Service, Separation and Humility

I'm going to throw some thoughts out about Christian service in this blog, but before I do I thought it would be good to talk about societies, groups, affiliations and cliques - anywhere where a group of people establish an identity within their group. That group could be anything, people who prefer Macs to PCs, people who like a particular genre of music, people who are wealthy, or good looking or just look the same or have the same ethnicity or social class.

These groups can be useful, people can share stories and information about subjects that are of interest to them but they can also over-emphasize the differences between the people who are within their group and those who are not - rather than look at the similarities.

There's an Emo Philips joke which captures perfectly what happens when we become too cliquey.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said.

I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

He said, "Like what?"

I said, "Well, are you religious or atheist?"

He said, "Religious."

I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

He said, "Christian."

I said, "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

He said, "Protestant."

I said, "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

He said, "Baptist!"

I said, "Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

He said, "Baptist Church of God!"

I said, "Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God!"

I said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"

He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"

I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off

So even (or maybe especially) within religious groups our desire to be with those who are like us can cause us to look down and remain apart from those who are not like us, to judge others, and this makes it hard for us to have true compassion on others.

What has this got to do with service you may well ask (hopefully in your head, it would look odd if you were talking to your computer right now)

Well these issue of isolation, and our pride are broken down through the practice of true Christian serving. True Christian service is a solution to separation and an antidote to pride

Q: What is Christian service? Often when we think of service in a Christian context we imagine playing in the worship team, helping with the childrens' group, leading a study etc..

All of these things are service but they are just a subset of the ways in which we can serve and in fact the more we get involved in Christian service the less time we have to mix with those who are not Christians and we can end up living in a religious bubble where we really don't care too much for those outside because we rarely interact with them and don't leave ourselves enough time to serve them.

When we spend lots of time with people we cannot help but get some level of emotional attachment to them, whether that is good or bad. At work I deal with some companies that I don't particularly admire (although some of the people are really good) and yet we all have to work together on projects which can be challenging sometimes as the different companies are trying to achieve different things. One of the ways in which we work around this is to sit everyone on the same floor and get rid of partitions between desks so it is all open plan. Not everyone enjoyed this at first, people liked their cubicles and the privacy they offered, but they soon got used to it and and being able to see everyone all the time and speak to everyone just by throwing something at them and them and then having a few words across the desks has helped build a sense of community. Even though the companies have different objectives the individuals have 'gone native' and work towards the goals of the people they see and hear every day. The company they work for is in many ways out of sight and out of mind.

Let's look at some examples of pride, humility and service in the Bible

Matthew 20: 20-28: Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
"What is it you want?" he asked.
She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."
"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.
Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."

When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

We can see a very counter cultural message in this passage - Increasing authority does not mean decreasing service. We're so used to those with the most authority doing the least serving that it is a radical message to hear that our call to service and the authority we have are not related.

Here's another passage to look at through the lens of service.

Matthew 25:31-46: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

This is another great passage that we can maybe glean something different from when we look at how it relates to service. For me this really emphasizes that the people did care for the 'least' had no idea that they would get recognized for it, and maybe also that the reason was that these were also random acts of kindness - unplanned and motivated by compassion rather than duty. Especially these days its difficult to even find time to do the things we're obliged to do let alone making time for unplanned kindness.

So true service holds no regard for recognition and has time for random kindness and compassion


This next passage shows both true service and a wrong perspective on service.

John 13: 1-17
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Now Peter doesn't want Jesus to wash his feet because of his view of authority and service, that the one in authority is served by the ones under authority. However, much like in the first passage Jesus is showing in a very clear and in what must have been to the disciples, a very startling manner that authority and service are independent. In this and the following passage we also see a unique aspect of Christianity

Philippians 2: 1-7 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

What an incredible privilege we have as Christians - to have a God who has shown us how to live with both authority and love. What other religion can claim to have been shown so clearly how to live.

So we see Jesus serving, but why is service important?

Going back to the start of this post, service helps us mix with different people whether that is age, class or ability - this is vital for stopping us from seeing the world from a self-centered perspective. When we mix with people we stop seeing them as different and start identifying with them and we are able to connect with them and care about them in a way we cannot while they are anonymous. When Jesus washed the disciples feet he gave us the example that service and love are linked - how can we love someone if we're not prepared to serve them - but what humility that requires.

This is another reason why service is so vital - in that it builds up humility, in fact it is probably essential for humility.

Humility is a virtue that we cannot attain by seeking it, the more we seek it the more distant it becomes. We cannot decide to be more humble, we cannot act more humbly and actually be more humble. The only sure way to become humble is to serve with a servant's heart and for it to be true service rather than self-righteous service.

To see what the difference is between these think about the following aspects of service:

• Attention
• Results
  
• Who and how we serve
• Opportunity

In all of these areas true service is agnostic - all that matters is whether the call to serve in that situation is there . It neither hides from or seeks the limelight, it does not get discouraged or over-confident because of results, it does not care about the worthiness or otherwise of the one being served or the manner of serving, and nor does it mind if the opportunity comes or goes, it is not possessive or dismissive of opportunity.

So here's a question; can service ever be a bad thing if we have good motives?

Here's an example that I think shows that we can let it become so

Exodus 18:13-23

The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."

So like all things in our Christian life we need to consider how it affects our relationship with God and those around us - service can become unhelpful:

• When it becomes a chore and we start to resent doing it. At this point it stops becoming something that builds up our relationship with God
• When it prevents us from performing random acts of kindness
• When our identity is so wrapped up in it that we need to keep doing it even if the need is not there, or the need for us to keep doing it is not there. Imagine playing in the worship team at church and a new person joins the church who plays the same instrument and who volunteers to play but we get protective of our position in the band.
• When we do it for the recognition or position
• When we do it for other wrong reasons, such as wanting to be in a group with certain people
  

So wrapping it all up we hopefully have a more complete view of the need for service in that true service:

• Stops separation, which in turn
  
• Enables compassion, which helps us put others before ourselves and so
  
• Builds up humility

We also need to understand the difference between self righteous service and true service - if we ask ourselves 'would I do this if no-one ever knew' then the chances are that it is true service.

Part II - Monday - The clearing of the temple and the withered fig tree

Spoiler alert - If you just started here without reading the previous blog you should start there, this is part 2 of a series

Monday

Mark 11: 12-21
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it.

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:
" 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When evening came, they went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
Let's start with the clearing of the temple. Remember the anticipation that has built up about what Jesus will do when he reaches the temple in Jerusalem - the very center of the Jewish faith. Well they may have expected lots of things but not this.
Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

Imagine that someone comes into your church during a service and kicks the microphones off of the stage, unplugs the microphones, tips over the drum set and kicks the lectern over - and no one tries to stop him! Now imagine that this isn't just your local church but the most important church in Christianity.
Q: So why didn't anyone stop him?

We have to understand this in the context of the triumphal entry the day before. Everyone in Jerusalem is waiting to see what he will do, waiting to see if he is the messiah, waiting to see if he will drive out the Romans. The crowd are behind him, the Jewish leaders are on high alert, everyone is waiting and uncertain - apart from Jesus. He knows exactly what he is doing and everyone else is just left puzzled in his wake - they just don't know how to react.

OK, so that's pretty interesting but let's scratch a little deeper and see what else this reveals - take a look at the end of the sentence about him clearing the temple.

[He]would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

Q: What is the significance of this statement?
Well the merchandise was to sacrifice, either animals or grain, and sacrifice was the way in which the people made atonement (quick diversion - good way to remember what atonement means is simply by splitting up the word at-one-ment - in other words making you at one with someone - in this case God) for their sins.
So Jesus was stopping people atoning for their sins at the temple - what is the significance of this? Well in the days before the temple the Israelites would sacrifice in many places - you often hear that so and so built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed on it. Well, when the temple was built the Jews only sacrificed at the temple.

Putting this together we can see that Jesus has singlehandedly stopped the Jews sacrificing to God.

That's not all though, and this sometimes gets lost in the drama of the temple clearing, but Jesus teaches the people in a very powerful way

And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:
" 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"
The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

What does he teach that is so amazing? Well the Jews of Jesus' day would have known the passages Jesus quotes off by heart, sadly that level of Biblical knowledge is way beyond most if us; we have to use a Bible and a concordance and so we don't immediately understand the references. Of course we can argue that the Jews of Jesus' day also wouldn't have been anything like as good at Wii bowling but then maybe not all acquired skills are equal.

Let's look at the quotes in the context that Jesus conveys to his audience

Isa 56:3-7
Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely exclude me from his people." And let not any eunuch complain, "I am only a dry tree." For this is what the Lord says: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant- to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant- I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."
So here Jesus is saying that the way to God is open to everyone, regardless of their heritage (foreigner) or state (eunuch). And the last sentence is particularly telling - Jesus has just stopped the Jews sacrificing but he says that [the foreigners] burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar.

Let's get some more context from the second quote.he Lord
Jer 7:1-11
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : "Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message: " 'Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!" If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
"'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"-safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.


Check out the first part in particular for relevance
Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message: " 'Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord"

The rest of the passage

Q: What do you think of Jesus' actions in cursing the fig-tree?

In his 1927 essay 'Why I Am Not a Christian', Bertrand Russell argued that a divine figure would either know that the tree would not have figs or could have simply produced the figs by a miracle and thus finds the story illogical from a literal sense, he says of it "This is a very curious story, because it was not the right time of year for figs, and you really could not blame the tree. I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history."

I have also personally known people who used this story as a reason to doubt Jesus claim to be God - they also thought it was petty and even spiteful. So what is this about?
Let's go back to some first principles about Bible study

The Bible is consistent
The character of God is consistent
The character of God is good

So applying these to the fig tree we still have an issue because it doesn't seem like a very good action on Jesus' part. So let's see how we should interpret this story as the Bible uses many different techniques such as:

• Poetry
• Hyperbole
• Metaphor
• Narration
• Simile
• Symbolism

From the style of the writing it certainly seems like this is a literal narration of what went on, no poetry in play here. We do however get a big clue in how this account frames the clearing of the temple; Jesus curses the tree, clears the temple and then we see the tree is cursed. So it looks like it has something to do with the clearing of the temple then. And this is where is all comes together, with what Jesus says to the fig tree, his actions at the temple and the message he preaches there.

Jesus says to the fig tree 'may no one ever eat fruit from you again' - and we see that he is really talking about the temple, and that the withering of the tree is a symbol of the end of the era of the temple, both spiritually, as he was coming to replace the need for temple sacrifice and literally as the temple would be destroyed less than 40 years later. He was also announcing the coming of the time foretold by Isaiah and Jeremiah, where the kingdom would be open to all and the need for sacrifice would be removed.

So although the writer is using narration, Jesus is using symbolism - the withered fig tree is a symbol, the season for figs is over and in this case will never return, it is time for something new, a new covenant. However we shall see that any covenant needs to be paid for with blood and Jesus has just symbolically shut off the old route to sacrificial blood...

The Most Significant Week In All Human History Ever

Sometimes we're so used to looking at bits of the Bible in isolation that we lose some of the impact that the timing of events would have had. I was struck by this as I saw a picture in my Bible of the events of passion week, from the Friday before Palm Sunday to Good Friday. When I looked at it I found that passion week is the meat of the gospels; it takes up 8 of the 28 chapters of Matthew's gospel, 6 of the 16 chapters of Mark's gospel and 9 of the 21 chapters in John. It's almost as if the authors can't wait to get around to talking about the week where it all happens. And you can't really blame them, it is without doubt 'The Most Significant Week In All Human History Ever'.

A quick summary of passion week (give or take a day or two)

• Palm Sunday: Jesus given a messiah's welcome into Jerusalem
• Monday: The clearing of the temple - the fig tree
• Tuesday: Controversies and Parables
• Thursday: Passover, The last supper, betrayal and arrest in Gethsemene
• Friday: Crucifixion
• Sunday: Resurrection

Jesus fulfills the ancient prophesy by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech 9:9). The crowd welcomed him with cries of Hosanna and the words of Ps 118:25-26 which declared him as the agent of the Lord.

Mk 11:1-10
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' "

They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

This is a pretty familiar story to many of us but to really understand it you have to see it from the perspective of the people living in and around Jerusalem when the events took place.

Jesus has been going around the countryside healing the sick, raising the dead and generally performing all sorts of incredible miracles and teaching 'with authority' - like no-one before or since. Rumours are rife that he might be 'the one', The Messiah. So with this background let's see how the days unfold from the eyes of a first century Jew.

Sunday So there is a real buzz and anticipation that when Jesus gets to Jerusalem something big is going to happen. Reading back through the passage with this perspective really made one part of the passage jump out at me,

If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' "

Given the rumours of Jesus being the Messiah what effect do you think this would have had on the people the disciples said this to?

Too right they would have gone off and told everyone and the sense of anticipation would have probably gone to 11 - and I'm sure this is what Jesus intended for when he rode in to Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, fulfilling the prophesy in Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

No wonder the crowd were going wild - after years of oppression and with no real leadership this miracle worker comes along deliberately fulfilling a prophesy and sending the message loud and clear - this prophesy is about me.

Putting yourself in the position of the crowd and populace of Jerusalem its hard to imagine a more exciting day - that is until you see what Jesus does the next day.

Meditation - to Om or not to Om

Q: So what is meditation and how is it different from prayer? Deliberately spending time to do nothing other than fill our thoughts with God and listen to him - it is contemplative prayer

Q: How is Christian meditation different from secular or Eastern meditation? In Eastern religions the aim of meditation is to empty our minds
In Christianity it is to fully think about God
New Age - In the West, meditation found its mainstream roots through the social revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, when many of the youth of the day rebelled against traditional belief systems as a reaction against what some perceived as the failure of Christianity to provide spiritual and ethical guidance (this quote is from the Wikipedia on meditation but speaks volumes on the perception of Christianity, or more precisely Christian churches, as a place of where 'proper' behaviour, rules and regulations are more important than inner spiritual growth)

The counter cultural nature of meditation Pretty much all of the spiritual disciplines we will look at through this series are really counter-cultural and none more so than the concept of meditation. Meditation would never have been considered counter-cultural to people in Jesus' day, so why is it now?

Here's a clue, 9,192,631,770

This is the natural constant used to measure the second - The second is defined as being equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom. Whereas a thousand years ago, or even a couple of hundred, a day was sliced into just a few segments, dawn, morning, lunch, afternoon, dusk and nighttime we now divide a day into 86,400 seconds.

Our culture is now obsessed with time and doing as much as possible in the minimum amount of time. We multi-task constantly and even single tasking can seem dull, we consume energy drinks and slice our time time so thinly that we have progressed from books, to magazines, to blogs to tweets - 140 characters of information then onto the next piece.

Meditation means setting aside lots of time to achieve nothing external.

Carl Jung the famous psychiatrist said, 'Hurry is not of the devil, it is the devil'


Q: Why is it important? Joshua 1:8 - Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it, then you will be prosperous and successful"

Its not just to be prosperous and successful (and these aren't necessarily materially just in case you were thinking that) - but to be close to God.
If you think about the relationships that people like Adam and Eve, Moses, Elijah had with God you can see that they talked to God much like we talk to eachother - Ex 33:11 God spoke to Modes 'face to face, as a man speaks to his friend'.

People turned away from that and wanted Moses to be their go-between, we go to church and expect certain people like the pastor to be more 'religious' than us and to spend more time with God doing things like meditating because that is his job. We've absolved ourselves of that deeper relationship with God.

When people do spend time getting close to God, He is able to use us powerfully to enlarge His kingdom.

Phillip and the Eunuch - Acts 8:26-39
Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4)
The Centurion - Acts 10:1-6 (Note that the Jewish hour of prayer was at 3pm)
What do you do in an hour of prayer - is it a big list?



Q: Why is meditation not a bigger part of our worship in the Western evangelical church?

1. Counter cultural - it's still too much of an ask for most churches to ask people to be so counter-cultural
2. It gets confused with works (this is much like the other spiritual disciplines)- Imagine a couple getting married, the priest speaks, then the groom says his vows, then the bride says hers, as she finishes speaking the groom let's out a Homer Simpson 'woo-hoo' and runs off yelling 'I'll be in the bar'. Every day the groom just spends a few minutes with the bride where he just asks her to do things for him and never spends time with her alone. Are they still married? Yes. Is is a real relationship - not really. We know that we have grace, we know that we can't get to heaven through works but we seem confused about how to relate to God and have substituted works for... different works, or sometimes nothing. We will organize church events but never to meditate or fast, those things have become reserved for the 'very religious'. So we think that saying we need to meditate or fast is like saying we need to do works. The confusion is that we don't engage in the spiritual disciplines to earn our salvation, that is already assured, but to keep up our relationship with God - we know that all relationships need work but we sometimes think that to say we need to work at something is to deny the grace of the cross - it isn't at all, they are different things but we get them confused.
3. Takes too much time and is too difficult
   

Meditation is a way we simply be with God and listen to Him. Important because we need to have an impact


Practical Spend 20 minutes meditating on one of the following topics

From Psalm 139:
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,too lofty for me to attain.
...
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

From Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
...
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

From Romans 8: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How did you find it?
In our group people said that it helped them really experience the verse rather than just read it and that it would really help them to remember it and be able to bring it to mind

Why is it quite hard to do easily?

• We're used to being over-stimulated
• We have too much busy-ness in our lives so we're unwilling to spend the time
• We're out of practice

Challenge
This month plan ahead to spend a block of 30-60 minutes each week in contemplative prayer, not asking God for anything but just to meditate on one aspect of Him. You will need to:

• plan ahead and mentally dedicate the time to God
• find a place free from distractions
• leave your phone somewhere else and turn it off
• pray about the time ahead of actually doing it

Life Lesson
Prayer and meditation are different aspects of building up and maintaining our relationship with God. They shouldn't be confused with 'works' and doing them cannot earn our salvation but is necessary for our relationship with God. Like all disciplines meditation takes time and work to do properly, and if we spend time listening to God in meditation he will reveal more of himself to us and enable us to have an impact on those around us.

The Discipline of Study

Have you ever tried to do something and found it was much harder than it looked - certainly the first time I tried snowboarding it was a surprise just how hard it was. I was experiencing the first of the 4 stages of learning.

The first is unconscious incompetent, where you don't yet know what you don't know - I didn't know how to snowboard, nor did I know how hard it was (a couple of weeks and I should be like Shaun White right?)

The second is conscious incompetent - you now know you can't do something, I spent a good while at this stage when I was faceplanting at 2 miles and hour learning to snowboard

The third comes after some practice and is conscious competent - you know how to do something but it requires concentration and thought - this is where I am now

The final stage is unconscious competent - you no longer have to think about how to do it, it just comes naturally

This session is about gaining an understanding of where we are at in terms of our ability to study and gaining some tools to help us progress towards unconscious competence.

Q: So why do we need to study?

• To know the truth
• To weather emotional , physical or spiritual storms
• To recognize and challenge bad teaching
• To be changed
• To be able to engage in meaningful debate
• To really engage in what is going on around us

The main grievance the new evangelical atheists have against Christians is that we don't reason things through and we're not rational about our faith. Writers like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins get really worked up about what they perceive as the deliberate ignorance of Christians who they regard as non-thinkers as far as anything to do with religion goes. Now if you read any of their books you'll find they display the same lack of reason they accuse Christians of, but there's no smoke without fire and many Christians do exhibit a woeful disregard to critical thinking as far as their faith goes.

Q: What causes so many Christians to leave their brains at home in matters of their faith?

• Symptomatic of other areas of their life - some people don't really think about anything
  
• Regarded as something for pastors or leaders - symptomatic of our consumer culture -we're just consumers of the message
  
• Using Christianity as a crutch or a club - they don't really believe it is true and they are worried about what they will find if they start digging
• Don't want to change - ignorance is bliss
• Think study is boring or study about Christianity is boring
• Its about faith, not about knowledge

So given that we don't want to fall into one of the above categories, how do we study?

Repetition - In order for us to be able to really study a subject it has to become familiar to us, repetition is an often maligned teaching technique, as it should be if that is all there is, but is vital in order for us to be able to be able to make associations and study effectively. It takes a certain amount of repetition for anything to sink in - think about learning a language, it takes a fair bit of hearing the same words used time and time again before we can easily bring them to mind.

Read Phillipians 4:8 - it talks about thinking about things that will build up our faith. Notice that is doesn't talk about thinking about avoiding sin - thinking about avoiding sin is like thinking about avoiding a tiger wearing a blue baseball cap and beating a drum - we never would have thought of it unless we were told to avoid it, but when we're told to avoid it it becomes hard to.

The second phase of study is Concentration - In the age of speed and multi-tasking, the ability to fully concentrate on a task is becoming lost and yet it is essential for solving hard problems or thinking through complex situations - these are things we cannot do with serious concentration.

Next comes Comprehension - The ability to string the concepts we have studied together so that we can replay them in our mind, it make sense to us and we can relate it to our understanding of the world means that we have comprehended the thing we are studying.

And finally Reflection - Means that we have not only understood what we were studying but have taken it to heart, we have pondered how it fits with the other things we have studied and we can explain it in different terms to other people with examples from our own experience if applicable.

If we really understand something we can explain even complex concepts to people in simple language - this is the acid test for how much we know the subject we have studied

Let's apply these steps to snowboarding - we have to do a certain amount of it (including all the accompanying falling over) to get anywhere (repetition), and we have to listen to what we're being told about doing it and think hard about how we put it into practice (concentration). Things start to click when we can link our actions to the results we are seeing - when we see the theory working (comprehension) and finally when we can do something we think about how we did it and what we could improve so we can explain what we have learned and what we need to do to improve (reflection)

Studying then applies to all we do, not just study of books, but we also need to know how to study a book. The secret to understanding a book is to really try to see things as the author sees them, suspending judgment until after we have had time to digest what the author is saying. The way to approach a book for study is to

Understand - what is the author saying
Interpret - what do they mean by it
Evaluate - how valid is what they are saying

Often we approach a book in reverse, with a view of how 'good' or accurate the book is going to be and then we see what it says.

The Bible is the most important book we can study, and there is no set way to study the Bible but here are a few important ways
Read the whole Bible - not necessarily straight through but read whole books at a time so that you remember the flow and context of each chapter. Read the same book several times in a row so that you have learned chunks of it and can see them in a different light.

Q: What kinds of styles does the Bible use to get its message across? Prophesy, Simile, Parables, History, Literary, Poetry, Comedy, Hyperbole, Instruction

So it is important to understand the context of the passage we read, is it meant to be taken literally, as an instruction for the people to whom it is being spoken, a parable? In particular Jesus often spoke in ways that were not meant to be taken literally and he would often say 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear'
Q: What does Jesus mean by that phrase?


Q: So how are we supposed to know how to interpret what we read?
Well there are some things to remember about how we understand the Bible, such as: we know that God doesn't change, we know that He is consistent in character, we know that He is Love and we know that he is not bound by our limited view of a human lifetime and instead sees eternity, so his perspective and timing do not always make sense from our limited viewpoint.

When we look at the Bible we need to bear this in mind - we also need to understand the context of the passage, usually by reading what has just gone on before or what is about to come.

Let's use these thoughts when we look at a Bible passage to answer the following question - If study is so transformational why is it that the Pharisees and Sadducees were so criticized by Jesus for their lack of transformation?

Read: Matt 23:8-10.
But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ
Q: How is this passage meant to be interpreted
Q: What is Jesus saying in the passage?

So let's put some of the lessons into practice, looking back at the chapter before and the verses preceding this we can see that the Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to trap Jesus with clever arguments, reading a little ahead we hear Jesus saying 'For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted'

So this is not meant to be taken literally, it is meant as hyperbole (an exaggeration made to make a point). Jesus is saying that to gain an authoritative title for the sake of show or to be in a position of authority because you like the trappings of that role completely goes against the nature of authority. People in authority need to regard themselves with extra humility because of the responsibility that goes with their position, the potential for them to misguide people and the impact if they are not doing a good job is higher than for those not in authority. As James says (James 3:1) 'Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly'.


Hopefully that all made sense, now let's try it with this passage - you should set aside at least 30 minutes for this.

Challenge 1 - To put some of this into practice read Luke 14:25-35 and spend time thinking about what it meant, the context it was in, who was it aimed at and what was the intention of it.

Here's the passage, see what you make of it

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Consider both asking and answering the questions that come to mind as you read this as an important part of study is to capture these questions as you read (e.g. What style is the teaching in? Who is the audience?)

Feel free to use any study guides or ask others - something that it is very helpful for effective study of any book is to understand the thoughts of others on the same or similar subjects which we can gain from reading other books or from discussion in groups. It also helps course correct us if we start having really way off thoughts.



Challenge 2 - Find a subject to really study, if you're not sure what you could study here are a few suggestions

• Your Classroom Dynamics
• Why do we have religious denominations
• Why schoolwork can be dull

email me back your thoughts on the subject, it doesn't have to be one of the ones above - don't write lots of words for the sake of lots of words, remember from last week that we should aim to make things 'as simple as possible, but no simpler (Einstein)

If it seems difficult and that 'nothing is going on' think of the story about a woman who wanted to be a writer but always seemed unable to get started. When she was asked what she saw that was interesting to write about she couldn't find anything and when given an exercise to write 500 words about the things she saw she was unable to complete the assignment. Eventually her teacher told her to write simply about the step to her front door. The woman sat and focused on the step where she saw ants moving in and out of a crack, a receipt for something she had forgotten she had bought and many other things that she normally would never have noticed. Now the woman couldn't stop writing and wrote thousands of words - she had learned to properly observe.

Finally the life lesson for the week

Life Lesson
Study is the observance and understanding of all we see through repetition, concentration, comprehension and reflection. It is vital for our growth and change as Christians, provided we undertake it with an attitude of humility so that we do not learn for the sake of having more knowledge, but in order to serve God more fully.