SPRING (Seedtime)

 The Bible speaks of seasons in its grand opening chapter, ‘Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years”’ Genesis 1:14. The season of ‘seedtime’ or spring is specifically alluded to a little later, ‘While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease’ Genesis 8:22. This was God’s covenant promise after He had broken up all the fountains of the great deep and had opened the windows of heaven to destroy the earth in the global flood on account of our wickedness. The rainbow is the sign of His promise never to do this again. It is interesting to note that the earth had also been covered with water in the beginning. It was on the third day that God caused the dry land to arise, after which, ‘Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so’ Genesis 1:11. Resurrection foreshadowed?

The earth needs to be watered for the seedtime seed to flourish, ‘He waters the hills from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth’ Psalm 104:13-14. Man depends upon God and His grace to send earth-watering rain in its season.

While in Hawaii one of the locals was saying that God was still forming the islands. The molten lava from volcanic eruptions under the sea was forming solid land even as he spoke. The richness of Hawaiian flora is something to write home about! Their pineapples are delicious! A very apt verse for Hawaii is, ‘As for the earth, from it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire’ Job 28:5.

Manitoban farmers depend on melting winter snows to moisten their seedtime soil. The size of their crops is affected by the volume of winter snow. The LORD Himself makes the connection between seed and His Word, ‘For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it’ Isaiah 55:10-11. It is exactly as the LORD says, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ Matthew 4:4. His Word is the true seed. ‘The sower sows the word’ Mark 4:14. ‘Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies’ 1 Corinthians 15:36.

Christ is the Word, the Seed of the Woman (John 1:1; Genesis 3:15). He was washed with water at His baptism (Matthew 3:15) and was planted in the ground after His death (Mark 15:46). He rose on the third day (Luke 24:7). Seed, water, death, soil, and then germination. Note the connection between the seed germinating on the dry land that rose on the third day of creation and the Word/Seed rising on the third day. He is the beginning of the (re)new(ed) creation. He is the firstfruits of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:23). When the sower sows the Word, the Spirit works with the Word and regenerates those in whom His Word has been sown. These go on to bear fruit as the Spirit enables (John 15:5; Galatians 5:22-23). Seedtime and Harvest!

Scripture defines us as already dead (Ephesians 2:1). We move from death to life when the Holy Spirit works effectively with His Word/Seed in our hearts (1 John 3:14). The picture is: The sower sows the Word. The Word lodges (and germinates) in the dead sinner’s heart enabling him/her to believe. The Holy Spirit (who, like rain, has been poured out from Heaven) causes the Seed to grow. ‘According to His mercy He has saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour’ Titus 3:5-6.

Covenant Baptism depicts spring or seedtime (rains included!) In it is depicted God’s covenant promise to His church, (i.e., the believers for whom Christ gave His life), ‘that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word’ Ephesians 5:26. Baptism with water depicts God’s promise to regenerate the recipients in whom His Word/Seed lodges. The water sprinkled or poured out upon the recipient pictures Christ’s poured out blood being applied by His poured out Spirit. ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin’ 1 John 1:7b.

Spring is seedtime. And whether it is a farmer sowing seed or a preacher sowing the Word, both illustrate that God alone gives life.

TRIVIA

            According to the Oxford Dictionary the word ‘trivia’ has to do with ‘details, considerations, or pieces of information of little importance or value.’ Adding to the decline of Western Civilisation the Gospel, in some quarters, is been reduced to trivia. But is the Good News about Jesus Christ a piece of information of little importance? Jesus didn’t think so. Neither did the writers of the sixty six books of the Bible. As if believing the adage that the devil is in the detail some Christians seem to shun any in-depth study of God’s Word. Like some modern versions of the Bible, they satisfy themselves with only a general gist of the Bible’s message. Hair-splitting theology causes division? You bet! Just ask Jesus! Early in His great ‘Sermon On the Mount’ He says, ‘Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled’ Matthew 5:17-18. Thus, Jesus was a ‘jot and tittle man.’

Many Christian, perhaps too many, don’t seem to care about the dot above the ‘i’ or the stroke across the ‘t’ of the Gospel. But Jesus did (and still does!) One example from His ‘Sermon on the Mount’ is where He says, ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you’ Matthew 5:43-44. Nowhere does God teach in His Word that we are to hate our enemies! Jesus, God in the flesh, set the record straight.

The Apostle John in his Gospel and Epistles goes into great detail about what it means to love ones enemies. Indeed, the whole Bible is about what God was doing/has done to reconcile fallen man to Himself. Think about it: If we need reconciliation with God, then we all must be at odds (i.e. at war) with Him! But does God hate His enemies? No! ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life’ John 3:16. Right after He corrected the erroneous teaching about hating your enemies Jesus points to the love of God, ‘For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust’ Matthew 5:45b. Non-Christian farmers can have bigger crops than Christian farmers! Thus, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Secularists, and Atheists etc. may at times receive the bigger blessing!

The psalmist was envious of the prosperity of the wicked. That was, says he, ‘Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end’ Psalm 73:17. Scripture says, ‘It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment’ Hebrews 9:27. So, we ought to leave the judgment to God! He is merciful! That is why He is sending His Gospel into all nations. But what hope have the nations if the Christians in those nations consider the jots and tittles of the Gospel to be trivia? Won’t we then end up with a tailored Gospel such as the get rich quick ‘Gospel of Prosperity,’ or those self-help and self-esteem versions of the Gospel, or the ‘Gospel of Church Growth,’ or the doom and gloom pessimistic ‘Rapture Gospel’? The list of gospel-aberrations is endless.

The Apostle Paul says ‘the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes’ Romans 1:16. The Apostle Peter says, ‘Our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people, twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of Scripture’ 2 Peter 3:15-16. Jesus got stuck into the Scribes and Pharisees for twisting Scripture (as exampled above in their ‘love neighbour but hate enemy’ distortion). It is encouraging that even the Bible admits that some parts of the Bible are hard to understand! But this does not give Christians licence to be ignorant of the finer details of, and certainly not to twist, Scripture to suit our own ends.

Jesus said to the Sadducees (i.e., the theological liberals in His day who were denying the physical resurrection), ‘You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God’ Matthew 22:29. He then set them straight, right before the Pharisees had another go at Him over the meaning of a couple of Scripture verses.

If we are going to Gospelise the nations then we need to be able to show that the Gospel is not a piece of trivia. As illustrated by Jesus, not one jot or tittle thereof is of little or no consequence.

 

ST PATRICK

Image of snake on stake from Internet

 St Patrick was a Celto-Briton. The Gospel began to reach the British Isles and Ireland by AD 35, (allegedly the Apostle James to Ireland and Joseph of Arimathea to Britain.)  Though the exact date and place of his birth are disputed it is generally held that Patrick was born in Cumbria or perhaps further north near Dumbarton circa 387. He was taken from Britain to Ireland when he was sixteen by Irish raiders, where he spent six years as a slave before returning to Britain. As per the Scriptures (and as it is for every true believer in the Gospel) Patrick became a saint the moment he first believed, and, as such, returned to Ireland around 432. Though Patrick is often credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, it is more accurate to say that he converted many of the Irish (including Druids) to Christianity and also codified their laws.

Before returning to Ireland to found a church Patrick, like his married grandfather before him, had become a Presbyter, i.e., he was ordained an Elder or Bishop (synonymous terms). His father was a Deacon. Of the founding of a church in Ireland the Church Historian, Francis Nigel Lee, says, ‘The Church founded by St. Patrick was identical in doctrine with the Churches of Britain and Gaul and other branches of the Western Church.’[1] A couple of centuries intervened before Romanism began making inroads into Britain and Ireland, until, at the Synod of Whitby (664), the Celtic Church (to which Patrick had belonged) capitulated to the Roman Church.

‘Patrick the Celt’s home language was Britonnic… He wrote in rather poor Latin. He did this also, if not chiefly, in order that he might gain the widest possible readership.’[2] Patrick wrote of his own conversion, ‘I, Patrick, a sinner… did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people… And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And He watched over me before I knew Him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and He protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.’[3]

Once converted Patrick, believing the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, reputedly made use of the Irish shamrock to explain His triune nature, saying, ‘Is it one leaf or three? As with God, it is both.’ There are many translations of Patrick’s prayer (originally in Irish), a hymn known as ‘The Shield (or Breastplate) of St Patrick,’ and also, ‘The Lorica’ or ‘The Deer’s Cry.’ It contains sound and emotively edifying theology! The following is a sample: ‘Christ be with me, Christ within me, / Christ behind me, Christ before me, / Christ beside me,  Christ to win me, / Christ to comfort and restore me. / Christ beneath me, Christ above me, / Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, / Christ in hearts of all that love me, / Christ in mouth of friend and stranger. / I bind unto myself the Name, / The strong Name of the Trinity, / By invocation of the same, / The Three in One and One in Three. / By Whom all nature hath creation, / Eternal Father, Spirit, Word: / Praise to the Lord of my salvation, / Salvation is of Christ the Lord.’

(The following is an English version of  "The Deer's Cry" beautifully sung by Rita Connolly):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkctiGVwrrA

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[1] Francis Nigel Lee, ADDENDUM 50. ANCIENT BRITANNIC ISLES ERE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY .

[2] Ibid.

[3] St Patrick’s Confession.                                                                      

EXERCISE

Have you ever heard it said that someone was a waste of space? It is a not very nice comment sometimes made about a not very nice person. Recently the doctor informed me I was taking up too much space! I needed to lose some weight. I now find myself doing push-ups and sit-ups and running between three and five kilometres most mornings! After a workout my wife reminded me of what someone once said, ‘Sweat is fat crying!’ But, what does the Bible have to say about it all? Well, some would point to those Scriptures that speak of the body needing to be taken care of because it is the temple of God. Fair enough! However, for me there are two main but related things going on in the Bible They are to do with the mind and the body. Both need to be exercised. Solomon says, ‘Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh’ Ecclesiastes 12:12b. The word ‘study’ as used here means intense mental application (Strong’s). And the word ‘flesh,’ by way of extension, means the (naked) ‘body.’ Therefore, mental exercise causes physical weariness. However, let us exercise our minds by delving a bit deeper.

The Apostle cheers on the Christian where he says, ‘Exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things…’1 Timothy 4:7b-8a. The original Greek word translated ‘exercise’ here comes from a word meaning to practice naked (Strong’s), from which we derive the words gymnasium and gymnast etc. Exercising toward godliness is a mental exercise. It is a running to God. It is to do the opposite of what Adam and Eve did when they sinned against God. ‘Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden’ Genesis 3:7-8. Here the word ‘naked’ has more to do with being made bare and less to do with being without clothes. It denotes a loss of innocence, as in a loss of ‘godliness.’ Adam and Eve had become like the Devil, i.e., subtle, cunning, crafty – as described in Genesis 3:1. ‘Seductive’ might be an apt description. For, in the original, ‘cunning’ and ‘naked’ are from the same source.

Scripture describes Adam and Eve before they fell, ‘And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed’ Genesis 2:25. A different word is used for ‘naked’ here than what Adam and Eve became after the rebelled against God. If you will, the former is to be naked without shame and the latter is to be naked with shame (i.e., trying to hide your shame). Do not miss the subtlety of what is going on here. Think of the proverbial ‘Used Car Salesman.’ When he shows us a car we wonder what he is trying to hide! He needs to be subtle, cunning or crafty if he is going to succeed in selling a dud! When Adam and Eve fell they were trying to cover their shame. They were trying to sell God a dud! All mankind is like this until the Holy Spirit working with the Word in our hearts exposes us for what we really are – naked and in need of being clothed by God. ‘Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them’ Genesis 3:21. Though practical, this ‘clothing’ was also a symbolic gesture of God’s part. It pointed to the One promised in Genesis 3:15, i.e., to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Next, notice one of the things the LORD God said to Adam after he had lost his godliness, ‘In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground’ Genesis 3:19. The word ‘sweat’ is used three time in the Bible, a) Here in the Garden of Eden, b) Priests ministering in the Temple were not to wear anything that would cause them to sweat (Ezekiel 44:18), and c) Our Great High Priest in the Garden of Gethsemane sweat ‘great drops of blood’ (Luke 22:44b).

Let us add it all together: Christians are to exercise toward godliness. Mental and physical exercise causes us to sweat. Sweat reminds us of our fallen or sinful condition. Our sins need to be washed away. God needs to clothe us. ‘For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ’ Galatians 3:27.  Also, ‘To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood’ Revelation 1:5b.

You and I are not a waste of space! A new Adam represents us. In mental anguish He sweated as He prayed for us. He was hung naked upon a tree that God might clothe us in His skin, in His righteousness. Thus, He makes the ungodly godly.

Nothing in my hand I bring / Simply to Thy Cross I cling / Naked, come to Thee for dress / Helpless, look to Thee for grace / Foul, I to the fountain fly / Wash me, Saviour, or I die. Augustus Toplady, 1740-78.

OUT OF FOCUS

 A light is supposed to come on every time our automatic garage door opens. The manufacturer of the 53 watt energy-saver bulb that is the source of that light makes two claims: 1. The bulb’s 53 watts gives off the equivalent light of the 75 watt light bulbs I grew up with! 2. This 53 watt light bulb lasts 2,000 hours. Now, my analysis may not be scientific, but it seems to me that neither of these claims is true! A dud bulb makes no difference in daylight, but when I come home in the dark even a 53 watt bulb would indeed work to my advantage! 

Jesus likens the eye to a lamp that gives our body light. He says, ‘The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness’ Matthew 6:22-23. An eye that works will enable you to see. But, like a dud light bulb, an eye that doesn’t work keeps you in the dark. Jesus is of course speaking spiritually, just as when He spoke to Nicodemus, ‘If I have told you of earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?’ John 3:11. This, of course, was after Jesus had said to him, ‘Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’ John 3:3b.

Why can’t we see the kingdom of God? Because we are spiritually dead and spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Therefore, we need the Holy Spirit to spiritually regenerate us by causing us to be born again. To be born again is to have the light come on and illuminate our darkened mind.

The Gospel is spiritual. ‘But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them’ 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.

The Gospel is about Christ. He is the Light of the world (John 3:19). Jesus, says, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life’ John 8:12. He came into the world, ‘To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace’ Luke 1:79. We find out about Jesus and His Gospel in God’s Word. God’s Word is His revelation of who He is and who we are, what is wrong with us, and what He had done to fix what is wrong with us. Bats and beagles show no interest in the Bible. Likewise spiritually dead people. As a dud light bulb their eye is bad. So they sit in darkness – pretending it is light! The Christian? His eye is good. For, with the Psalmist he says, ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path’ Psalm 119:105.

I remember enjoying a book a few years before God converted me and then rereading it after I was born again. It might have well been two completely different books! In ‘The Screwtape Letters’ by CS Lewis a senior demon (Screwtape) supposedly writes a series of letters coaching a junior demon (his nephew, Wormwood) on how to secure the damnation of a human being referred to as ‘The Patient’. This book made much more sense to me after I was converted! It was the same with the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs I sang as a youth those infrequent times I attended church. I can now sing them with feeling because I know now what they really mean! ‘Was blind, but now I see!’ Here’s how John Calvin puts it, ‘Just as old or bleary eyed men and those with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words, but with the aid of spectacles will begin to read distinctly; so Scripture, gathering up the otherwise confused knowledge of God in our minds, having dispersed our dullness, clearly shows us the true God.’ (Institutes 1:6:1).

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, as when my garage door opens, a light would come on whenever someone opens up the Bible and reads it? But, alas! Because there is something wrong, the light doesn’t always come on and the Bible remains a closed Book. Thus Its words and message remain out of focus until God renews your mind and you are born again. But once you are born again? ‘For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord’ Ephesians 5:8. I hope that the light will come on/is on for you!