Friday, October 14, 2022

 

Friday, October 14, 2022


Psalms 108; 109:20-30

Ezra 5

1 Peter 2:11-17


We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth…


One of the curious side-effects of the rise of the middle class and Australia’s history as a place of upward economic mobility is the inversion of the relationship between class and money. During colonisation, Australia became known internationally as the place where one could escape Victorian era snobbery. Some 200 years later we see the result: people with money have no class, and people with class have no money. Public commentators call this system “egalitarianism”. It is no small cause for mirth that correctly using a knife and fork in public makes one stand out.


Peter wants the church to stand out even more than an Australian who, instead of swearing, manages to use the correct words for their sentence. His concept of social distinction is between “the exiles” and everyone else. The basis for this distinction is, as he has already explained, the precious blood of Jesus. How this distinction looks in practise is by the standard to which we hold ourselves.


Unbelievers will often criticise us because we behave ourselves out of fear of the Lord. They claim that they behave themselves because they are inherently “good people”. All one needs to do to demonstrate this as foolishness is to compare what morals were required of a “good” person at any point in the past; where God never changes, human morals change monthly.


We want to please God: we are His servants, and the honour of His name is our primary concern. We do not fear that God will punish us for misbehaving, for that would render Jesus’ precious blood useless. Our fear of God is holy; we have a healthy respect and abiding love for the One who we know, above everyone else, deserves it.


The difference between the believer and the unbeliever is our absolute moral standard, and the impossibly high level of behaviour to which we aspire. It would be easy to slacken in one area or another. But we are distinct; holy. We are not proud of this for ourselves. We care only for God’s honour, and God’s work in building His kingdom, as His faithful servants. Working on a cosmic timeline (as opposed to the unbeliever, whose imagination can only run to the end of his nose), we know that God is coming to judge one day. The ignorance of the foolish will be silenced, and all that will be left is honest and pure love, both for God and one another.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday, September 12, 2022

  Monday, September 12, 2022 Psalm 33 Habakkuk 1:1-11 Ephesians 1:1-14 In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. The lectionary has taken us from the beloved disciple to one of the most beloved of Paul's epistles: Ephesians. Paul must have loved this church very much: we get a sense of his fondness for them and their shared sense of purpose and worship just from the introduction. In what is likely just an introduction to a letter in the style of the ancient Roman world, Paul has managed to squeeze in the entire, wondrous story of God's work of redemption. Paul has framed it the way it ought to be framed: in a pastoral, encouraging tone. He has three main points here (remember, Paul proceeds logically to build up an argument, unlike John who circles around his main point). First: God intended to save us before the world was formed. Think back to the first l
Read more

“Short time or long – I pray to God not only you but all who are listening become like I am, except for these chains.”

  Monday, September 11, 2023 Psalms 28; 29 1 Kings 7:51-8:21 Acts 26:19-32 Observance: Deiniol, bishop (d. 384) “ Short time or long – I pray to God not only you but all who are listening become like I am, except for these chains.” The great many blessings of being under the protection of the blood of the Lamb fill our hearts with joy and peace. To have the Almighty Creator of the universe, the One who sits above the flood, filling the temple of our being with the cloud of His presence is what it truly means to be human. Every day is filled with adventure; every night turns to the rest of the victor. Certainly there are chains: sometimes they are physical chains, the suffering of being a Christian among people who do not love the Lord. Sometimes they are spiritual; the attacks of the powers of the air who try to distract us from the One we love. But they always fall away. Our Rock of Ages always frees us; always brings us out of the pit of despair. A won
Read more

Monday, September 19

  Monday, September 19 Psalm 45 Nahum 1:15-2:9 Ephesians 4:17-28 ...be renewed in the spirit of your minds... It is far too easy to read some of these Pauline lists of virtues and vices and feel like we have gone back to the dark days before the Reformation. The idea that if we behave ourselves then we can call ourselves “good people” is pagan, not Christian. Paul feels very strongly about how Christians behave, he “affirms and insists” upon it. But it is because of what has already happened that we should mind our step, not because of where we are going. Christ's resurrection is many things, but one aspect relevant for Paul's teaching this morning is that it demonstrates to us the radical new reality in which we now live. We too have passed (spiritually) from death to life; therefore, we experience a “renewal of our minds”. Instead of treading water until we die, we live lives. Everything now makes sense: God has spoken, so we have logic. God made us in His im
Read more