PLUS … Weekend reflections on the Psalms, and the Big Picture by Philip Greenslade

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EVERY DAYMAR/APR 2012

Pastoral EpistlesIAN StAckhoUSe

Isaiah 1–39PhILIP GReeNSLADe

C2CED MA 2012 text.indd 1 28/10/11 13:31:03

March | IntroDuctIon

Copyright © CWR 2006, 2011

First published 2006 by CWR. This edition published 2011 by CWR, Waverley Abbey House, Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey GU9 8EP, England. CWR is a Registered Charity – Number 294387 and a Limited Company registered in England – Registration Number 1990308.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of CWR.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are from the Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV), copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society.

Other Scripture quotations are marked:

AV: The Authorised Version

ESV: Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Concept development, editing, design and production by CWR

Cover image: istock/andipantz

Printed in England by Linney Print

Philip GreensladeHaving originally trained for the Baptist ministry, Philip has over 30 years’ experience in Christian ministry. He has worked with CWR since 1991 in the areas of biblical studies, pastoral care and leadership. With his passion for teaching God’s Word, he offers a refreshing and challenging perspective for all those who attend his courses. Close to Philip’s heart are the long-running Bible Discovery Weekends. He is currently Course Director for CWR’s new postgraduate programme in Pastoral Leadership. Philip is the author of several books.

Ian StackhouseIan Stackhouse is the Senior Pastor of Guildford Baptist Church, and is author of two books: The Gospel-Driven Church (2004), and The Day is Yours: Slow Spirituality in a Fast-moving World (2008). His third book entitled Primitive Piety is due to be published in 2012. He has also travelled extensively teaching and mentoring pastors, theological students and mission teams both in the UK and abroad. He is married to Susanna and they have four boys, all keen Burnley FC fans!

By any account, Isaiah of Jerusalem was a remarkable man. His prophetic ministry lasted 60 years, and spanned the reigns of four Judean kings – Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah – during the second half of the eighth-century BC. Moving easily in court circles, he spoke the word of God during a critical phase of the history of God’s people. He lived through the nerve-jangling and persistent threat posed by Assyrian imperial expansion which, in 722 BC, destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and its capital, Samaria, and later, around 701 BC, ravaged Judah and threatened to engulf Jerusalem.

In this extended period of danger Isaiah urged first Ahaz and then Hezekiah to trust in Yahweh rather than in political alliances (7–9; 36–39). It takes deep trust in God to be a servant king or servant people in the turbulent world of power politics. But, by God’s grace, the times of wrenching transition, when our lives are most painfully disrupted, may become the God-designed ‘rites of passage’ to fresh stages of faith and maturity.

In critical times – times of great anxiety or uncertainty, whether for nations or individuals – the prophetic challenge is to forego reliance on our own wit and wisdom and to put our entire faith in the Lord.

Isaiah will lead us to the heart of worship of the thrice-holy God (6:1–13), and show us a glimpse of His glorious kingdom (9:1–21) – and these things are written so that you and I may believe.

Isaiah 1–39Philip Greenslade

C2CED MA 2012 text.indd 2 28/10/11 13:31:03

March | IntroDuctIon

Copyright © CWR 2006, 2011

First published 2006 by CWR. This edition published 2011 by CWR, Waverley Abbey House, Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey GU9 8EP, England. CWR is a Registered Charity – Number 294387 and a Limited Company registered in England – Registration Number 1990308.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of CWR.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are from the Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV), copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society.

Other Scripture quotations are marked:

AV: The Authorised Version

ESV: Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Concept development, editing, design and production by CWR

Cover image: istock/andipantz

Printed in England by Linney Print

By any account, Isaiah of Jerusalem was a remarkable man. His prophetic ministry lasted 60 years, and spanned the reigns of four Judean kings – Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah – during the second half of the eighth-century BC. Moving easily in court circles, he spoke the word of God during a critical phase of the history of God’s people. He lived through the nerve-jangling and persistent threat posed by Assyrian imperial expansion which, in 722 BC, destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and its capital, Samaria, and later, around 701 BC, ravaged Judah and threatened to engulf Jerusalem.

In this extended period of danger Isaiah urged first Ahaz and then Hezekiah to trust in Yahweh rather than in political alliances (7–9; 36–39). It takes deep trust in God to be a servant king or servant people in the turbulent world of power politics. But, by God’s grace, the times of wrenching transition, when our lives are most painfully disrupted, may become the God-designed ‘rites of passage’ to fresh stages of faith and maturity.

In critical times – times of great anxiety or uncertainty, whether for nations or individuals – the prophetic challenge is to forego reliance on our own wit and wisdom and to put our entire faith in the Lord.

Isaiah will lead us to the heart of worship of the thrice-holy God (6:1–13), and show us a glimpse of His glorious kingdom (9:1–21) – and these things are written so that you and I may believe.

Isaiah 1–39Philip Greenslade

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The first focus is the city of the Lord (1:21–31). Jerusalem was vital to the faith of Israel

in two main ways. Materially, it stood at the centre of national life and wor-ship as the seat of kingship and the goal of pilgrimage. But Jerusalem also served as a vivid symbol for the hopes and dreams of God’s dwelling with His people in His future kingdom. So ‘the book of Isaiah moves from the perverse worship offered by physical Jerusalem under judgement arising from the neglect of Yahweh’s kingship to the worship of Yahweh in the New Jerusalem’ (Bill Dumbrell; see 65:18).

Meanwhile, the situation fac-ing Isaiah is dire. The city, meant to be God’s bridal partner, is now a whore (1:21). The city no longer rep-resents God wedded to His people; now the covenant bond is broken by Israel’s unfaithfulness. What follows from Israel’s rebellion is an inevita-ble debasement of all true love and loyalty, a meltdown of morality, the devaluation of the currency of all relationships (1:22). The worst become the top people, and those at the bottom

God’s mountain city

IsaIah 1:21–2:5 | FrI 2 MAr

The Holy One of Israel’ (v.4) is Isaiah’s distinctive descrip-tion of God (used 25 times

in Isaiah; only 7 elsewhere), perhaps directly echoing his call (6:1–13). The transcendent God, ‘full of majesty and mystery’ (Alec Motyer), has stooped to enter into partnership with a particular people. Such a God presents the people’s greatest hope or biggest threat!

To Israel, in her mid-eighth cen-tury BC sinful condition, God poses an immediate threat. Isaiah issues a typical prophetic ‘lawsuit’ against God’s people, a ‘legal indictment’ of them, and calls on the cosmos to witness to it (v.2). Israel has lost the plot and its place in the scheme of things (v.3). God’s holy nation has become sinful, His chosen people sin-laden, His children corrupt (v.4). Shockingly, God’s people have turned their backs on Him (v.4b). And sin has made them sick. There is no soundness in them, and open wounds disfigure the nation’s life.

As Isaiah’s lawsuit intensifies he targets their worship. Worship on one day of the week, however dutiful

and elaborate, is spurious if it masks social injustice on the other six days. God finds such hypocritical worship an intolerable burden. He does not authorise it (v.12), won’t accept it (v.13), can’t approve it (v.14), and refuses to answer it (v.15). God calls on the people to ‘clean up their act’ by purifying themselves personally and by practising righteousness in their community (vv.16–17).

Two glimmers of light emerge. The first is the mention of the remnant or ‘survivors’ (v.9) – a theme which, throughout Isaiah, will hold out hope for the future. The second is that we may relish God’s winsome invitation to think again (v.18), to renew a cov-enant relationship which holds out the gracious promise that God will do what the people cannot do, and cleanse them from their sins. Better to run to His open arms of holy love than to for-sake Him and face the consequences of a slow sickness unto death. When will we learn that God – precisely because He is ‘the Holy One of Israel’ – is always good news?

Meet the holy One

thurs 1 MAr | IsaIah 1:1–20

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The first focus is the city of the Lord (1:21–31). Jerusalem was vital to the faith of Israel

in two main ways. Materially, it stood at the centre of national life and wor-ship as the seat of kingship and the goal of pilgrimage. But Jerusalem also served as a vivid symbol for the hopes and dreams of God’s dwelling with His people in His future kingdom. So ‘the book of Isaiah moves from the perverse worship offered by physical Jerusalem under judgement arising from the neglect of Yahweh’s kingship to the worship of Yahweh in the New Jerusalem’ (Bill Dumbrell; see 65:18).

Meanwhile, the situation fac-ing Isaiah is dire. The city, meant to be God’s bridal partner, is now a whore (1:21). The city no longer rep-resents God wedded to His people; now the covenant bond is broken by Israel’s unfaithfulness. What follows from Israel’s rebellion is an inevita-ble debasement of all true love and loyalty, a meltdown of morality, the devaluation of the currency of all relationships (1:22). The worst become the top people, and those at the bottom

of the social strata suffer the most (1:23). In response, God not only threat-ens judgment (1:24–25) but amazingly promises restoration (1:26–31). This redemption is not cheap grace and is no cover-up, but is a thoroughgoing cleansing which leaves more sober and penitent citizens.

The second focus is on ‘the moun-tain of the Lord’ (2:2–5). Isaiah gives us a stunning vision of the future ‘new’ Jerusalem, the kind of city God intends to establish in the ‘last days’. Central to it is the worship of the one Creator God to whose Temple and truth all nations are drawn as to a magnet, to learn the ways of God which make for peace. National diversity is affirmed but nationalistic hatreds are overcome; weaponry of all kinds is made redun-dant; war is no more.

Who does not long for a world like this? Only when God is acknowledged as King will it happen. All the more rea-son, then, for us to pray with urgency: May Your name be hallowed, may Your kingdom come, Your will done on earth as it is in heaven.

God’s mountain city

IsaIah 1:21–2:5 | FrI 2 MAr

and elaborate, is spurious if it masks social injustice on the other six days. God finds such hypocritical worship an intolerable burden. He does not authorise it (v.12), won’t accept it (v.13), can’t approve it (v.14), and refuses to answer it (v.15). God calls on the people to ‘clean up their act’ by purifying themselves personally and by practising righteousness in their community (vv.16–17).

Two glimmers of light emerge. The first is the mention of the remnant or ‘survivors’ (v.9) – a theme which, throughout Isaiah, will hold out hope for the future. The second is that we may relish God’s winsome invitation to think again (v.18), to renew a cov-enant relationship which holds out the gracious promise that God will do what the people cannot do, and cleanse them from their sins. Better to run to His open arms of holy love than to for-sake Him and face the consequences of a slow sickness unto death. When will we learn that God – precisely because He is ‘the Holy One of Israel’ – is always good news?

Meet the holy One

thurs 1 MAr | IsaIah 1:1–20

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This joyful song of thanksgiving is elated and energetic, embodied and enacted, and expressed with spiritual sensitivity – bold before the gods, humble before the Lord whose covenant love and faithful-ness is being celebrated (vv.1–2). As we see so often in the psalms, giving thanks involves public praise, which honours our Benefactor’s ‘name’.

The psalmist has stumbled on one of the sweet mysteries of prayer (v.3) – that when we pray we gain more than we give. We gain ‘soul strength’. ‘Prayer,’ said P.T. Forsyth, ‘is the assimilation of a holy God’s moral strength.’ Our souls are ful-filled even if our petitions are not. We may not get answers, but we are answered. In praying, as we expend energy, we are strangely replen-ished. An infusion of grace makes the praying heart ‘bold and stout-hearted’ (v.3).

At what Ronald Allen calls ‘the very heart of the poem’, the psalmist anticipates that the entire world and its rulers will bow the knee with him, for ‘the glory of the Lord is great’ (v.5b). This prophetic

vision fired the apostles to take the gospel to all nations and to pro-claim Christ’s Lordship over every Caesar (cf. Rom. 10:12–13; 15:8–12; 16:26).

But what psalmists and prophets alike know – and what it will take Jesus to enflesh – is that God’s glory is not ‘high-and-mightiness’ but shines most brightly as He bends to attend to the needs of the lowly, and even stoops to wash their feet (v.6; cf. Isa. 57:15).

If, as believers, we often seem to be walking out of step with the world, it is because we are premature ambassadors paying homage at the court of a King who is not yet fully recognised. But in the meantime we are sustained by believing that the Lord is able to protect and save (v.7), that He will fulfil His purpose (v.8), and that His covenant love will never leave us orphaned.

So ‘keep us firm in the hope You have set before us, so that we and all Your children may be free, and the whole earth live to praise Your name …’ (The Book of Common Prayer).

soul strength

WEEkEnD | PsalM 138

The tantalising swing in the prophet’s range of vision from the actual to the ideal

continues. Isaiah turns back to address the grim reality of things as they are. He shifts his attention from the ‘last days’ to the ‘day of the Lord’ that is close at hand (vv.6–22).

Tragically, God’s school of peace for the nations has become an academy of the pagans (v.6). Just when the world is attracted to Zion (v.2), and is seeking to learn God’s ways, God’s people are conforming to the world’s ways (v.6)! When the world is tiring of material-ism and militarism and seeking spir-itual health and peace (v.3), God’s peo-ple are intent on making money and stockpiling arms (v.7). When the world is seeking to find the one true God, God’s people are inventing idols (v.8). And when the world finds acceptance and peace at God’s feet, God’s people are abandoned and refused forgive-ness (vv.6,9).

How desperately tragic this is. How tragic it would be if, at the very time the

The lord will have His day

IsaIah 2:6–22 | Mon 5 MAr

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vision fired the apostles to take the gospel to all nations and to pro-claim Christ’s Lordship over every Caesar (cf. Rom. 10:12–13; 15:8–12; 16:26).

But what psalmists and prophets alike know – and what it will take Jesus to enflesh – is that God’s glory is not ‘high-and-mightiness’ but shines most brightly as He bends to attend to the needs of the lowly, and even stoops to wash their feet (v.6; cf. Isa. 57:15).

If, as believers, we often seem to be walking out of step with the world, it is because we are premature ambassadors paying homage at the court of a King who is not yet fully recognised. But in the meantime we are sustained by believing that the Lord is able to protect and save (v.7), that He will fulfil His purpose (v.8), and that His covenant love will never leave us orphaned.

So ‘keep us firm in the hope You have set before us, so that we and all Your children may be free, and the whole earth live to praise Your name …’ (The Book of Common Prayer).

soul strength

WEEkEnD | PsalM 138

The tantalising swing in the prophet’s range of vision from the actual to the ideal

continues. Isaiah turns back to address the grim reality of things as they are. He shifts his attention from the ‘last days’ to the ‘day of the Lord’ that is close at hand (vv.6–22).

Tragically, God’s school of peace for the nations has become an academy of the pagans (v.6). Just when the world is attracted to Zion (v.2), and is seeking to learn God’s ways, God’s people are conforming to the world’s ways (v.6)! When the world is tiring of material-ism and militarism and seeking spir-itual health and peace (v.3), God’s peo-ple are intent on making money and stockpiling arms (v.7). When the world is seeking to find the one true God, God’s people are inventing idols (v.8). And when the world finds acceptance and peace at God’s feet, God’s people are abandoned and refused forgive-ness (vv.6,9).

How desperately tragic this is. How tragic it would be if, at the very time the

world began in its desperation to look to the Church for hope and for answers, it found that the Church was no different because it had tried so hard to live like the world and to ape its values. Lord, may it not be so for us.

But the Lord will not stand idly by. His judgment bites deep into human pride. He is against a secular culture that builds a world in defiance of Him (vv.13–16). It will be brought low. ‘... the Lord alone will be exalted in that day’ (v.17). The dread and splendour of His majesty drains false confidence from disdainful faces (vv.10–11). Human haughtiness will have had its day, and God will have God’s day.

With all this said and done, we may wonder with astonishment that even God’s final word of judgment (v.22) is at the same time love’s last appeal. God’s people should know better than to refuse it. We may either run to Him or from Him; there is no third way.

The lord will have His day

IsaIah 2:6–22 | Mon 5 MAr

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The Big PicturePhilip Greenslade gives a glimpse of how isaiah and the Pastoral epistles fit together in God’s story.

Faith is always the key battleground. In John Oswalt’s words, ‘the whole of Isaiah chapters 7–39 hinges on the question: “Can God be trusted?”’ Isaiah, in the eighth-century BC, exerted all his prophetic energies to persuade Judah’s kings to trust God, not their own wits or flaky political alliances (Isa. 7:4,7; 30:15; cf. 36:5–7).

Paul in the first century (AD), as his ministry drew to a close, used all his apostolic passion to bolster the faith and courage of his younger colleagues. He could testify, ‘I have fought the good fight … I have kept the faith …’ (2 Tim. 4:7); now he urges the same strength of purpose on Timothy (1 Tim. 1:18–19). Such faith is not based on power of personality; Timothy was evidently somewhat timid. It is based firmly on what Paul calls ‘faith-ful sayings’ or ‘trustworthy statements’. In line with this, the Jewish author of ben Sirach wrote of ‘the prophet Isaiah who was great and trustworthy in his

visions’ (Sirach 48:22).Whether prophetically pastoring the

nation and its kings (as Isaiah sought to do), or apostolically pastoring the Church and its leaders (as Paul did), both servants of Israel’s God staked all on the trustworthiness of God’s Word, and gained God’s approval for rightly handling it and keeping faith with Him.

… servants of Israel’s God staked all on the

trustworthIness of God’s word …

Secondly, both Isaiah and Paul, while addressing their own day, show them-selves also to be greatly concerned with transmitting God’s truth to the next generation.

As the church historian, Jaroslav Pelikan, remarked, ‘traditionalism is the dead faith of the living: tradition is the living faith of the dead’. Tradition is an untrendy concept in both the cul-ture and the Church. But it was the empty-headed Athenians, we recall, who earned Paul’s rebuke for being obsessed with novelty. Only, however,

by being a community of memory can the Church be forward-looking with something to offer the future.

Because both Isaiah and Paul believed this, we are here today to tell the saving tale. Both were comfortable with the language of transmission and tradition, of receiving and passing on the truth.

As the storm clouds gathered over Judah, Isaiah gathered around him a group of disciples to whom he entrusted the precious prophetic vision of the kingdom (Isa. 8:16–9:7). These stew-ards of truth became the prophet’s sur-rogate family (8:18), the standing sign of wonderful God’s future. Similarly, Paul ‘fathered’ Timothy as his ‘son in the faith’. He urged him to ‘guard the deposit’ of the truth of the gospel that had been amazingly committed to Paul’s charge and which he was now entrusting to Timothy to cherish and to pass on, in his turn, to others.

Today as a new Dark Ages looms in Western Europe, we too are being challenged not only to embrace inno-vative evangelism and new forms of church but to make sure we keep faith with the gospel that has been handed

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The Big Picturevisions’ (Sirach 48:22).

Whether prophetically pastoring the nation and its kings (as Isaiah sought to do), or apostolically pastoring the Church and its leaders (as Paul did), both servants of Israel’s God staked all on the trustworthiness of God’s Word, and gained God’s approval for rightly handling it and keeping faith with Him.

… servants of Israel’s God staked all on the

trustworthIness of God’s word …

Secondly, both Isaiah and Paul, while addressing their own day, show them-selves also to be greatly concerned with transmitting God’s truth to the next generation.

As the church historian, Jaroslav Pelikan, remarked, ‘traditionalism is the dead faith of the living: tradition is the living faith of the dead’. Tradition is an untrendy concept in both the cul-ture and the Church. But it was the empty-headed Athenians, we recall, who earned Paul’s rebuke for being obsessed with novelty. Only, however,

by being a community of memory can the Church be forward-looking with something to offer the future.

Because both Isaiah and Paul believed this, we are here today to tell the saving tale. Both were comfortable with the language of transmission and tradition, of receiving and passing on the truth.

As the storm clouds gathered over Judah, Isaiah gathered around him a group of disciples to whom he entrusted the precious prophetic vision of the kingdom (Isa. 8:16–9:7). These stew-ards of truth became the prophet’s sur-rogate family (8:18), the standing sign of wonderful God’s future. Similarly, Paul ‘fathered’ Timothy as his ‘son in the faith’. He urged him to ‘guard the deposit’ of the truth of the gospel that had been amazingly committed to Paul’s charge and which he was now entrusting to Timothy to cherish and to pass on, in his turn, to others.

Today as a new Dark Ages looms in Western Europe, we too are being challenged not only to embrace inno-vative evangelism and new forms of church but to make sure we keep faith with the gospel that has been handed

down to us. In Tom Oden’s wise words, ‘An important aspect of contemporary discipling consists simply in recollec-tion, the imaginative remembering and reappropriation of apostolic teaching.’

Western culture increasingly believes in anything or nothing and cannot comprehend that any belief is worth being inconvenienced by, let alone worth dying for! Such a vacuous cul-ture is easy prey for a fanatical religion which emphatically does believe such things. Reading Isaiah and Paul raises the question for us as contemporary Christians: will we be found to have convictions that are worth dying for? – not, as our gospel underlines, con-victions worth killing for but certainly worth suffering for?

western culture IncreasInGly belIeves In

anythInG or nothInG …

The vision of a government which is upon His shoulders, of a gospel that remembers Jesus risen from the dead, has been bequeathed to us. We had better believe it.

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aPrIl | IntroDuctIon

Pastoral EpistlesIan stackhouse

oveR The years certain groups have sought to excise the pastoral epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) from the canon of Scripture. These writings represent, so they claim, the waning of the charismatic fire of the Spirit and the growing institutionalisation of the Church. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. The pastoral epistles contain some of the most passionate, charismatic and personal verses in the whole of Scripture. In fact there is nothing in the Bible more relevant at the moment than the advice Paul gives to his young charge Timothy. Read together, these letters give us important theological tools with which to combat ancient Gnosticism, which now finds contemporary expression in a whole plethora of books on new age spirituality, including, of course, The Da Vinci Code.

To cut these letters out of the canon of Scripture would be to renege on the faith once delivered to the saints and open the door to a vague, speculative spirituality of the kind promoted by the false teachers and their cohorts. For sure, there is conservatism in these letters. Paul is out to defend the faith from innovations and loose theology. But, then again, there is a comfort in conservatism. All good pastoral theology needs to conserve and to pass on the great tradition. If we are worried that this might imply a quenching of the Spirit, however, then we need look no further than the opening verses of 2 Timothy, and learn once again to fan into flame the gift of God that is in us.

These days we are inundated with all kinds of strange teachings. The average

Christian confronts as much spiritual gobbledygook in a year as the apostle Paul encountered in his lifetime. From the plethora of titles such as Seven Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment to the smorgasbord of Christian TV, there seems to be an insatiable appetite for myths and genealogies, reflecting in many ways the questing that is evident in the culture at large. Go to a secular bookshop and you will be hard pressed to find a decent Bible so awash are we in esoteric spirituality.

The reason for this popular quest for the mystical is quite simple, and is as old as the hills: laziness. In comparison with the slow, arduous task of spiritual formation in Christ and loving the Church, it is far easier to indulge in idle controversies and spiritual technolo-gies. Indeed, how many of our spiritual gurus use the apparent messiness of the institutional Church as a foil for their exciting new discoveries?

Paul, however, will have noth-ing of this. He leaves young Timothy

Faith working through love

1 TIMOThy 1:1–11 | Mon 2 APr

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aPrIl | IntroDuctIon

Pastoral EpistlesIan stackhouse

oveR The years certain groups have sought to excise the pastoral epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) from the canon of Scripture. These writings represent, so they claim, the waning of the charismatic fire of the Spirit and the growing institutionalisation of the Church. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. The pastoral epistles contain some of the most passionate, charismatic and personal verses in the whole of Scripture. In fact there is nothing in the Bible more relevant at the moment than the advice Paul gives to his young charge Timothy. Read together, these letters give us important theological tools with which to combat ancient Gnosticism, which now finds contemporary expression in a whole plethora of books on new age spirituality, including, of course, The Da Vinci Code.

To cut these letters out of the canon of Scripture would be to renege on the faith once delivered to the saints and open the door to a vague, speculative spirituality of the kind promoted by the false teachers and their cohorts. For sure, there is conservatism in these letters. Paul is out to defend the faith from innovations and loose theology. But, then again, there is a comfort in conservatism. All good pastoral theology needs to conserve and to pass on the great tradition. If we are worried that this might imply a quenching of the Spirit, however, then we need look no further than the opening verses of 2 Timothy, and learn once again to fan into flame the gift of God that is in us.

These days we are inundated with all kinds of strange teachings. The average

Christian confronts as much spiritual gobbledygook in a year as the apostle Paul encountered in his lifetime. From the plethora of titles such as Seven Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment to the smorgasbord of Christian TV, there seems to be an insatiable appetite for myths and genealogies, reflecting in many ways the questing that is evident in the culture at large. Go to a secular bookshop and you will be hard pressed to find a decent Bible so awash are we in esoteric spirituality.

The reason for this popular quest for the mystical is quite simple, and is as old as the hills: laziness. In comparison with the slow, arduous task of spiritual formation in Christ and loving the Church, it is far easier to indulge in idle controversies and spiritual technolo-gies. Indeed, how many of our spiritual gurus use the apparent messiness of the institutional Church as a foil for their exciting new discoveries?

Paul, however, will have noth-ing of this. He leaves young Timothy

in Ephesus in order to square up to such Gnostic indulgence, to command these spiritual elites to give themselves instead to the patient, and often pain-ful, challenge of walking by faith (v.4) in the community of believers. The goal of this command, of course, is love – something these false teachers were in short supply of. In fact their liking for controversy was, for Paul, the very thing that gave them away. But if we are to be serious about building Christian community then we have to put aside vain speculations and love the Church. For in the end there are no easy answers, no short-cuts, no spiritual technologies that can do it for us – simply ‘long obedience in the same direction’.

Oh yes. Just a small digression (vv. 8–11): if you are going to use the law, use it properly. Don’t speculate about it, but use the law like a good evangelist. See the law as the needle that makes way for the scarlet thread of the glorious gospel of the blessed God. For good news is only good news when we first hear the bad news.

Faith working through love

1 TIMOThy 1:1–11 | Mon 2 APr

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Exclusivity is the bane of true Christian faith. There is, of course, a proper exclusivity

which preserves for us the notion that among all the religions of the world Christianity is unique and absolute. But the idea that the gospel is the preserve of an elite few, as some were claiming in Ephesus, is about as dis-tasteful as you can get – as if the all-encompassing, world-embracing gospel of Christ, whose crucified body stretches out to the four corners of the earth, could be limited to just a few.

In the case of Ephesus, the exclusiv-ism was clearly something to do with the speculative, esoteric spirituality – with its implied Jewishness – that was being promoted by a number of stray-ing teachers, possibly elders. Added to that there was a mild disdain for the things of normal life, such as mar-riage and children. So what we find in Ephesus is a high-octane religion designed to keep the riff-raff at bay.

Paul was totally opposed to all of this. In these few verses he is at pains to instruct Timothy that the gospel is for everyone. He urges that prayer be

No private clubs

1 TIMOThy 2:1– 8 | WED 4 APr

One of the great problems in the modern Church is the lack of wonder. ‘Our

churches are full of the nicest kindest people,’ wrote P.T. Forsyth, ‘who know nothing missionary nor apostolic.’ And the reason for that, he concludes, is that ‘they know neither the soul’s despair, nor breathless gratitude’ – meaning that because we have no real sense of the soul’s sinfulness then, ipso facto, we have no real experience of the wonder of salvation. Certainly, we can give a good account of what grace means, but not grace experienced first-hand; not grace that can lift the roof off; not amazing grace.

Well, you could never accuse Paul of that kind of bland Christianity. His blood lust for errant Jews who had converted to Christianity had made him, in his own words, the ‘chief ’ of sinners (v.15, AV). Not only was he a persecutor but he was a blasphemer. But precisely because he saw himself as the chief of sinners, the grace that was poured out on him abundantly – along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus (v.14) – resulted in

nothing less than breathless gratitude to the King, immortal, invisible (v.17). For, ultimately, all great theology ends in doxology.

And if we wonder why it is that peo-ple get so excited about the gospel then maybe it is because we ourselves need saving. Conversely, if we think that we could never be a recipient of this grace of God because of the terrible and shameful things we have done in the past, we are equally mistaken. If God can save Paul, so the argument runs, then He can save anyone (v.16). The forbearance of God towards the worst sinner, namely Paul, is an example, an illustration of the fact that no one is beyond the pale of God’s mercy. All we have to do is to believe on Him and receive the life of the age to come. In short, Christianity is not some strange esoteric religion for the spiritual elite, but public truth for the ‘whoevers’ of the world who, in simplicity, put their faith and trust in the historic and actual death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul is the prototype.

amazing grace

tuEs 3 APr | 1 TIMOThy 1:12–20

C2CED MA 2012 text.indd 36 28/10/11 13:31:06

Exclusivity is the bane of true Christian faith. There is, of course, a proper exclusivity

which preserves for us the notion that among all the religions of the world Christianity is unique and absolute. But the idea that the gospel is the preserve of an elite few, as some were claiming in Ephesus, is about as dis-tasteful as you can get – as if the all-encompassing, world-embracing gospel of Christ, whose crucified body stretches out to the four corners of the earth, could be limited to just a few.

In the case of Ephesus, the exclusiv-ism was clearly something to do with the speculative, esoteric spirituality – with its implied Jewishness – that was being promoted by a number of stray-ing teachers, possibly elders. Added to that there was a mild disdain for the things of normal life, such as mar-riage and children. So what we find in Ephesus is a high-octane religion designed to keep the riff-raff at bay.

Paul was totally opposed to all of this. In these few verses he is at pains to instruct Timothy that the gospel is for everyone. He urges that prayer be

made for everyone (v.2) – even kings in authority – because God wants all people to be saved (v.4). For there is indeed one God (v.5), as the Jewish shema affirms. This means not simply that there are no other gods, but that God is the one God over all peoples. And the one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus, gave Himself as a ransom for all people (v.6). After all, Paul himself had been called as a herald and an apostle, but also as a teacher of the true faith to those previously beyond the pale – the Gentiles (v.7).

The reality is that in the end to belong to the true faith is not to belong to some elite club and be caught up in strange controversies, but to belong to the Church of ragamuffins who have been saved by the testimony of God’s amazing love. In one sense, the Church is the most inclusive society of all. So let us lift up holy hands without dis-puting, and without pride, and pray for everyone, everywhere.

No private clubs

1 TIMOThy 2:1– 8 | WED 4 APr

nothing less than breathless gratitude to the King, immortal, invisible (v.17). For, ultimately, all great theology ends in doxology.

And if we wonder why it is that peo-ple get so excited about the gospel then maybe it is because we ourselves need saving. Conversely, if we think that we could never be a recipient of this grace of God because of the terrible and shameful things we have done in the past, we are equally mistaken. If God can save Paul, so the argument runs, then He can save anyone (v.16). The forbearance of God towards the worst sinner, namely Paul, is an example, an illustration of the fact that no one is beyond the pale of God’s mercy. All we have to do is to believe on Him and receive the life of the age to come. In short, Christianity is not some strange esoteric religion for the spiritual elite, but public truth for the ‘whoevers’ of the world who, in simplicity, put their faith and trust in the historic and actual death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul is the prototype.

amazing grace

tuEs 3 APr | 1 TIMOThy 1:12–20

C2CED MA 2012 text.indd 37 28/10/11 13:31:06