The Economics Of Manna

Whilst listening to Sunday Sequence on Radio Ulster this morning there was a discussion around the World Economic Forum which is meeting in Davos this week. The main thrust of the report was that the most wealthy 80 people in the world have more money than the bottom 50%.

During the course of the discussion one of the contributors who was there to provide the Theological angle said that the story of Manna in the wilderness teaches us a great economic lesson. The children of Israel are told to gather the amount of Manna they need for the day and if they collected more then it rotted. If you have too much money gathered into the hands of a few people then eventually it will rot. This is an interesting theory but is it an accurate reading of the story of the Manna in the wilderness?

To be honest I think this is a prime example of Isogesis rather than exegesis, of reading a meaning you want to find into a text rather than letting the text speak for itself. The whole point of the story of the Manna in the wilderness is not to teach us an economic lesson, the whole point of the story of the Manna in the wilderness is to teach us to trust in God to provide for us. 

The people are grumbling, wishing for a return to slavery in Egypt where they at least had food to eat, the grumble against Moses and against God. God therefore seeks to test them seeing if they will indeed listen to Him and follow His instruction or will they continue to gather more bread than they need? Will they trust God even in situations which seem so unpromising?

As we look out into the world today there are so many situations that seem unpromising, be it the rise of secularism within our own culture, the rise of IS in the Middle East. So much in which there seems no hope but yet will we trust God today to provide for our needs? Or will we look to ourselves? 

The story of the Manna then exists not as an economic lesson but as a lesson to trust God, trust in His  provision for us and his sovereignty over His creation

What does Thomas Jefferson have to do with Facebook?

It may seem like a strange question to ask what links a U.S. President to a medium of communication which was invented some 200 years after his death but Thomas Jefferson is linked to social media in a clear way….selection.


Recently those of you who have been on Facebook will have spotted this new trend where people will nominate each other to share their favourite Bible Verse and then nominate someone else who will share theirs and so on… I suppose its kind of a sanctified chain mail.


Thomas Jefferson had much the same idea when he was president and commissioned a special edition of the bible to be printed. With one correction, he took a razor blade and cut out all the bits of the bible he didn’t like. So naturally most of the Old Testament with its references to a God of judgement were gone, many of Paul’s letters were gone, anything Jefferson didn’t like was gone.


Essentially when we are selecting favourite verses of Scripture we are saying much the same thing as Jefferson did, perhaps not intentionally but we are doing it anyway. We are saying I like this bit but not that bit, this bit about God’s love speaks to me but this bit about God’s purity doesn’t.

The reason this is key for us to think about is because “all Scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). All of the bible including the bits we may not like or the bits we find difficult is the word of God, is God communicating something of His character and nature to us.

If we lose our hold on the doctrine of scripture then all of our other doctrines really fall by the wayside as well, how can we be sure of our doctrine of man if we don’t take Genesis 1-3 seriously, how can we be sure of God’s plan of redemption, how can we be sure our doctrine of God is right if we don’t accept God’s revelation of Himself to us? If we lose sight of the importance of the doctrine of scripture then all of our other doctrines readily fall apart from there.

I’m not saying that sharing scripture and clogging up people’s news feeds with scripture is nessecarily a bad thing but I would question what it says about our doctrine of scripture? Are we valuing certain passages over and against another, when the truth is that all of scripture has been given to us for our benefit for our edification and as part of God’s revelation of himself to us?

Saving Our Giants

Whilst reading the paper today in a post exam haze, the Independent seeing as you asked, I came across two stories which immediately captured my attention.

The first concerns the Independent's Christmas appeal this year which focuses on the very worthy cause of protecting the Elephants in the wild. They are being hunted almost to the point of extinction by men bent on getting their ivory for the world markets. This they cry is an outrage which cannot be allowed to go on...

But is it? This is the same newspaper which at every turn chooses to push an agenda of evolution over intelligent design. Pushing this argument to it's natural limit, and over simplifying which I am aware I am doing but for effect, there is no reason to save the elephant. They have not kept pace with the evolutionary developments of man and they are therefore fair game. This same argument could be applied to any animal in the world which is endangered. If evolution is true and correct, then this process is unstoppable and the elephant will either evolve to deal with the threat which man poses or else they will die off either way it doesn't matter.


The rub is that it does matter though, the rub is that we know as human beings we shouldn't be treating these majestic, lovely, soft creatures in this way and we feel responsible for it. Our conscience cannot allow us to simply wipe a species of animal off the face of the earth. Do I believe that we should save the elephant? Absolutely. Do I believe that what is happening to them is unacceptable? Absolutely but not just because it is unfair and unjust but because these are wonderful creatures given to us by God, created by Him.


The second story which caught my eye was the front page story, a science story, which is not something I normally get too caught up with but this one did intrigue me. Apparently a new study has been conducted which proves why men and women think and act differently because their brains are wired differently. In men the connections tend to run from north to south of the brain whereas women's brains tend to make connections from east to the west. This again is presented as an effect of evolution. But the author of the study had this very telling comment to make:

“It's quite striking how complementary the brains of women and men really are,” said Rubin Gur of Pennsylvania University, a co-author of the study.

The brains of men and women have been designed in such a way as to make them complementary, this is exactly what we are told about in the book of Genesis, all the animals are brought before Adam and there is found no helper suitable for him amongst all the animals and so God decides to make a helper suitable for him from him. God designed men and women to be complimentarian, they are designed to work together. Now either Moses had access to the latest scientific research years ahead of his time or else there is an intelligent designer behind the creation of these men and women.

For more information on the Independent Christmas appeal or to donate please visit:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/campaigns/elephant-campaign/

Or to read the second story in full:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/the-hardwired-difference-between-male-and-female-brains-could-explain-why-men-are-better-at-map-reading-8978248.html

Question Time

I have recently been learning the Westminster Shorter Catechism as part of my training for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and the first two questions struck me as very apt for the modern church:
1. What is man's chief end?
A: Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

This is our primary purpose in life, to glorify God, to give him of our best, to give him of our time and talents and energy. To focus our attention on Him and living to please Him. Now of course this goes against what our modern society says, our modern society lives for ourselves, for what we want to do. If it feels good then we should do it, well not according to the catechism, if it is glorifying to God then we should do it, if it pleases him then we should do it.

Now at this point some may raise an objection, this sounds like a very dull life, a life where we cannot do what we please, but notice the outcome of glorifying God that we enjoy him forever. This is not a boring dull life, this is a life lived in its fullest, a life lived in joy.

2. What is the only authority for glorifying and enjoying Him?
A: The only authority for glorifying and enjoying him is the bible, which is the Word of God and consists of the Old and New Testaments.

How do we enjoy God? How do we live a life that is glorifying to Him? Well the Bible tells us how to live a life like this. This means that whatever we are doing that is not in line with the Bible, that doesn't match up with what scripture teaches is not glorifying to God and is not helping us to fulfil our primary purpose in life. Of course many in the church today wish to rubbish this claim, they say the Bible is a book written by men and not the word of God. However this is the classic faith handed down to us by the men who have gone before us. If you wish to dispute the claims of the Bible, go ahead please do so by all means, but you cannot seriously claim to be following on in the footsteps of those who have gone before. You are the one who is taking yourself out of the historic faith of Christianity.

This is what makes the situation in the Church of Scotland so sad, the Westminster standards are their subordinate standards to the bible, yet they find themselves breaking them and why? So that they can appear liberal, inclusive and welcoming to all. Now of course we should be welcoming to all but this shouldn't mean that we set aside any standards and have free reign. The only authority to fulfil our Divine purpose in this life is the Bible, the Old and New Testament, the Word of God. Sadly many of us have forgotten this truth today and have made social acceptance, popularity or culture the only authority for glorifying and enjoying God, but these will ultimately be found wanting.

God and the Dalek

For the past week I have been living in Edinburgh with no Internet access and little access to the television. It was only upon my return last night that I finally got to watch last weekends episode of Dr. Who.

For those of you who were unfortunate enough to miss the episode, the doctor's old enemies the Dalek's made a reappearance, they needed the doctors help to destroy the asylum of the Daleks. One of the stranger features of the asylum was the atmosphere surrounding it, full of micro organisms that if you weren't protected from began to turn you into a Dalek.

 

In the usual manner this was one of the problems that the Doctor encountered when one of his companions, Amy, lost her protection from the Daleks. She asks the Doctor what's going to happen to her, how will she know when the process of her becoming a Dalek has begun, at which point someone else interjects and tells her that the process begins when the love gets taken out. The love gets taken out.

 

For some of you maybe this is like your view of God; God is only there to do me harm, the love has been taken out of him. God's judgement is the over riding principle of God you think about, his wrath and his anger, his judgement. Like the Dalek's love has been taken out.

 

But God is loving, God is kind and God is compassionate. God loves us so much that he sent his son into the world to die for us, to take away the punishment that our sins deserve. God has always been loving and kind towards his creation.

 

However love isn't God's over arching characteristic, because above all else God is holy, God is set apart, and that is why sometimes we view God as unloving because of his judgement. God's holiness means he must judge our sin, God's purity means he can't have any trace of defilement and wrong around him and that is why God must judge us. However because God ultimately is not like a Dalek, because there is love in God as well as judgement he gives us a way we can come to him and come to know him personally, through his son Jesus Christ.

God Is.....

Over the past wee while I have been doing some studying in Genesis chapter one, and it got me thinking about some of the things that make God, God. The charachteristics and attributes that make God who he is, here are four of things that I came up with from Geneis 1.

God is Eternal

          The opening words of Genesis 1 are really quite simple, but I think that simplicity can sometimes mask the great truth that the passage is teaching us, we read in verse one, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” In the beginning, there was never a time when God was not, God is eternal he is everlasting, he was there before the foundation of the world and he will be there in the new heavens and the new earth, and he has been there ever since, there never was a time when God was not. There was a time when the earth was not, there was a time when we as human beings were not, there was a time when everything that has been created was not but there never was a time when God was not. For us this is something that is quite difficult to grasp isn’t it? We are creatures who are bound by time, always rushing somewhere or other because we are late for this or that. But God is not bound by time in the same way we are, God is above time, God is beyond time as we read in other parts of the bible that a year is like a thousand days and a thousand days is like a year to God. I suppose this makes the ultimate sense that God is eternal, because if he were not, if there was a time when God was created then the thing that created God would be the thing that deserved worship and praise and glory. But it’s not that way because God was always there, God was never created, he is eternal. As we come to prayer I think it is helpful for us to remember this characteristic of God, that he is eternal, this is the God that we are bringing our requests to tonight, the one who is eternal the one who is without beginning or end, the alpha and the omega. The God we serve the God we pray to is eternal, the God we pray to is eternally consistent, and we know that when we come to him pleading Jesus blood on our behalf he will always hear us because he loves to hear us. So firstly from Genesis one then the God we serve is eternal, there never was a time or never will be a time when God ceases to be, he was not created by something else, God is Eternal.

God is a Creator

          The second thing we see about God from this opening chapter of the bible is that he is a creator and we can read about this in verse 1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” We are told that as well as being eternal God created all that we see around us. In the next few verses the author of the book of Genesis gives a rundown of all the things that God created culminating in the pinnacle of his creation human beings. The point is easily missed that God created them all, everything that we see today God created it, the light and darkness, God created it, the dry ground and the waters God created it, the vegetation of earth all the plants and trees, all the birds of the air all the beasts of the ground and fish of the sea God created them. At the pinnacle of his creation God made humanity, he gave them dominion over all the other things he had created and placed them in charge to rule his world under his rule. This is quite an unpopular idea today isn’t it? So much scientific discovery seems to undermine the notion of a creator God, there seems to be scientific evidence for evolution for natural selection for the big bang theory, but we as Christians believe that we are not the result of a mere accident a mere collision of atoms but we believe that we have been lovingly created by a God who is eternal. This is the God we come to tonight, the God who made us, the God who shaped us, the God who knew us when we were still in our mother’s womb. There is that intimacy with God, as you come to God in your quiet times, as you pray to him inwardly even during theweek don’t be afraid to bear your heart to him because he knows you better than you know yourself, bear all the things that trouble you and concern you and weigh you down because God already knows about them because he made you. Before we leave this theme of God as a creator I want us also to notice how God does his creation, he simply speaks and it happens, we can see an example of this in verse 3, “And God said, let there be light, and there was light.” Here we see something of the power of the creator God all he has to do is speak and it happens. I think most of you will have seen the advert for the new IPhone 4s, and apparently one of the great things about this new IPhone is that you can speak to it and it will do what you tell it to do, so in the advert someone asks how many appointments do I have today? And the phone responds by bringing up the list of appointments, or another asks will I need my umbrella today? And the phone brings up todays weather forecast. In theory you have authority over the phone, you tell it what to do and it does it, but really the phone is only doing what it was programmed to do. Here, we are told there is darkness over the land and then God speaks and suddenly what God says happens, let there be light and there is light. God has authority over his creation, God has power over his creation still, God has not just created the world and left it be, God is the one who sustains the world he has created, he watches over it and still has the power and authority to intervene in its events and bring about his purposes. So as we come to God in prayer, let’s remember that he is the creator and the sustainer of the world around us. When we come to prayer let’s ask in faith believing that the God who made the world, the God who sustains the world is able to do all that we ask, even when the situation seems hopeless our God is a creator and sustainer and is able to intervene in miraculous ways in accordance with his will. So God is eternal, secondly God is a creator and thirdly for tonight we see that God is triune.

God is Triune


Thirdly then we see that God is triune from verse 26 following, “Then God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The verbs used here are all in the plural; let us make man in our image. A lot of the early heresies in the early church centred on the person of Christ was he fully God and fully man, could he really have held both identities at the same time. Is Jesus really the same as God the father? One of the early mantra’s of those who denied the deity of Christ was “There was when he was not.” There was a time when Jesus Christ ceased to exist; in effect there was a moment when Christ was created by God. This verse blows this assumption out of the water, the very first book of the bible talks about our God as triune, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God does not say let me make man in my image but rather let us make man in our image. Of course the opening verses of John’s gospel teach us much the same thing that Jesus was with God in the beginning but right here at the start of the bible we are told that God is more than one and of course we believe that God is triune, father son and Holy Spirit. But why does this matter to us tonight? Well it matters because as Jesus died on the cross he was propitiating, he was turning away the father’s righteous anger at our sin, at our wrongdoing. If we are to have confidence as we come to prayer, as we come to God, then we have to know that our sins are forgiven; we have to know that we can come with confidence because our debts had been fully paid. Here wonderfully we see in the opening verses of the bible that Jesus is fully God, that his sinless life is enough for us to come to the father in confidence because we know that he has paid our penalty. It matters also because we are told that the Holy Spirit seals all those who are truly followers of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will guard the deposit until the day of completion. We all have days when we feel like we can’t hold on anymore but we know that the Holy Spirit has sealed those who are truly God’s and not one of them will be lost. So as we come tonight to the triune God let us come with confidence not in ourselves but in God’s son Jesus Christ because we know that he has paid the penalty fully that we deserve, let us come with confidence because we know that if we are truly converted then the Holy Spirit has been set upon as a seal until that day when Christ returns and takes us to be with him forever. So God is triune and finally for tonight God is sovereign.

God is Sovereign

          Finally for tonight then we see that God is sovereign and we can see this from verse 26, “Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God’s sovereignty is displayed here by his instructions to his creatures; the human beings are to rule over all the things he has created under his ultimate rule. This was a fundamental part of being created in the image of God here in Genesis 1. Fundamentally to be created in God’s image meant to be put in control of the world under his authority. Of course we as humans have made a mess of this instruction and ignored and rebelled against God at every turn but this doesn’t make God any less sovereign over his creation, it doesn’t mean that God is in any less control of his creation than he was when he first created it. God is still powerful to act and all powerful over his creation. Let’s remember this tonight , that we don’t come to an idol who is deaf and mute, an idol who can’t help us in our time of need, we don’t come to an idol who has no control over the events of our lives, we come to the true and living God, we come to the God who is sovereign, we come to the God who even now has the power to act. So God is sovereign.

Musings On Ministry

During the past six months I have been working in Sainsbury's Holywood Exchange, a job I enjoy, a job which God has used to show me my own failings, my own weaknesses but most of all a job that God has used to convince me that full time pastoral ministry is my calling in life.

During these six months I have had ample opportunity to teach and preach in various settings and the biggest regret I have is in not being able to give the time to God's word in order to fully do it justice. I suppose I really should have said no to some of the invitations but I guess that's just me and my desire to take every opportunity to preach.

However it has also filled me with a sense of appreciation of those who are involved in so called "tent making ministries", the desire these men have to do a full time job and then start to prepare for a sermon on Sunday just amazes me, but I suppose the question circling in my mind is, is it right? Is it right that God's word receives the last of my time after Sainsbury's and prayer meeting and so many other things that clutter up our diary? Is it right that God's word is relegated below a national retailer? I don't think it is but at the minute this is what is necessary for me. I know there are many out there who can relate to this frustration. Is it right? Ideally I think not, ideally every minister would be supported by those who he is ministering to but right now we don't live in an ideal world.

Above all these six months have strengthened my conviction that studying, preparing, meditating upon God's word is a real privilege,a real calling in life and has strengthened my resolve that this is what I want to do with my life. These six months have excited me for the prospect of college and the prospect of studying God's word in more detail. They have strengthened my resolve in the sovereign God, the Providences of life may not always fall out where we want them to but they all fall out within God's plan and for that I rejoice in the past six months and look forward God willing to the next three years preparing for a lifetime of ministry.