T44 - Bible study - when Jesus fed the 5000 did he cook the fish?

Today was a fantstic day - Bible studies and food galore!

It began with a nice early breakfast, before a trip across town to the Easter Gate PCT church in West Taipei. I had been told that the Bible studies they hold were really good and attracted a lot of people. After fighting for a carparking space (not literally, just spiritually!) we made it to the church for 9.30 (remember this Wednesday morning!). The church was packed, about 220-250 people, the only spot I could find was up in the gallery. I was handed six pages of notes on Isaiah 5 and a song book. Both were in Mandarin, and suprisingly, due to the vast number of Biblical references I had more luck with the Bible notes than the songs. The minsiter of the church gave a two hour lecture on Isaiah 5 which I vaguely folloewd without too much translation. Everyone was engrossed and he certainly spoke, lecture, preahced with passion about the Word of God. It was both amazingly inspiring and wonderful experience, although I probably looked quite nervous when I was introduced by the minsiter halfway through! He repeats the whole thing for another 220 people on Friday night to give a chance for those at work to hear. He does this every week, along with another two studies for young adults and then a ladies fellowship. It is wonderful mission work, as his sunday congregation is only 70 - so 350 other people are hearing God’s Word! It is obvious to me that just picking this program and ministry up and plonking it in Stockport may not be overly succesful, but if at some point in my ministry I can grow a church so that through it so many people are touched, excited and enthused by the Word of God then I will be fulfilling something of what I Think God might be calling me to do.

Afterwards we headed for lunch with the ministers from a sub-region Presbytery - perhaps the size of one of the old URC districts. It was what I had been anxious about since my arrival here- Japanese food. Thankfully I managed to keep the saki down to just a thumb-nail full, but the raw fish just kept coming. I think there were about 8 courses of shellfish, salmon and crab. It was all tasty to some extent - but the nicest were the cooked ones!

In the afternoon we headed back to the flat and I finished my notes for the English Bible Study I was taking in the evening. We reached the dizzy heights of 1 Peter 2!

 ¹ Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, ² as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.   
⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,


      “ Behold, I lay in Zion
      A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
      And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

⁷ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,


      “ The stone which the builders rejected
      Has become the chief cornerstone,”

 ⁸ and


      “ A stone of stumbling
      And a rock of offense.”

   They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰ who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.   
¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, ¹² having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:1-12, New King James Version)

We talked about what makes it difficult to be church in Taiwan. Suprisingly the things that came up were similar to what might be said in response to this question in the UK. Time, family, friends, other religions, traditions, culture, can all at times make being church difficult. Tonights study was all about how to be church when it gets tough. We had already looked at how the churches Peter wrote were being persecuted, and so this is really the passage in which Peter gives advice as to how to carry on.

Firstly he says that the Christians were to grow in faith (v.1-3). That despite the persecutions they were facing, they were to actively engage in growing in faith. Peter introduces this by saying that they should get rid of wrong attitudes that they feel toward each other: malice, deceit, envy, hypocrisy and slander. No half measures will do - he says that they must get rid of all, all and then of every kind!

Then we talked about how the Christians were to be living stones (4-8). To do this they would need to go through a transformation, like that of Israel and like that of Jesus. In this section we get three quotes from the old testament, two from Isaiah and one from the Psalms. When Isaiah wrote the words, or spoke the words he had he was speaking to Israel. We foten jump quickly to assume he is talking about Jesus, but if we wait for a moment we may get a more detailed pictured. Israel is in exile, and Isaiah says that he will build a stone a Zion - they will return to Zion, Israel will one day be built in Zion again, but they will need to transform themselves into that stone, that foundation. This they do when they return from the exile. Secondly because of verse 4 we can apply the passage to Jesus. He too is a foundation stone, a cornerstone of our faith and of our lives. He is living with us, but supports us in all that we do. But to become the living stone he too had to be transformed. To be the living stone he, on the cross, was also transformed: from being rejected to being glorified, from death to life, from submission to Lord over all, from sin to perfection. And so the metaphor switches to us too - we are to be living stones too, to be like Christ, and we too have to be transformed by Jesus on the cross for us, from our sinful nature to holiness, from what we were into what we are in God’s eyes. And here comes the problem - because of what Jesus has done we have to decide. The fact you are reading this means you have to decide. You can ignore the claims of Jesus on the cross, or you can accept what he did for you. There aer no other options. That is why we read that Jesus is described as a stumbling block. Some people (the builders!) will reject Jesus, to them he is a stumbling block, because he challenges them and the way they live their lives. You are either built on top of the foundation stone, or you’re not - you can’t just balance yourself half on or half off. It’s all or nothing.

If you accept the claims of Jesus, the Peter says that as church you become God’s chosen people (v9-10). The transformation continues - because of Jesus we are no longer in the darkness but in the light - we can see where we are going. We weren’t a people, but now we are the people of God, We weren’t recieving mercy, and now we are. But you also get a really interesting snippet in the middle of those verses - it is not for our glory that God has done this - it is for his. So before you go pointing the finger at those who are not God’s people, or not the royal priesthood, remember God did it so that his name would be exalted not ours, and after all the passage began by saying we are to get rid of hypocrisy - when I’m perfect I might start to think about judging others, but until then I’ll be mighty careful!

Finally Peter says that even when the church is going through tough times, they are to battle against sin and do mission (v.11-13). Even when it is tough to be church its not use just stopping, you have to grow faith, you have to do mission. If you stop doing these things then the church really is in trouble. Interestingly Peter says when you do mission, get a picture of your sin first. Repent yourself, make sure you have a firm foundation otherwise you might fall too. Then live such good lives that even though people accuse you of doing wrong, you show God’s way. We need to make sure we don’t slip into blandness - sometimes we are supposed to say things and do things that mean that other people will accuse us of doing wrong. Perhaps its wearing a cross when you are a nurse, perhaps it is preaching in a shopping centre, perhaps it is upholding Christian teaching in schools. We need to be bold and sure and certain enough to stand up and let people accuse us of doing wrong because through this God will be glorified. And this is Peter’s final word to the churches in this section - glorify God.

So Lord, here I am.
I want to grow in my faith. I want to have more faith in you. I want to leave behind my sin and trust in you as a living stone. Help me to build my life upon you and not fall or stumble. I accept you as THE living stone, the foundation of my life. Transform me from living in darkness to living in light, from being a nobody, to being one of your people. Strengthen me with boldness and courage to do your work. Use me for your glory Lord and the glory of your kingdom.
Amen

This entry was posted on 29/10/2009 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Paul's diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.