The Trekkers Bible Blog

Morning all,
My notes today ask me to read Isaiah 65 and 66. There are loads of stark images in the passage, the wonderful imagery of living in Jerusalem in prosperity, and worshipping God forever in the new heaven and earth. But the section that caught my eye was:

Isaiah 66 vs 1-4
This is what the LORD says:
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being? declares the LORD. This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a man, and whoever offers a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's blood, and whoever burns memorial incense, like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations; so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring upon them what they dread. For when I called, no-one answered, when I spoke, no-one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.

This is a warning for us all, that going through the actions is not enough. Think how it must have been received by the first readers.

"whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's blood, and whoever burns memorial incense, like one who worships an idol."

These people are making what appears to be the correct response to God, everything looks fine, but their hearts are far from God. Why is God offended by their sacrifice, because it is superficial. They bring the right things in to the temple, but they have "chosen their own ways", no-one listened when God spoke.

God does not call us to go through the motions. He calls us into a living relationship. He calls us to listen to Him and to follow His ways. There is no room for false piety or going through the motions. God is looking for followers who will seek His voice daily and follow His leading.

Today's notes ask me to read Isaiah 62-64. I admit that when I saw that, I felt my heart sink, surely that's not what Bible Notes are about? I mean, three chapters of Isaiah before I've even had a cup of tea?

There's a danger that we abuse the idea of covenant. Surely I have a covenant with the Bible Note writers? I read a few verses of scripture, they provide me with some mildly uplifting (and hopefully funny) notes, and we both feel that we've done a good job. I can feel good about myself, I've done my duty.

I know that I have approached Bible notes like this in the past, and I pray that I will never do so again. I read my three chapters of Isaiah, and there are some wonderful messages in there.

Isaiah 63 verse 1-6 is one of those passages of the Bible that makes your stand in awe. The vision of the Mighty Saviour with his robe soaked in the blood of the oppressors, and the fact that he was appalled that no-one was there to help.

For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. I looked, but there was no-one to help, I was appalled that no-one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.

I don't claim to fully understand this passage, but I do know that I don't want Jesus to be appalled by my lack of action or understanding. We are given one life, and have chosen to use that life in the service of Jesus. There is no room for superficial religion to comfort ourselves. Either we are in service or we are not!

Todays Bible reading - Isaiah 61, and my Bible notes, talk about the Good News, but Philip Greenslade warns us that the Good News is not a blank cheque. We can not grab anything that we might like and call it good news. In his words, 'the Gospel that comes from Isaiah into the New Testament is already freighted with meaning and content.'

I wasn't too sure about the word 'freighted', but I guess it just means loaded, we can't 'load up' the gospel with false claims - a bigger house, a better car, a wife that will always love you, good health for all our lives. God doesn't promise us that! God promises to walk beside and comfort the broken hearted, not to wave a magic wand and make everything better again! But it does promise us that He will comfort those who mourne.

He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour.

God will restore the dignity of the poor, the downtrodden, the widowed.

And that is good news indeed!

My first thoughts when reading Isaiah 60 was that it had been spoiled for me by the old chorus "Behold The Darkness". I guess I had "played" it too many times in my flat in Sidcup as I struggled to learn the guitar. It was 1985 and I had just given my life to Jesus, and there seemed to be an assumption amongst my youth group that on becoming a Christian everyone would buy a folk guitar and strum along on a Sunday night! (I guess that we were so taken up with 1Co. 13 that we had skimmed over 1Co. 12 )

So memories of my early days as a Christian came flooding back to me, the awful street work that would have had people running a mile, the trips to Blackheath or Hextable to hear good teaching, the rows with the vicar - it was not easy being an evangelical youth group in an Liberal/Anglo-Catholic church!

I remember one night the vicar found us studying the bible in the back room of the church hall at 9:00 on a Sunday night. He said that we young people should be down the pub enjoying ourselves, not stuck in a stuffy church hall reading our bibles. The girl leading the study suggested that if he really believed that, he should take his dog-collar off and burn it! Relations went down hill from then on - but we soldiered on!

We were young - at 22 I was one of the oldest. We were new shoots in God's kingdom.

Isaiah 60 verse 21 reads:

Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land for ever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendour.

I pray that all those guys from Sidcup are still displaying the splendour of the Lord.

Hi all
For those at WBC who were teaching during this morning's service, you can find Lynn's sermon here.

The Spirit of Friendship. Lynn Green (27 May 2007) was based on 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. What is the nature of community. We know what the passage says but we are often led by our culture. God pours out his Holy Spirit not just for us as individuals but for 'the common good'. This begs a question what is 'the common good' - In this context it means being caught up in God's Kingdom. The relationship of David and Jonathan, which has been looked at in other talks in the series, was not self centred but was for 'the common good'. Key items from the passage and talk are: Attitudes, Grace, Gifts. Lynn encouraged us to consider how we use our gifts to serve those about us.

There was an illustration used in this service, which I have tried to reproduce here.

Tim

My Bible Notes today ask me to read Psalm 93. This Psalm speaks to us of the power and majesty of God as He reigns over His creation.

Verse 5 (the final verse) reads:
Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O LORD.

What does it mean to have Holiness adorning God's house? I'm sure that it has nothing to with speaking in hushed voices, or wearing the right clothes. Maybe when we clear up the beer-cans left outside by the youths on the benches, and sweep up their cigarette ends, that is bringing Holiness to God's house. When we give time to an older person who needs to talk, when we have 101 other things that need to get done, maybe that is bringing Holiness to God's house.

And how about our lessons? Maybe, when we are leading sessions or groups, and someone tells you that you could have done something differently, do we prickle and think of all the reasons why we did it the way we did, or do we reflect on what they say, and take on board what is of God? A holy community must be able to accept correction and advice, in the same way that a sea-worthy ship must be able to be steered.

Psalm 93 tells us of the pounding seas, which will turn any boat off course. If we are not open to guidance from God and from his servants, we may find ourselves getting further and further away from God's Holiness, and finally washed-up on the wrong shore.

Tim

We had a lot of discussion last night about how we could tell the children about Fairtrade. Then today I listened to Graeme's sermon on the way to work (and back - the joys of a short commute)!

Today's reading in my bible notes is Isaiah 58-59, and there it is again! OK, they hadn't coined the phrase Fairtrade, but it's all there in Isaiah 58!

Surely sharing our food with the poor = Fairtrade? We pay more for our food, and therefore can afford less, but the poor produces get a better standard of living! As Lynn said last week - if you buy a pair of jeans for £4 (and I have) someone somewhere is being exploited. OK, so I can have 5 pairs of jeans in my wardrobe for less than a meal at Pizza Express, but that is not the justice that God is calling for?

So come on, there were loads of ideas last night. How are we going to live our lives more fairly, spend our money according to God's will, and teach the children to do the same? Ideas anyone?

Tim

Morning all,
I was 'rudely wakened by the dustmen', so I thought I'd get the kettle on and add a blog entry.

So, what are people using currently to help read the Bible? At Spring Harvest I bought a set of notes called 'Cover to Cover', published by CWR. These tend to be longer bible readings than most notes I've come across (the clue's in the name, they plan to eventually take you 'from cover to cover'!). They are very good at explaining the passage, though maybe a little light on Life Application. No stories of when 'Jeff Lucas's cat was ill' or the like.

Last night's reading was Isaiah 56 and 57 (I said that they were longer than most).

So what did I take away from that passage? Well in many ways, Isaiah 56 is a vital passage in the bible. In Acts 11, when Paul explains to his fellow apostles that God was saving the Gentiles as well as the Jews, I'm sure that the other apostles would have looked for some scripture to back up what Paul was saving. And they would find it here! "The Sovereign LORD declares— he who gathers the exiles of Israel: I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered." This is referring to 'the foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord'.

I'm not sure what Isaiah would have understood by 'binding to the Lord', but for me I get the image of being tied on, like a sailor to a boat in a storm. I want to be bound to the Lord, so that nothing can pull me away from Him.

Well, it's time to empty the dish washer and pour some tea.

Have a wonderful day,

Tim

Hi all
So the Trekkers Meeting ended 30 minutes ago. The coffee cups are in the dish washer, the left-over cakes back in their boxes, and the tea-pot has been refilled!

And so to the action items...

Those present will remember that we decided to try a Bash Through The Bible in 21 days, and I was volunteered to set up a blog to encourage and track progress!

I will try to post to here every day, with my thoughts and reflections on the day's Bible passage. Please do leave your comments and reflections, it would be great to do this together!

Speak to you all soon,

Tim