[Friday's Devotional] - Scum

Due to various problems with the sound system during this years’ Good Friday Walk of Witness, I ended up giving a short talk standing on a litter bin!  I suddenly related to Paul’s words in a new way:

 

…we have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world. 1 Corinthians 4:13 [NIV]

 

This is the most unflattering and provocative image that Paul uses of Christian ministry in his writings. For Paul the servant of Jesus takes on the lowest place in the world.  If you’re thinking about Christian service then be prepared for rejection, abuse and suffering – as well as the wonder of following Jesus.

 

Yet why should this surprise us if the one we follow was crucified?  The cross was the place of utter shame. Jesus was stripped naked, verbally abused, in the depths of physical agony, yet was also becoming sin for us.  He became scum, and Paul knows that the world around him frequently regards him in the same way.

 

So often we can chase status, prestige and the good opinion of others. But someone once said the only status that matters is our proximity to Jesus.

 

Reflection: How far am I status-conscious? Do I take my value from Christ’s love for me?

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, today I say yes to living life with you. Help me to empty myself so that I may be used by you. Amen.

 

Hannah Mears

[Thursday's Devotional] - Parent

For many centuries of the Church’s life the predominant understanding of Christian ministry has been that it is male not female.  It is interesting, then, that Paul writing of his role in planting the church in Thessalonica describes his work in evocative male and female parental terms.  He says:

 

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you… You know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you…  1 Thessalonians 2:7b-8a, 11-12a [NIV]

 

In caring for, comforting and encouraging one another we are called to be and become spiritual parents.  I can think of people who have nurtured me in my faith, who have mixed gentleness and sternness at the right moments, who have encouraged me and become spiritual mothers and fathers to me.  I live out the faith which they instilled in me.  And it has been the most wonderful privilege to know that I have spiritual children.

 

Do not doubt the impact which your life can have on other Christians and those who do not yet believe.  Just as we owe so much to those who raised us, so you can be used by God to grow the spiritual lives of others.

 

Reflection: Who are your spiritual parents?  Why did they have this impact on you?  Who around you needs care, comfort, encouragement or urging?

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for those who have instilled faith in me.  By the power of your Holy Spirit help me to influence those around me for good, nurturing souls as a parent nurtures their child. Amen.

 

Hannah Mears

[Wednesday's Devotional] - The Fool

I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!  I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.  But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge.  We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.  Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?

…I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting.
2 Corinthians 11: 1-7, 16 [NIV]

If you’ve ever seen King Lear you’ll know the power of the fool.  The fool in art and literature is the outsider, speaking no sense and frequently looked down upon, who in fact carries more truth and wisdom in their folly than all the sophisticated people around them.

Paul tells the Corinthians that he is coming to them as a fool.  He’d rather that they didn’t see him in this way, but he knows that although his message and his lifestyle seem so stupid and weak, it is Jesus’ truth and what he has been called to.

If it’s true that other Christians can think of the decisions we make for Jesus as folly, it is even more true of those who do not yet believe.  Maybe more than any of the other images which Paul uses for Christian service, this articulates what the world thinks of us.  Our message seems an irrelevance to the majority.  How can the gospel we carry ever speak to the sophisticated, the satisfied and the oblivious?

But at the end of the play the audience knows that the fool has spoken the truth.  And amazingly, in spite of our weakness and apparent folly the Gospel is still God’s power and wisdom.  Power and wisdom that has changed our lives and can change the world.

Reflection: In what ways is the message of Jesus foolish to those around me? Am I ever looked upon as a fool because of my faith?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that your message is power and wisdom. May I see this power and wisdom changing lives around me. Amen.

Hannah Mears

[Tuesday's Devotional] - The Ambassador

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Ephesians 6: 19-20 [NIV]

 

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20 [NIV]

 

In the political world in which Paul found himself, an ambassador was not usually a professional diplomat but someone who was simply prepared to travel in order to represent their government or community.  They would carry a message and express the views of those how had sent them.  They would embody the interests of the sending power and negotiate on its behalf.  Their job was to communicate a message often in foreign territories. The heart of the role was representation.

 

Twice Paul refers to himself as an ambassador.  He is an ambassador ‘for Christ’ in 2 Corinthians 5: 20 and ‘of the gospel,’ in Ephesians 6: 19-20.  After his Damascus experience, Paul spent much time travelling where the gospel was not known and appealing to people to be reconciled to God.  By using the title ‘ambassador,’ Paul is claiming to represent Jesus Christ.  As Paul uses this image he doesn’t draw attention to himself but to the appeal he is commissioned to give.  What is of most importance is the message not the messenger, and the message is not for a select group but for all.

 

Reflection: What is the message that Jesus has entrusted to you?  How is it communicated in your life?  To whom?

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that you the Lord of history want to communicate yourself and your message of transforming love through me.  Help me to articulate your good news clearly in my words and deeds today and every day. Amen.

 

Hannah Mears

 

[Monday's Devotional] - The Builder

This week’s reflections are based on the work done by Derek Tidball in his book, Builders and Fools (1999, IVP), on the images and metaphors which Paul uses in his letters for Christian ministry.  As Jesus uses us we may well find that that we begin to embody these same characteristics.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 1 Corinthians 3.10-18 [NIV]

My next door neighbour has been building a wall around his front garden. Passers by have commented to him about how neat and tidy it looks!  Paul frequently used building imagery to describe his own ministry and the life of the church.  He talks about spiritual gifts being given to ‘build up’ the church.  We are called to use our gifts to strengthen and encourage each other in living for Jesus.  Our life together may not always be neat and tidy, but we are called to work together building on the foundation which is already laid: Jesus Christ.

We are to be a community centred in Christ that he is building, not bricks and mortar.

“You yourselves are God’s temple” 1 Corinthians 3.16 [NIV]

The temple Paul refers to is not a pile of stones!  It is living, dynamic, growing and organic. Edmund Clowney writes, ‘God’s architecture is biological.’

Reflection: Is my heart orientated towards the building up of the church or do I just see it as a place to meet my needs?

Prayer: Lord, please build me up in your love so that I can build up others for the sake of your kingdom. Help me not to lean on my own strength today but on you – my foundation. Amen.

Hannah Mears