Reflections on God and Money: November 2014

Friday 28 November 2014

CONTENTMENT (8): Paul's Thorn

To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

This is my one departure from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians in this series on contentment but I think it’s impossible to consider Paul’s contentment without his ‘thorn in the flesh’. Paul wrote about it in 2 Corinthians, possibly while he was still at Philippi starting the new church. By the time he arrived in Rome, Paul would have had the 'thorn' for 4 or 5 years, at least. Of course, by this time, the thorn may have been divinely removed but I expect Paul would have mentioned in one of his letters if that had happened.

I’ve heard very many theories about what the Paul’s thorn could have been. The most common are some form of illness or disability, perhaps poor eyesight or problems with his hands so that he had to dictate his letters. I suspect it may have been the Jewish Christians who relentlessly followed him around, criticising his teaching and trying to persuade new Christians to reject it in favour of their own brand of Christianity. I think this accords with the thorn being given to keep Paul humble in spite of the great revelations he was privileged to receive.Whatever it was, however, Paul prayed repeatedly for the thorn’s removal until Jesus told him, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’.

The thorn was ‘a messenger of Satan’: God did not remove it but it’s important to emphasise that God did not send it. In the story of Job, we read how God permitted the devil, or Satan, to afflict Job and how this turned out for Job’s benefit, but it's clear that God Himself did not harm Job. With this important distinction in mind, we should look afresh at a widely misunderstood passage in John 9. This is the passage in the English Standard Version that I usually quote.

‘As he passed by, [Jesus] saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’

The question the disciples asked was very unusual. Frankly, it was a bit daft! ‘Who sinned, this man or his parents…?’ How could the man himself have sinned to be born blind? While I can see why the disciples may have thought that his parents may have done something to cause their son’s blindness, Jews never have believed in reincarnation.

Jesus’ answer, as it appears in most if not all English-language Bibles, suggests that the man was born blind for God’s glory: ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him’. But there's a problem with that! Are we really to believe that God caused the man to be born blind so that Jesus could heal him?

It was reading Dr G Campbell Morgan (1865-1945) that first alerted me to the problem with this idea and how Jesus’ words have been mistranslated since the first English-language Gospels in the 14th Century. The problem is not in the translation of the words themselves but in the way they are punctuated and the addition of the conjunction 'but' because the original Greek had neither punctuation nor conjunctions. The words could just as accurately read like this:

‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents. That the works of God might be displayed in him, we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day…’

The difference is crucial: the ‘works of God’ are to be seen in the man’s healing, not in his blindness. It's important for God’s reputation: He may send judgement and discipline, and there are examples of both throughout Scripture, but He does not inflict people just so that his work of redemption can be seen. 'The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil' (1 John 3:8), not the works of God.

When there is no healing or relief in a situation, however, God can still be seen working, as St Paul affirms!

‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’

God's work of redemption is a work in progress; that's why bad things happen to good people and not every sick person we pray for is healed. Jesus may now be seated him at God's right hand in the heavenly places, 'far above all rule and authority and power and dominion' (Ephesians 1:20-22) but 'He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet' (1 Corinthians 15:25). And while that continues, Jesus' grace is sufficient for us, empowering us to be content with and rejoice in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

What is freely received should be freely shared and not sold for profit, so please feel free to copy these Reflections freely and without cost to others.Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in these Reflections are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Friday 21 November 2014

CONTENTMENT (7): Paul's Rejoicing

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy… Whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice… Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all… Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me… Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord… Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Philippians 1:3-4, 1:18, 2:17-18, 3:1, 4:4

This reflection continues from last weekend, thinking about how St Paul could rejoice as a political prisoner and how we can learn to rejoice in difficult and unjust situations. Some years before Paul was deported to Rome, he had written to the Christians there explaining that, ‘For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose’ (Romans 8:28). Critical to this assurance is understanding and accepting that it is God, not us, who makes all things work together for good.

God is eternal and unassailable, with perfect knowledge of all persons and things and able to see even what is most secret. His knowledge is infinite, His wisdom is unsearchable and His plans cannot be comprehended. Nothing is impossible for Him and everything I could possibly say about His ability to redeem situations would fall far short of what He can do very easily!

Paul wrote to the Christians at Thessalonica, ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’. That is astounding! Is it really God's will for us to rejoice in all circumstances? The answer is in the context, the rest of what Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. He describes a military camp at night where the army sleeps, many of them drunk. ‘For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

Understanding the times we live in and seeing what goes on around us, and knowing that we are 'destined' for salvation, we stay alert and protect ourselves with God's own armour: faith, love and hope. Paul later adds further reassurance. ‘The God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.’ If we let Him, God will sanctify us and protect us until Christ comes for us: He is faithful; He is able; He will do it - if we let Him make all things work together for our good!

St Peter put it this way at the start of his first letter. ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you… In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ…’ We rejoice in the indestructible inheritance waiting for us, knowing that what we experience now refines our faith.

St James wrote, ‘Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness’. There may be no joy to be found in the situation itself but only evil and pain but James says, ‘count it all joy’. Consider it as joy, reckon it to be joy, believing in the potential of God’s redemption, and rejoice because it produces steadfastness. And more! ‘And let steadfastness have its full effect’ James continues, ‘that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing’ (James 1:2-4).

There’s no contradiction in rejoicing in a situation and simultaneously praying for it to end but we have to wait God’s timing and cooperate with His activity. We should not risk the opportunity to benefit from the situation by continually imaging what it will be like when it's over but, like Paul, think more about how to please God within it. That may be a challenge but the point of learning contentment is to acquire skills we don't have to prepare us for the future.

As what is freely received should be freely shared and not sold for profit, you are very welcome to copy these Reflections freely and without cost to others. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Friday 14 November 2014

CONTENTMENT (6): Paul's Rejoicing

Philippians 1:3-4, 1:18, 2:17-18, 3:1, 4:4

I began this series of Reflections on contentment because I needed to learn the lessons. The frustration I felt at being ill was not the illness itself but the unnecessary difficulties caused by what seemed to me doctors' poor listening skills, the assumption that I had symptoms I didn't have and working from the basis that symptoms occurring at the same time in the same part of the body were just coincidence. It was nearly six months before I saw a doctor who listened carefully and took seriously the possibility of a common cause.

One day, as I was reading Philippians, I realised that I had much to learn from St Paul who had experienced so very much worse than me through misunderstanding, injustice and weak thinking. Paul’s contentment with life was not limited to his financial situation (Philippians 4:10-13) but embraced his whole life as a political prisoner. More significant than that, his contentment wasn’t through gritted teeth, persistently reminding himself of God’s goodness when he might want to shout at the injustice of it all! Paul rejoiced!

Paul rejoiced at the preaching of the Gospel by insincere Christians wanting only to make life more difficult for him in prison and he rejoiced at being ‘poured out as a drink offering’ for his readers. And he told them to rejoice in the Lord, to rejoice always. Just, ‘Rejoice’! This wasn't the fatalistic rejoicing of a man in denial but intelligent rejoicing inspired by Paul's faith in God. As this ability to rejoice is so important to authentic contentment, I plan to spend two weekends reflecting on it.

Paul’s detention at Rome must have reminded him and his readers of when he first arrived at Philippi. He and Silas were unjustly arrested, flogged and imprisoned yet at midnight, they were ‘praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them’ (Acts 16:25). Their joy had not been daunted by their experience and their mission at Philippi continued uninterrupted even in prison. They remind me of the when the Apostles were ‘rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name [of Jesus]’ and the Hebrew Christians who had compassion on prisoners and 'joyfully accepted the plundering of your property' (see Acts 5 & Hebrews 10).

Paul and Silas also remind me of the best piece of advice I have ever heard, which I think was said by Dr R T Kendall when he was my Minister at Westminster Chapel in London. (This is how I remember it.)

When you don’t know what to do, or even what you should pray for, worship. You can’t go wrong when you worship!

Paul ended up in Rome after being arrested in Jerusalem. Escalating from what was probably a genuine misunderstanding, Paul had to be rescued by Roman soldiers from a Jewish lynch mob. Then the Jewish authorities tried to bring other charges against him and even backed an assassination plot, which caused Paul to be transferred to Caesarea. Successive Roman governors kept him in jail for years just to appease the Jewish authorities. When Paul was about to be sent back to Jerusalem for what would have been a mock trial, he appealed to Caesar and so began his journey to Rome. But Paul was able to see what Joseph many centuries before had seen in his own unjust treatment: 'You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good' (Genesis 50:20).

We’re not to rejoice in the evil of a situation but in the way that God can redeem it. It was wrong of Judas to betray Jesus, it was wrong of the Jewish leaders to arrest Him, it was wrong of Pilate to condemn Him and it was wrong of the soldiers to mock Him, but the crucifixion was pivotal in the redemption of all Creation and for 2,000 years Christians have rejoiced in it. If God can redeem something so tragic, he is well able to redeem anything that can happen to us and it is on that basis that we can rejoice!

Friday 7 November 2014

CONTENTMENT (5): Paul's Enemies

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel… Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Philippians 1:12-18

Last weekend, we reflected on how Paul could be content as a political prisoner but he had to come to terms with something worse. People arrived in Rome to preach openly about Jesus with the sole intention of making Paul’s situation still more difficult for him.

What sort of people would behave like that? I don’t think that Paul was referring to people sent by the Jewish authorities. They had lobbied the local Roman governors to keep Paul in prison when he had broken neither Jewish nor Roman law but they would not have wanted to see a Jewish Messiah proclaimed publically at the heart of the Roman Empire.

I think Paul is referring to Jewish Christians, his fiercest critics and the people he had been trying to please when he was arrested in Jerusalem. They had dogged his heels across the Roman Empire, getting in his way and undermining his ministry, and would have welcomed the opportunity to assert their theology in Rome. They might even have thought that their freedom to do that was God’s blessing.

In the Beatitudes, at the start of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had said, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy… Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:4-12). To be blessed is to be fortunate, well-off and even privileged and happy!

Later in the Sermon, Jesus was even more explicit when he said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’. Paul understood this very well. In his letter to the Christians living in Rome, written before his arrest and deportation, he wrote: ‘Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honourable in the sight of all. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord”. To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ (Romans 12:17-21).

The Greek word for vengeance that Paul used also means justice. Today, we see a clear difference between vengeance and justice but in the past the two concepts have been much closer together. The key point is that it's not for us to get our own back or to get even. There are, of course, occasions where it is necessary to try to correct an injustice but there needs to be more at stake than retribution!

Theological rivalry pursued like the Jewish Christians in the 1st Century has cast deep shadows over every generation since. It has undermined the Gospel – a message that should in its very nature be good news – and hindered revival. The Church needs men and women today who will disagree in the spirit of St Paul, Christians who will continue to walk in a manner worthy of their calling in spite of their differences, ‘with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Ephesians 4:1-3).

Contentment isn't possible while we're worried, fretting about the people who set themselves against us. People involved in long legal disputes find they can't settle themselves until it's all over. When others try to make life difficult for us, and resort to unscrupulous tactics to do so, we can only be content if we trust God to take care of the situation.This is especially difficult when they are fellow Christians but Paul’s response went beyond contentment. He knew when he was blessed and could therefore rejoice in the situation.

We should not underestimate Paul's motivation! He wanted to be merciful, so that he could receive mercy; he wanted to be a peacemaker, so that he could be seen as God's child; he was prepared to endure persecution so that he could enter the Kingdom of Heaven and receive a reward there. And both Scripture and history imply that he achieved all of that!