Author: Nick Booth

1 Peter 1.1-2

I was standing on my drive last week when a delivery driver appeared from behind the front hedge with the words, ‘Are you Andrea Williams?’ Now I am six foot, over weight, balding, with a beard and male. ‘Yep’ I replied. He seemed a little unsure so he pressed me for more detail. ‘Are you number three?’ Now as far as I know my mother only had two children and I was the second, but I assured him I was number three any way, just to get the whole thing over with. ‘This is for you then’, he said and thrust a small parcel in my hand. I’ve been had like this before and given post that wasn’t for me and ended up walking the local streets trying to find the real recipient, so I checked which delivery firm he worked for. He threw back over his shoulder the name of the highest valued company in the world (other possibly more ethical internet providers are available) as he rapidly disappeared from sight. Mildly amusing as that interchange was it succeeded in establishing who the post had come from and if it had arrived at the intended recipient, which broadly is what the opening sentences of 1 Peter does as well.

Peter wrote this letter close to the end of his life, around A.D. 62-64, he was probably in Rome. He was one of the most well known of the apostles with a special commission from Jesus to, ‘Feed my Sheep.’ ^{John 21.17} This commission, Jesus made clear, was to be a response arising from Peter’s love for Jesus. Peter had a particular role in reaching out to the Jewish community while Paul had a special commission to establish churches amongst the Gentiles (non-Jewish). However, it is a mistake to think that that these roles were exclusive, Peter was the first to have revealed to him that the same baptism of the Holy Spirit was for Gentiles as it was for Jewish converts and Paul always started his outreach in a new town by going to the synagogue and preaching to the Jews.

Peter starts his letter by stating he is Peter, a sent one or messenger, from Jesus Christ. In fact, no one knew Jesus better than Peter. He went through every grueling moment of Jesus ministry, death and resurrection by the side of Jesus. He knew Jesus’ love and rebukes. He saw Jesus in all his miraculous glory, he saw his tortured body. He witnessed Jesus’ healing touch and then healed people himself in Jesus’ name. He welcomed Jesus into his home and saw him heal his mother in law. He walked with Jesus for three years over the whole landscape of Palestine. He saw Jesus disappear in the clouds following his resurrection promising to return. He ate fish with him, that Jesus had cooked, after Jesus’ crucifixion. He listened to every word of Jesus’ teaching. He had walked on water towards Jesus in the middle of a tempestuous storm and then lost faith so Jesus had to grasp him and save his life. He had been imprisoned for speaking about Jesus’ resurrection and then been miraculously released from shackles and prison. He had experienced the grace of God in a way that few could compare with. Peter was a man who learnt the hard way but there was nobody who had greater claim to say they were an apostle of Jesus Christ. So, receiving a letter from Peter for any church was a massively significant moment.

The letter was for circulation around the churches of Asia Minor or what is now Turkey. In his initial greeting to the elect exiles of the Dispersion the ‘elect’ are the chosen of God in the same way as Israel was the chosen people of God in the Old Testament. He is signifying that the church is now God’s people, called by God, to be his body living distinctively and bearing the good news of Jesus to the world. In the second sentence Peter introduces one of the key themes of his letter, the notion that God’s people are exiles. From now on their allegiances are to the kingdom of God and they are now strangers to the culture of the world that they have been called out of. Jesus consistently taught about the kingdom of God and then established it through his death and resurrection and on his ascension being enthroned as the King. The kingdom became the dispersed people who God had sanctified through the Holy Spirit. ^v2 Sanctification here is referring both to the initial conversion of the believer and also to the progressive changes the believer experiences as they learn to live more like Christ. This is the life of discipleship or as Peter describes it here, obedience to Jesus Christ. This new relationship with God is only possible because by faith the Christian has benefited from forgiveness from sin because of Jesus taking the consequences of the believer’s sin through his death. Peter describes this as being sprinkled with his blood.

In these ways Peter establishes at the beginning of his letter, who he is and who he is writing to. He then prays for their continued experience of God’s blessing in experiencing God’s mercy and peace. Peace here is not only a sense of inner peace, it is peace in terms of their relationship with God, not being estranged from him and in fact being positively in harmony with him. The opening of Peter’s letter also makes clear that the believer’s relationship is with the full Trinity, as he describes the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sanctification of the Spirit and obedience to Jesus Christ.

Have we made that first step of obedience to Jesus Christ and therefore joined the Kingdom of God?

Do we experience the continuing sanctification of the Spirit that enables us to become more like Jesus?

What a Beautiful Name – Hillsong Worship

Psalm 61

David opens the psalm a long way from Jerusalem and the tent of meeting. ^v4 It felt like being at the end of the earth although he was probably just over Israel’s border. He was in the need of God’s presence to be his place of refuge. He was experiencing a time of spiritual weakness as well as probably a threat to his life. Although the tent of meeting was the holy place where the ark of the covenant was placed the God of Israel was not contained by geography. Psalm 139 makes this clear, ‘Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. ^{Psalm 139.7,8} David felt safe in the presence of God in a similar way that being in the presence of someone who you love provides a sense of safety. A sense of safety is an important aspect of love, it is why we hold someone who is frightened and why we hold the hand of a loved one in their dying moments.

The central verses of the psalm, either side of ‘Selah’ carry the heart of this psalm’s message. It is the importance of spending time in the presence of God. ‘Let me dwell in your tent forever!’ ^v4 says David. He wants to be close to God not only for refuge but also because he shares the inheritance of all those who fear God. Because he loves God he loves being with God. Absence isn’t making his heart grow fonder, the continuing presence of God grows his love.  He enjoys God and enjoys obeying God. The Old Testament and especially the psalms are full of verses that thrill at being in the presence of God. ‘How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God’. ^{Psalm 84.1,2}

In Jesus we have a perfected model of desiring to be in the presence of God. Jesus showed and taught his disciples the importance of spending time quietly in God’s presence. When the twelve disciples excitedly returned to Jesus after he had sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God, he said to them, ‘Come away with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’. ^{Mark 6.31}

Spending time in God’s presence enables the disciple to resist sin as Jesus showed in the wilderness after his baptism. Persistent sin frequently damages Christians’ ongoing relationship with God and limits the effectiveness of their lives. David links time spent in God’s presence with the keeping of his vows. ‘For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.’ ^v5 Again in verse 8, ‘So will I sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day.’

Time in God’s presence also builds hope. David expresses such hope for himself but at the same time moves into prophetic verse concerning the coming King, the Messiah, as he talks about being enthroned forever before God. ^{vv 6,7} Hope is a vital part of the Christian life, it is rooted in the promises of God and the death and resurrection of Jesus. Hope produces resilience. When Peter was writing to the churches at the time of Nero and rapidly escalating persecution he wanted them to grasp the hope they had in Christ. He wrote, ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.’ ^{1 Peter 1.3,4} Later he called them to come into Jesus’ presence to be built up into the people of God that God desires. ‘As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’ ^{1 Peter 2.4,5}

Have we regularly built into our life time to, ‘come away and be with Him’?

Do we allow ourselves time to enjoy being in the presence of God and celebrating the hope that is within us?

Living hope – Phil Wickham

Psalm 60 and 2 Samuel 8

As a parent what was the worst fight you had with your child, or perhaps it was the other way round? In our household it was over worm medicine. Worms are a topic that most of us prefer not to mention in public but something a lot of us have had to deal with in private. I am not sure if children lock on to parents’ tension over this. I remember vividly the semi-secret whispered request over the pharmacy counter if they stock medicine for worms and then the absolutely toe-curling embarrassment as the pharmacist loudly proclaims the whole family must take the treatment. I was then told not to worry as it was a delicious strawberry flavour. The truth is the taste of the medicine was revolting and nothing at all like strawberries. As dutiful parents we made a show of cheerfully swallowing our dose. The first child opened their mouth and spat it across the room. There then began one of the biggest family scenes I remember that ended with our rolling around on the floor with our child trying to wrestle a spoonful of medicine into him. It was a ridiculous humiliation of parenthood, easily rectified the next day by buying tablets crushed into copious quantities of jam. God’s discipline of his people is like worm medicine, unwanted and unpleasant but good for you.

Psalm 60 relates to a time when David was defending Israel against invasion on multiple fronts and is described in 2 Samuel 8. The enemies were the Philistines, Moabites and Edomites. David believed God who had promised to go with the Israelites into battle had left them ^v10 and it was God who had previously given them victory. The nation had in some way rejected God and now they were experiencing his discipline by God removing his presence from them. It had become a national emergency, so David prayed, ‘You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us; you have been angry – now restore us! You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking. You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger.’ ^{vv 1-3} Some might interpret a psalm like this today as God causing a pandemic to punish countries for sinful disobedience and rejection of God; in much the same way as some said Aids was God’s punishment against homosexuality. This I believe is an entirely false understanding of scripture. The Old Testament should be read in the light of Jesus’ life, sacrificial death, teaching and example.

David responded appropriately, as the representative of God’s people he threw himself entirely on God’s mercy. ‘Save us and help us with your right hand, that those who you love may be delivered.’ ^v5 God’s reply was that he was not only the God of Israel, he was also God over all nations. ^{vv 6-8} David then faced up to the fact that the nation had become proud and thought they could achieve victories without God’s help. He confessed their own helplessness to do so and their need of God. ‘Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies’. ^{vv 11,12}

The New Testament reveals there are still times when God needs to discipline his people. Not this time in national battles as his people are now spread across the nations. No this is a battle for holiness. In Revelation 2 and 3 the risen Christ addresses words of discipline to seven churches located in modern Turkey. He repeatedly opens his words with, ‘I know your deeds’. God’s discipline was addressed to the local church as a whole and formed from his intimate knowledge of the church. He both affirms their obedience and details their failings. He cautions the church in Ephesus, ‘Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.’ ^{Rev 2.5} The Spirit would withdraw from the church and it would die. The church in Laodicea had become like Israel in Psalm 60, self-dependent and not trusting in God.  The Spirit warned them of the risk of their losing his presence, ‘Because you are lukewarm – neither hot not cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire … Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.’ ^{Rev 3.16-20}

God’s discipline in both the Old and New Testaments is relational.

How much do we prize our relationship with God?

Have we experienced God’s discipline in our lives reflected in our relationship with him?

Do we grasp the grace of God in always wanting to restore our relationship with him.

I will offer up my life – Matt Redman

Psalm 59 and 1 Samuel 19

The events that inspired Psalm 59 were getting David down. I can hear him shouting, ‘This is the sixth time you have tried to kill me. It is getting beyond a joke.’ 1 Samuel 19 sets out the series of events. Saul was overtaken by jealousy as he was repeatedly faced by David’s greater success in battle and popularity with the masses. Jonathan, David’s best friend and son of Saul, reasoned with Saul that, ‘the lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?’ ^{1 Sam 19.5} Jonathan temporarily brought about reconciliation between Saul and David. However, the war season came again and David led a major victory over the Philistines. Saul could stand it no longer and when David was playing his lute to sooth the King, Saul picked up his spear and tried to pin David to the wall, making it the fifth time Saul attempted to murder David. David dodged and escaped fleeing to his own house.

Saul sent men to watch David’s house with the intent of arresting and killing him in the morning. David’s wife, Michal warned David and helped him escape through a window.  She then tried the old escape from prison trick of making up a dummy in his bed to look like him to give David time to escape. When Saul’s men arrived in the morning to take David to Saul she claimed he was sick and in bed. Saul’s response to his men was bring him in his bed. Once Michal’s deception was exposed Saul challenged his daughter Michal as to why she should help his enemy escape. Michal then lied to protect herself saying that David had threatened her life.

David made good his escape and reached Samuel the prophet. Saul ordered his men to pursue David but as they approached David’s hideout, at Ramah, they were overcome by the Spirit of God and started prophesying. What is meant here by prophesying is uncertain but may well have meant, praising God. Three times Saul gave the same instructions and each time his men were overcome by prophesying. Saul gave up and went himself only to find he also was overwhelmed by prophesy and spent an entire day lying naked and repentant before Samuel, prophesying.

This incredible account explains the extreme language used by David in the psalm. He pleads for God’s protection. ‘Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; deliver me from those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men.’ David was not innocent of all sin, but he was innocent of what Saul had charged him with. ^{vv 3,4} For David, Saul’s persistent henchmen were the howling dogs, prowling the city. ^v6,14 David’s repeated escapes were for him a clear demonstration of God’s protection, although as he wrote the words describing God’s deliverance he may well have also been drawing on other later experiences in his reign as well. ‘But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision. O my Strength I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. ^{vv 8-10}

How, you may ask, can this psalm possibly relate to a twenty first century Christian experience? Who can possibly be relentlessly chased down with their life threatened because of their faith in Jesus? Sadly, we see many in those circumstances seeking asylum and refuge in Britain today. There are those who have fled countries controlled by ruthless gangs because their faith will not let them comply with the gang’s criminal demands. Others who by criminal gangs have been enslaved and transported into another country for prostitution, domestic servitude or economic enslavement. Many were either Christian at the point of being captured or tricked, or have become Christians since. There are churches significantly growing where men and women have escaped certain arrest, torture or execution for confessing Christ in their country of origin. Once here, even if given permission to stay, it does not mean that the gangs, families or authorities have given up on taking their revenge.

But we can join with them as they worship when they reach a place of relative safety using David’s words, ‘But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love. ^{vv 16,17}

Is there someone who needs our time, love and patience to listen to their story as well as our intercessions?

How long – Stuart Townend

Psalm 58

The above protest poster was held high by a woman in a crowd of thousands as a head of state visited a Scottish golf course. I added the exclamation marks as they are a signature feature of the head of state’s own memes. Humour, cuts sharpest, when there is an element of shock and potential truth. But that is mild compared to Psalm 58 where all humour has fallen away leaving only truth that is brutally vitriolic. The words are aimed at those with wealth and power who wield both to their own advantage, simultaneously oppressing others. The objects of David’s condemnation are rulers or as the ESV scathingly translates, ‘you gods’. ^v1

Psalm 58 has been controversial, even made optional in the Anglican 1980 service book, because of the strength of its language, especially verses 6 to 9. The language is strong, these are words that no western politician would expect to get away with. David appeals to God to break the teeth of unjust rulers and then tear them out of their mouths. He wants God to make them disappear, compares them to slugs and a still born child. He wants swift and total judgement that sweeps them from power and even life.

However, a further statement that has caused offence, ‘the righteous will be glad when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked’ ^v10 is not a celebration of personal revenge. The imprecatory psalms (of which this is one) leave judgement to God. But it does recognize there is a battle and the godly are involved in it and the righteous will be pleased with God’s victory. ^v11

This psalm makes clear that when people are not treated with equity then that is wicked and to be opposed. ‘Do you judge people with equity? No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.’ ^vv1,2 We are called to be godly in what we do and say. A core part of our calling is to campaign for justice and oppose injustice. This can take place within a political party structure but there is an increasing trend for campaigning to be cause specific and there are many causes that Christians and churches as a whole could actively support. They do not all have to be specifically Christian causes such as the persecution of Christians across the world, they can and should also be issues that impact the well-being of all e.g. modern slavery, Black lives matter and the impact on the world’s poorest of global warming.

Christian Aid is currently campaigning for debt relief for the poorest countries so that they have finances to fight the Coronavirus. Burkino Faso a country of 19 million has 11 ventilators, Sierra Leone has no intensive care beds in the hospitals. You can add your voice for debt relief here – https://www.christianaid.org.uk/campaigns/debt-jubilee-petition .

Tearfund is campaigning to clear up the plastics in the ocean which impacts on many poor people’s livelihoods. Increasing the proportion of global aid spent on waste management to 3% would more than halve the quantities of plastics entering the oceans and improve poor communities’ health. More than two billion people have no waste collection, meaning their rubbish ends up being burned or dumped in places like rivers and oceans. Tearfund are campaigning for global companies to take responsibility for the waste arising from their profits. You can join the campaign here – https://www.tearfund.org/about_you/action/

As a disciple of Jesus, do you recognise a responsibility to speak up and act for justice?

How can you help your church actively promote justice?

God of Justice (We Must Go) – Tim Hughes