Galations 1

Galations is addressing the centrality of the gospel to Christianity. Romans and Corinthians have addressed other church issues through a pretty relentless gospel lens. But galations squarely addresses the gospel through a gospel lens.

Martin Luther nicknamed the book with his wife’s name, he loved it so much he said he was married to it.

I was raised in this focus. Every sermon, every question, every discussion of the meaning of life ends in the gospel; ends in “the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age”, as Paul says it in v4.

Much of the intellectual work of my core and founding Christianity is concerned with rooting out and excluding what the teachers called “gospel plus”. “Plus” is bad, diluting the power of the gospel with other things. Saying that salvation comes from believing in Christ AND helping the poor, being good, spiritual gifts, your church traditions etc.

It’s still what I think. Sort of.

I’ve got here through the old testament. Stories from 1500 years of human history. I got very comfortable with the Jesus-less talk about God doing this, God saying this, God requiring this.

Including powerful stunning messianic visions of the sacrificial God, the God who will conquer death, AKA Jesus, yes.

But a very rich tapestry of God inspired poetry, love songs, philosophical musings, politics, relationships etc. as well. Bursting with human aspiration and creativity, and unique interactions with God.  Honestly, could they describe as somewhat “gospel plus”?

I attend an aboriginal fellowship, where the gospel is added onto a 60000 year old spirituality like the final completing piece of a jigsaw. Jesus defines himself as a yeast that leavens the dough. A transforming ingredient, but an ingredient. Gospel plus?

I’m working with Muslim people, who traditionally referred to me as a “person of the book” because our faiths sprang from the same Torah, from devotion to the same monotheistic revelation of God. There is a mountain of dead bodies and mistrust between these perspectives today of course. Is that it? I feel such a shared understanding of life mission between us! Does our shared Abrahamic heritage signify absolutely nothing?

And then there is me. I am not a prostheletiser. I find it hard to push people towards my view of the world, of God and Jesus’ central role in it. I think I might fight the message of galations, motivated simply by my own effacing personality.

As I read galations I hope to look deep into my heart and examine all my beliefs and reconcile (or repent of?) the respect I have for a broad range of spiritual expression and seemingly godly human interaction that doesn’t refer explicitly to Jesus.

This first chapter is about the divine origins of the gospel. Paul got it from God. His persuasion is done with his typical lack of bombast, almost apologetically. He says in summary “I’m not lying, I went straight to Arabia for three years after my conversion, and only spent 15 days in total with anyone who met Jesus alive, so my message must have come from God right?”

In Corinthians 2 he admitted to also having the most extraordinary visions and supernatural experiences. They account for his certainty about all this, I’m sure. But he almost always avoids a prophetic “thus spake the Lord” Isaiah-style address. He prefers to argue his case on this very domestic, narrative, fact based level.

I’ve been listening to this podcast about the rise and fall of Mars Hill church, a good pretext to look at the US mega-church phenomenon in general (plus launder some dead juicy gossip, it must be said). Bombast aplenty there! I’ve been genuinely shocked how easily pastors fall into “apostolic” ministry. Saying that God told them this or that, speaking with the voice of “God” saying remarkably self-serving things!

The subtext behind this chapter is an assumption that you shouldn’t lightly accept that someone is speaking a direct message from God. Paul prefers to argue how concrete and provable circumstances of place and time mean that the gospel he preached to them could not have come from anywhere else.

I definitely warm to that! And respecting it, today I’m taking from it an openness, to accept that this is indeed God’s word; and on the wind of the Spirit, to let it take me where it will.

2 Corinthians 11

Paul gets really down and dirty here and in the next chapter, defending himself against these “super apostles” who have started teaching in the Corinthian church.

He throws everything at it.

He warns them he is going to be silly and I agree, it does seem a bit silly when he compares the church to a bride, and himself to their father delivering the bride to her intended, Jesus, protecting her virginity while she’s flirting with others. He compares them to eve in the garden.

Then he gets genuinely sarcastic about them thinking they are so wise but being so besotted with these false teachers. Since they clearly love being slapped around by fools, he says he’ll be a fool, and slap them with all his worldly credentials.

It’s one of the times he lists all his shipwrecks, misadventures and etc., plus his pedigree as a Roman citizen and ex Pharisee.

But I think it gets to the heart of what is happening here when he comments towards the end of his suffering list that his burden for their souls, worrying daily about all the churches, is the hardest suffering of all.

He really really cares about them. He’s seen God plant a seed in them, but now like the parable of the sower, the devil may swoop down like a bird and snatch that seed away, and he’s in a panic for them.

I like thinking about how Paul’s idea of good bible teaching is an overflow of excitement about being loved by God.

My cliched image of people who are obsessed with heresy is of zealots with hard-line theological purity tests. That used to be Paul, he’s been there and done it.

But now he’s spirit-filled and emotional, overflowing with gratitude at being loved by Christ despite having been a truly terrible human being.

For sure, there is a strain of criticism in these letters, of Paul picking through error and telling the churches where they are wrong. But I’m finding the general vibe is way more positive than that.

It’s more someone enthusiastic to share the good stuff. He dismisses bad teaching not because it’s inaccurate as much as it’s inadequate. A second-rate vision of God. The true gospel is so much richer. Bigger, not smaller.

That’s who I want to be. I’ve approached the letters warily because I don’t want to get bogged down in arguments about the role of women, homosexuality, the manifestation of the holy spirit, hats in church, how Christians should vote, whatever. But here is Paul living this crazy life because Christ turned him around. In pain because he so dearly wants others to have the same joy that he has found.

Give me that vision father, in Jesus’ name.

Feeling a little happier today, a little more positively rather than negatively disturbed. Maybe it’s the imminent end of lockdown, which will be particularly great for Kelly.

I scheduled my online album launch for next Wednesday, and got some nice flattery from the responses to my sneak peek song. A little bit of that goes a long way!

Getting out there makes connection. And after, what is it, over 13 weeks pretty much stuck in our houses unless we have a pragmatic, legally prescribed, excuse to walk out the front door… connection is not to be underrated!

1 Corinthians 2

I’m feeling a bit down today. Isolation is over.

I’m so glad, really, that my work colleague Taniela doesn’t have COVID. His positive test turned out to be a false positive, so I don’t have to isolate.

I feel a bit bad for all the help we had, though it certainly was warming how many people rallied to our aid, and the medical precaution was clearly necessary.

I spent most of the time in Iso frustrated that I couldn’t get my test result. With the help of family and friends I had finally gotten to a sweet spot: my negative result, food sorted, car fixed, government emergency payments set up, alcohol supplies…

I was looking forward to a 10 day break, and suddenly it was gone. Kelly found it hard too. We were starting to enjoy each other’s company very much, remembering why we love each other.

The passage is about the holy spirit mostly. How it lives in us.

The structure is beautiful, weaving around the themes of god’s wisdom and treating our own understanding as foolishness. Building to a fine crescendo where he answers a rhetorical question asked by Isaiah hundreds of years before:

“So ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?’

But we have the mind of Christ.”

Verse 16

Which shames the pride we may feel in our own arrogance. Arrogance amounts to thinking our mind is better than Christ’s. As if!

Paul starts by including himself among those who are lowly and not eloquent …which did amuse me for its absence yesterday.

And… we are in 1 Corinthians. We are going to get to chapter 13, surely one of the top two or three most loved and quoted passages in the whole book… He’s rather going to disprove his claim to lack eloquence!

But that passage is about love. And he’s not going to turn off his gift for words to talk about what excites him most, he’s going to try as best as a human can to acknowledge that gifts come from a giver, and reflect the taste and loving generosity of the giver more than the receiver.

Paul is a confident so and so. It’s easy to accuse him of arrogance. But I buy it. I think he genuinely is being a godly, humble, spirit-led version of a high achieving alpha male / smartest guy in the room.

It’s not an easy tightrope to walk. And so many bleedin’ church leaders have the same personality. At times it seems like the personality, not the work of god’s spirit, is the common defining factor.

Speaking of which, it’s Sunday today, time for another somewhat unsatisfying zoom church. Why does lockdown feel like more of a drag than isolation? I really hate this pandemic!

Better enjoy my Sunday though. Work tomorrow. Sigh. Bye-bye, not-working!

Acts 22

Oh, and Paul was a traitor.

I was discussing yesterday why the authorities seemed to hate Paul so much more than the other apostles.

The speech he gives is just the right one. His conversion story, he takes it out of the theoretical and into the personal. He was the most zealous of Jewish Christian haters, but Jesus spoke to him. What could be do? What would anyone do?

I paused when he mentioned his approval of Stephen’s martyrdom. How that memory must have sat with him, how aware of grace he must have been.

His sense of having blood on his hands if he doesn’t tell the whole of God will to people may have bought back some of these literal images for him.

But if he, the elite Jew, with all the pedigree and training can follow the carpenter, well it’s a dagger to the heart of Judaism. There couldn’t be a more complete traitor.

The chapter ends with another of those classic Acts moments. The moment Paul’s testimony gets to him being sent to the Gentiles, all hell breaks loose again in the Jewish audience in the temple courts and the Roman guards drag him off to torture him.

It’s that moment, stretched on the rack, when Paul asks if it’s normal to torture a Roman citizen without proper arrest and charge. Bingo.

God provided the absolutely best strategic person to take Jesus’ message to the gentiles. The perfect Jew, and the perfect Roman. He a unicorn! The Roman commander of Jerusalem admits to Paul he had to buy his citizenship, at great expense. Paul was born to it. Born to it!

And I’ve woken up deciding what I am going to do about TRYP. I’m going to present my impressions and suggestions to them. Col junior is in a place where he is aware his dad’s days are numbered. It’s not urgent yet, but it’s coming. What happens, if anything to TRYP.

I’m nothing, really, to TRYP. I have lots of thoughts about it, they aren’t very formulated. I’m ignorant, I’ve only been on 4 programs. I’m culturally remote. It’s not my demographic, not my mob. It’s certainly not my style to be so arrogant.

But I care about them. I love both Cols, senior and junior.

And when you do, you don’t have a whole bunch of opinions serious enough to mean you don’t want to keep being actively involved, and not share them. So I’ll share them, I’m resolved.

And see what happens.

Acts 16

Paul’s second missionary journey. The thing that struck me was his choices.

In the last chapter I’ll admit I was a bit disrespectful of his decision to split with Barnabas. But here, so much grace flows from the discernment and love in his choices.

There’s too much packed in here to go though it all. But some of the choices include:

• Going to Europe, when he planned to go to Asia
• Taking Timothy with him
• Getting Timothy circumcised, even though part of the mission was to spread his passionately held belief that circumcision is unnecessary.
• Continuing to minister first to Jews, even though in Phillipi, the first European City, there were “only” women, less than 10 male Jews, no synagogue. They meet by a river, like the exiles in Babylon.
• Not mentioning being a Roman citizen when he was discriminated against, beaten and jailed because the town officials thought he was just a Jew, and they could get away with it.
• Not running from the jail after a miraculous earthquake released him, saving the jailer’s life.

The first European Christian was a female, Jewish purveyor of purple cloth, Lydia. Paul stuck with the marginals. Auspicious start!

Some of the choices were divinely guided. Paul got a vision and a message from the spirit to turn away from Asia and sail to Europe (Greece).

From which I take listening to God and adaptability. Don’t be shocked if something unexpected comes up, be alert to the spirit no matter how carefully you have planned.

And I still don’t understand God’s planning; why Europe and not Asia?

My mind gets a little blown however when I contemplate the centrality of Jerusalem to all the sub-continents: Europe, Asia, Africa. For Paul, the choice between Asia and Europe was the choice between turning left or right. Bought to mind, for some reason, Abraham’s random choice to go to a different paddock, all those years ago, where he found a burning bush.

And the timely rise of the Roman Empire, obsessive road builders and administrators, enabling travel and consistent law, just at the time Christianity is ready to be spread out.

The geography and the timing of the infrastructure are so perfect and strategic. Why were the Jews the chosen race anyway? Did God decide Jesus would be Jewish for geographical reasons?

I’m thinking about planning vs listening to God quite a bit a bit during this period when I have many more options than I usually do.

For instance, I’m going back to Bourke with TRYP (To Reach Your Potential boot camp program) in a week’s time, even though I decided definitely not to do more TRYP programs. It seemed foolish to reject the money they will pay. But what does it mean, what will flow from all this unsought for engagement with TRYP?

A huge theme of St. Paul’s choices is restraint. Saying no, not insisting on your rights.

Notably his choice to be identified as a Jew, beaten and jailed, and only afterwards play the Roman citizen card, which could have avoided all the indignities. Talk about following in the footsteps of Christ. I can’t imagine I would have made that choice.

Then after a divine intervention, the earthquake to set them free, staying in the uncomfortable stocks, still smarting from the wounds of the lash, so that the jailer need not fall on his sword.

Compassion! What a great basis for choosing to hang around somewhere, even when God clearly gives you the option of leaving a situation. That is an extraordinary message.

Saw a powerful film, “Calvary”, about a contemporary Irish priest facing death and the choices he must make yesterday. Very apt for this good Friday. Do we choose to meet our destiny, or is our destiny decided by our choices? Jesus had a choice not to go though with it.

In my choices, looking to start on a new direction, I don’t instinctively steer myself towards hardship, I envisage futures of happiness. But if hardship is there, may I accept it and stay obedient and open to the will of God.

Bourke will be a bit hard for me.

But not as bad as a beating, hopefully.

The decision to circumcise Timothy meant he was acceptable to Jewish people, meaning Paul could connect with Lydia, who proved such a powerful convert.

The commentator made a neat point that the town of her supplier, where the purple cloth is made, Thyatira, is one of the seven churches that get letters in Revelation. She could well have been the link.

Paul personally cut into Timothy the physical symbol of the heresy he had worked so hard to fight. I’d like to see more churches stuggle with that. Will Iife call me to do similar?

So here, much much to think and pray about, going into the Easter weekend.

I pray to listen to my kids, to be alert to the spirit. I’m very in my own head at the moment, Paul was what we would call mindful: alert to the grace of Jesus and the breath of the spirit, moment by moment, as choices unfold.

Acts 13

This chapter covers a lot of ground, literally, half of the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas … And John for a while.

There is a range of responses. God fearing gentiles seem to most reliably lap up the message.

Those most implacably opposed are those who are in the religious game, but getting worldly success and honour from it. Simon the sorcerer, who is plainly described as a false prophet. Or synagogue leaders. The message of salvation though Christ is hugely popular, and they are jealous.

The leaders work their network of influential people against the missionaries in advance of them. A political response to a movement of the spirit.

We get a full sermon from Paul. It is for a Jewish audience, preached in the synagogue, and strong on Jesus as the fulfillment of prophesy, but also the eye witness experience of the disciples. That is key to acts. I hope we get the gentile version at some point, if there is a distinct one. Oh, he preaches in Athens eventually, duh.

I’ve been noting different signifiers of conversion through the last few chapters. It seems the church is so new, it’s not hard and fast yet.

Earlier, there were followers of John for whom accepting the news of Jesus meant the coming of the spirit… Baptised in water, then later, spirit. Then Cornelius, who was baptised in the spirit, so Peter caught him up with the water.

Here there is a reference to election. Paul and Barnabas’ second Sabbath sermon in Prisidan Antioch (there are two Antiochs, just to confuse matters) attracts pretty much the whole town.

There are two gentile responses recorded. “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.” To me that reads like two responses. A general one of honour, and a subset who believe. The commentator I read didn’t make much of that. I think I’ll just hold that thought for a while.

There is so much in this chapter. I’ll pray for God to keep me thinking about it.

I’m a bit mixed up about modern missionaries. Churches around me sometimes seem to have more in common with the jealous synagogue than the excited gentile seekers for truth. But it’s not going to be exactly like this time where Christianity was being established. Hmm.

Acts 10

The chapter where Peter has a vision of eating unclean food, while simultaneously a God-fearing gentile Centurion named Cornelius sees an angel who tells him to fetch Peter.

God gives a lot of direct “voice of God”, angel and divine vision support to the notion that gentiles can be Christians too. A lot of supernatural intervention, because God wants it to a be an unambiguous shift. It’s our burning bush.

I was interested in the nature of Cornelius’ faith before he became a Christian. It’s described thus: “He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.” The angel who speaks to him even tells us God’s view of his pre-Christian faith: “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.”

It reminded me of how Aboriginal theologians feel about their spirituality, which seems to have existed for 10’s of thousands of years before Abraham! And which maybe was not completely pagan and of the devil.

It’s tempting to become a bit more loosey- goosey and universalist as you get older.  To lose the black and white certainty of youth, and wonder if all those non-believers really are going to hell.

Neither the Bible or Jesus let you though. It’s abundantly clear that we are capable of rejecting our revelation of God, and that no one can rid themselves of evil’s grip on them by their own.

But it seems clear too that the other religions have some core in them of revelation of the one true God, which God recognises. It’s not a prominent feature of the Bible, but it’s does turn up consistently throughout. As uncle Ray Minniecon memorably pointed out, Job was not a Jew.

God was aware of the sincere faith Cornelius had, and was about to reveal a much richer understanding of the God he was already worshipping.

Another thing that interested me was God seeming to contradict himself. That’s why the paradigm shift had to be so elaborately communicated. The vision Peter had of eating pigs, birds and reptiles etc put a heck of a lot of the Torah into the “symbolic-interest-only” category.

What was unclean is now clean. The Jewish race, that was chosen, is no longer unique in the same way. Gentiles are in.

God is unchanging. But does meet people where they are, with truth filtered for their stage of journey and capacity.

You see it in Jesus’ ministry – carefully managing the revelation, “those who have ears let them hear”. Leaving even the disciples to join all the dots only after he left.

The transfiguration, where the disciples got a vision of Jesus’ glorious self, ended up being a low point in their journey. They misunderstood and started some ugly competitive bickering.

The Israelites had an indigenous religious culture that already understood temples, priests and sacrifices. And you know what? God asked for those.

I knew a pastor who thought that advertising was the ultimate evil, all lies. But God has a role for some loving spin, or at least gentle couching of the truth. Christianity is very culturally adaptable, there’s something there for everyone.

A pastor recently described the work of Christian grace as working on your propensities. You may be naturally joyous, but lack self control.

Oh the fruit of the spirit! I keep coming back to them at the moment.

They are a great leveller. The wisest, most enlightened pastor can lack gentleness. The most miserable sinner can be kind. They allow us to see the weakenesess in ourselves, and the hope in others. They aren’t a purity test, they are a navigation guide for living each moment and like fruit, each season. Sigh.

Of course, I’m also very grateful that gentiles are included. God had only shouted it out of the mouth of pretty much every prophet and poet of the O.T. But it took this too…

I’m tired of being unemployed. We’re coping, but it’s drifty and a bit wearing. Change of season, you start to look for progress.

Going away for the weekend, visiting our friend Lisa at pearl beach as we do. Not too excited about it. Wet wet weekend, going by train as car keeps being unreliable. Sigh.

Acts 8

The blooms and new branches of a plant are caused by stress. It’s why we prune them.

The declaration of open hostility between the Jewish hierarchy in Jerusalem and the new Christians instantly spreads the church out. It spreads like a pandemic. The good news of Jesus is told to a suddenly much wider audience.

God has another trick up his sleeve too, as the leader of the persecution in Jerusalem, going from house to house jailing Christians, is none other than Saul/Paul pre-conversion.

We know that he will dominate the rest of the Bible as a Jesus-follower, but his zeal as a Jesus-hater achieved a heck of a lot to increase the number of believers as well!

The first, new, church starts to resemble what I know. The apostles stay in Jerusalem, the newer leaders fan out. As first hand witnesses of Jesus they are unique in church history. But they also act like bishops or any central office types, they lead the leaders.

The faith extends to Samaria. The apostles/disciples know from Jesus’parable that Samaritans can be more their neighbours than Jews. John reported that Jesus spent time preaching there. His interaction with the Samaritan woman is one of his most startling and beautiful (“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming… ..when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”)

Samaritans, women, and also in this chapter a top ranking Ethiopian. Creed gender, race; boom boom boom. Just like that. And while escaping persecution.

This chapter has examples of how the apostolic quality control works. The message about the Messiah, the man who is the concrete evidence of God’s love and justice, catches like fire. It’s adaptable to different starting points and cultures of belief.

But some elements must be filled in. Like the holy spirit which the apostles have to catch some people up on.

And the fruit of the spirit. The conversion story of a prominent Samaritan, Simon the sorcerer, includes a sharp rebuke from Peter. Simon, who is a professional holy man, wants to buy into the apostle’s level of holy spirit power.

Peter tells him to get his heart right, because bitterness is coming out of him and he is captive to sin. The fruit of the spirit shows the power of the spirit.

So much in this chapter! From persecution!

I feel the challenge to be a better witness to my kids. That is so hard!

I’m all mixed up still about what I want to do and getting very good at using up days. I have a session with the career guidance person today, a good time to take stock.

I feel led to lots of great Christian ideas but my energy and organisation levels keep wobbling.

Easy to feel overwhelmed. Considering applying for boring but well paid jobs again. Praying for guidance, wisdom, peace.

Acts 7

Resisting the holy spirit.

Stephen has been hauled in by the Sanhedrin for blasphemy. He gives a show-stopper sermon/response, about how the people rejected Moses, and have now rejected Jesus. He sweeps through the old testament with beautiful authority and freshness, from Abraham to Moses, and referring to David and the prophets.

They take him out and stone him, but he can only see visions of heaven.

I was struck by his accusation that they are resisting the holy spirit by rejecting Jesus now, as did the people when they turned to other gods in the wilderness after God’s amazing act of salvation.

If you have heard of Jesus, you will resist the holy spirit via your response to him. If you have never heard of Jesus, you will potentially resist the spirit in your response to whatever revelation of God you have.

Lack of resistance shows in excitement about Jesus. It shows in the fruit of the spirit. Joy. Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Peace. Love.

Whole institutions, purportedly godly institutions, can resist the holy spirit. Like the toxic group complicity of the Sanhedrin.

I’ve been particularly thinking about joy, and the capacity of churches to sap people of their joy with lots of silly expectations norms and traditions.

They aren’t about to stone anyone, but the thin end of the wedge personally and in a group is losing sight of excitement over Jesus and losing joy and love, peace and the rest.

Acts 3

This chapter shows the difference the holy spirit makes. Peter and John heal a beggar (silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee…) and preach in the streets of Jerusalem.

They are transformed with God’s boldness from being frightened, and in Peter’s case a denier of Christ. At the end of John their plan had briefly been to return to fishing in the sticks at Galilee. Now they are in Jerusalem doing exactly the things that got Jesus killed.

The faith of the believers is transformed from empty and malevolent to having a point, making sense. The religious system had become about power and greed and keeping people so ignorant of God that they rejected and killed God. Religion without God is possible and terrifying.

But add God, and it is wonderful. The spirit makes Peter and John instruments of grace. They can be bold because they are humble. They are motivated simply by wanting to share the greatness of a living God who wants to bless us; to transform hearts and communities. God can speak and act through them, and pour love into the world.

Wow wow wow. Sunday morning, off to church shortly.

So keep it real, eh?