relate to God with my mind alone - I am to long/yearn/desire Him. Does my soul pant for him?
The purpose of coming to God's word is that we might encounter Jesus. We see him, however, not only in the pages of the Bible, but in the world around us - the neighbour, our colleague, the beauty of nature...
Do I purpose each day to encounter Jesus?

3. Praise
The psalmist enjoins us to Praise God. Specifically we're commanded to rejoice in his Word. I think this is really helpful. When my heart grows cold and my desire for God wanes, as sin creeps in the first thing that falls off is my Bible reading. I'm forever asking myself - when did I stop reading my Bible? Was it when I sinned? Or did I sin because I stopped reading God's Word? (Not that I'm seeking a legalistic approach - just that sense of closeness to God). I can see all too often in my journal that when I stop reading my Bible, I slowly grow less enthused to seek God. However, when I return to God in praise, when I recount all he is doing in my life, suddenly I begin to desire His presence more, which in turn leads to a hunger for time in His Word.
Do we make time each day to praise Him?

These three approaches also loosely fit the mind-body(guts)-spirit(heart) motif we see in Scripture. We read God's WORD - MIND; we SEEK Him - BODY(GUTS); we praise his name - SPIRIT(HEART).

I love the way the psalms weave patterns of wholeness into our lives.