Christian body building - Ephesians 4:1-16

 

Over the coming months I will be leading a small group at my church through an overview of the Bible. My intention (well intentioned, but optimistic) is to blog about each of the passages we study, showing how they help to tell the narrative of the Bible. Naturally the overview will begin in Genesis, with a quick peek into Revelation to help set the trajectory of the overview. It does include, however, two fantastic studies in Ephesians to help set the tone for the year. The first of these passages is Ephesians 4:1-16 (although the focus is very much on verses 11-16), which tells us both about Christian unity and about Christian growth.

 

Unity

 

Ephesians 4 makes it very clear that Christians should be united. It's easy to say, but not so easy to achieve. In fact, many people see this as one of the big problems in the church - people arguing over petty little points of doctrine, when there's a whole world out there that needs us. Of course they are right - a church marked by disunity is a church in serious trouble. So we begin to hear the claims that we need to put relationship over doctrine. A claim which is surely designed to bring about unity. Similarly we hear the language of inclusion, fighting against the judgmental tones of those who insist on calling people sinners. I'm no expert on how this works out, but it is probably very nice. It seems likely that many people feel deeply loved within these environments and that people fall into deep and united relationships. It's worth considering whether this is the kind of unity we are called to though. The apostle Paul, it seems, would say absolutely not. 

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

Ephesians 4:1-3 

For anyone who is a Christian, there is automatically unity through the Holy Spirit. It is something which we are called to maintain, not create. To this end there is certainly a need for a gentle, patient and loving approach to our fellow Christians. These attitudes Paul is calling people to live out are all self-sacrificial, putting others first. It is not, however, a means of bringing people into the Christian community, nor of creating unity where none exists, rather it is maintaining the unity that comes from having the same Holy Spirit and having the same faith. Paul continues to elaborate on this point:

There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:4-6

Christians should be united by the fact that they have much shared ground. There are key issues where there is no room for variety. We are only called to one hope and one faith. Paul is quite clear throughout Ephesians about how we find our hope in Jesus - it is not something that is up for debate. This is then taken further as we see that unity is talked about in a second sense.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

 Ephesians 4:11-14

There is a unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. This is the end goal of the building of the body of Christ, which is achieved by the saints when they are equipped by the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. The process is fairly straightforward, all about clear teaching of the Bible, permeating deep into people's lives. We find the teachings of the apostles and the prophets written down in the Bible. The evangelists are, literally speaking, good news speakers. Ones who proclaim the gospel. The shepherd-teachers are the ones we hear preaching in our churches, Sunday by Sunday. This process of teaching the Bible, proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ, equips ordinary Christians (the saints) for the work of ministry, that is, building up the body of Christ. The end result of this is a unity of faith and a unity of the knowledge of the Son of God. Not a diversity.

 

In fact the result of this is a guarding against human cunning and doctrinal wobbliness. When the body of Christ is built up it becomes mature and Christ-like, as opposed to the previous child-like state. Those who are mature and Christ-like have a unity of faith, and shared knowledge of the Son of God. Those who are children are tossed to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine. They will believe all sorts of things.

 

What, then, is a truly unified Christian church? It seems that it is one which has a shared heritage. Built on the shared faith, which Paul outline earlier in this epistle to the Ephesians, sharing one Spirit. Paul calls for people to be eager to maintain this unity - to come back to these central beliefs and unite around them, but also to live at peace with each other. Being patient and gentle, loving and humble, overcoming the inevitable tensions of life. Further we also grow in our unity, building up an increasingly faithful and unified knowledge of Jesus and his works as we are faithfully taught from the Bible. The question could well be asked, though, how do we attain this unity? How is it that everyday Christians are supposed to build the body of Christ up? Is this not God's work?

 

Everyday Christian ministry

 

We all have our special gifts and roles in the church. Some of us are wonderful musicians, playing beautiful music for people to worship God with. Others are fantastically practical, helping to ensure that the church building is always ready for services and other events, freeing others up to do the work of teaching and preaching. There are numerous ways in which people serve and use their God-given gifts to further his causes. These are good things and should not be stopped. There is also the additional work of building the body of Christ, however, which everyone has a hand in. This section finishes:

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. 

Ephesians 4:15-16

We have a contrast here - rather than being carried about by every wind of doctrine, led astray by human cunning and any old ideas about God, we should be growing up into Christ. Someone who is growing up in the unity of faith and the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God, is someone who is growing up into Christ - the opposite of somebody who has wayward doctrine. Christian growth is driven by knowledge of God, by doctrine. To oppose clear doctrine, is to oppose Christian maturity.

 

This is reflected in the means by which we cause growth - it is by speaking the truth in love. When everybody is doing this (when each part is working properly) the whole body makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. So the pattern is clear - as we are taught from the Bible we are equipped to speak truth to others in love, as Christians engage in this, the body of believers grows into doctrinal unity and maturity, therefore into Christ-likeness.

 

Note, this cannot just be head knowledge - the aim is to build people up, to bring people to maturity. It requires the patience, gentleness and humility of verses 1-3. It is speaking the truth in love, not mere lecturing or transmitting knowledge.

 

Further, this is a great privilege, not something to be taken lightly. The contrast to a successfully growing body is one that is doctrinally divided and unclear, a body of children. The means to a growing body is every member speaking the truth in love, so it follows that there is great danger when people are not engaged in this. People need to be encouraged to talk about their faith with other Christians, to apply biblical truth into each others lives, to be increasingly shaped by the Bible teaching they hear. A church that relies on just a teacher is a church that is wasting its time - everyone may be wonderfully equipped for building the body of Christ up, but until they all actively engage in speaking the truth in love, then growth will be absent.

 

Similarly, any church that believes the key to growth and unity is to focus on relationships above and beyond doctrine is a church that is equally off-base. All the loving and gentle talk in the world is of no eternal value if it is not coupled with biblical truth. There is one faith and one hope - not a plurality of them. Teaching the Bible faithfully and accurately is a matter of great significance.

 

It is worth thinking about how to put this into practice. Perhaps you need to ask yourself how seriously you value speaking biblical truths into the lives of other Christians. Is this something you make a regular habit of? What is it that you actually talk about with other Christians? The growth into Christ-likeness of the body of Christ depends on speaking the truth. It is equally worth thinking about how lovingly this is done. The aim is always to build up other Christians, not to destroy them. Sometimes this may required hard truths being told - it will always be a painful process to root out stubborn sin from our lives - but it will always be loving truth. Told with humility and gentleness, persevered with in patience, seeking to see the body of Christ grow into maturity. More faithfully applying biblical truths into their lives. It is a great privilege that Christ has allowed us to play a key role in this important process - let's take it very seriously indeed. 

Understanding God's Judgment - Noah

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Genesis 6:5-7 (ESV)

There are two parties in this story, each with a big problem - man and God. Fortunately, as we shall see, the two problems combine easily into a straightforward solution.

Man and his problem:

The problem of man is very clear in these verses. Just a few chapters earlier, in the creation accounts, we find that "God blessed them [mankind]. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it'" (Genesis 1:28, ESV). Very soon after this we find Adam and Eve breaking the one commandment they are given by God, seeking to become like him by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From this first sin, man has indeed multiplied to the extent that he has filled the earth with evil. That is, "the wickedness of man was great in the earth".

This wickedness is not just great in its extent across the earth, on a macroscopic level. Nor is it merely a problem that is found in some people all over the earth. Rather it is both macroscopic and microscopic - man is evil even in the tiniest of details. We see that "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually". There is a lot of evil packed into this sentence:

• every - this is a fully inclusive evil; everything is evil, there is no room left for good
• intention - even the lofty ambitions of man are evil
• thoughts of his heart - even before the actual deeds, the mind of man is evil
• only evil continually - there is neither room nor time for good; this is a ceaseless evil

In other words, before we even come to the actual deeds of man we see in his heart he is fully evil. There is not a single good thought, not a single good intention, in his heart. He has no time nor any inclination to even consider planning to do anything good. Man is as utterly evil as he could possibly be. When Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit in the garden of Eden, they chose to directly disobey God, putting themselves in his place. Now we see that this attitude of rebellion has spread so that all mankind, in every thought and desire, is choosing to directly disobey God. Man's great problem is that he has rejected God, who created him and provided for him.

God and his problem:

The LORD saw the state of man and "it grieved him to his heart". God created man to be his representative on Earth - made in His image, so that when creation looked at man they would be pointed to God the creator. Man was the culmination of creation, made to dwell in relationship with God. When Adam and Eve rejected God, they were cast out of the garden of Eden, out of God's immediate presence. Now the relationship has been further shattered, as all man is rejecting God in every way they can, every second of every day. In this way God is grieved. Man could not have acted in any way that is more offensive or more grievous to God, since "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Further to merely being grieved by the rebellion of man, God "regretted that he had made man on the earth". This is not to say that God believed he had made a mistake and wished he could go back to change his mind about creation. Rather it expresses in human terms the intensity of God's feeling against the wickedness of man. For, being fully sovereign, God knew what man would become when he made him. Indeed, as we shall see, this wickedness is part of God's big plan for his creation, still in its infancy.

So, God's problem is that he is left grieved by the wickedness of man, with the strength of feeling of one who regrets every creating man. As I said earlier, these two problems, of man and God, fit together to create a simple solution.

The obvious solution:

Now the next word in the text is a classic linking word, that even a young child can follow. So. What we have looked at so far leads simply into the solution. As a result of what we have seen, God declared, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” There can be no other solution for a God of justice. Man has willingly rejected his reason for creation, turning his back on God completely. Man no longer deserves to remain a part of God's creation. The culmination of God's creation has failed and is no longer fit for purpose. Creation no longer functions as it should. The natural solution is simply to get rid of it.

This is not like suggesting that a sick racehorse should be killed because it is no longer fit for purpose. There is nothing in the passage to suggest that man is merely suffering under the weight of his mistakes, or made broken by some sickness. The passage is clear that man is indulging in an all-encompassing evil. This is not even the equivalent of discussing if a serial killer should be given the death penalty. Man is not an equal party to God, nor does he have any claim over creation. Man is like a house-sitter, there to represent the owner and care for his creation. When man chooses to reject God and go his own way, he forfeits any right to remain a part of creation. As Adam and Eve were warned, "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 1:17, ESV.) How much more does man who as evil as he can possibly be deserve death?

At this point the story could justly end. The only tragedy would be that creation failed. Like one may mourn the loss of an abusive spouse, not because there is any sadness in losing the abusive individual, but because of the lost potential. The opportunity that man had to serve God and enjoy perfect relationship with him was worth infinitely more than any of the pleasures they sought. God, however, is just and his patience cannot last forever. It is only right that he should bring judgment on wicked man. In the judgment of sinners we see the wonderful justice and holiness of God. We find confidence that God will not let evil go unrewarded. The story does not end here, however, even though there would be nothing to complain about if it did.

Noah and the God of love:

"But Noah found favour in the eyes of God" (Genesis 6:8, ESV).

Man was evil and God was grieved SO God decided to end creation BUT Noah found favour in his eyes. Another simple word leads us into the greatest cause for celebration that sinful man can have in this story. God will not let the story end here. God loves his creation and has great plans for it. Through the destruction of sinful man, his character is displayed and he is glorified. A holy and righteous God, who will not tolerate evil and will not let the guilty go unpunished. The perfect judge. But this is not all he is. As Noah finds favour in the eyes of God, the love of God is displayed.

Noah should be joining man in facing God's judgment, but he is chosen by God to endure. God's mercy is at work here, as Noah escapes the punishment he deserves. More than this, though, Noah is not simply let off the hook. The verse does not read "But Noah was allowed to live by God". Noah receives God's grace, finding favour in God's eyes. As well as escaping the punishment that God is bringing on man, Noah is given a convenant (agreement) with God and "God blessed Noah and his sons" (Genesis 9:1, ESV). Noah is not merely saved to carry on life as it was before, but he is saved for a renewed relationship with God and a renewed covenant with God. Noah is chosen to start a second attempt at creation, one which begins with a promise that God will never again destory the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:11).

So, we see God more fully glorified as he shows his judgment on sinful, deserving man, yet pours blessing on a chosen man. Noah receives mercy, as he escapes punishment, and grace, as he receives blessing. The problem for man is not over yet, though. Noah is chosen from among an evil mankind. The punishment he should have received has not arrived yet. Whilst God has acted in justice and love here, the problem of sin remains. Man cannot exist in relationship with God whilst sin exists, for sinful man deserves death. If man is to be able to live in the relationship with God they were intended for, there will need to be a better and longer-lasting solution. By the end of chapter nine of Genesis, where God establishes his covenant with Noah, Noah has both sinned and died. The story is not over yet.

Lamentations 1:2

She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.

Verse one has told us about the great fall in Jerusalem's status - how she is now like a widow; how she is isolated. Verse two carries this theme of isolation and bereavement on, as well as adding some depth to her fall in status. She is pictured as weeping bitterly, again continuing the emphasis on the greatness of the tragedy. That is how disgraceful it is that God's city be conquered and destroyed by pagans. It also shows more of the reality of her fall from grace, as those who were once her allies ('lovers' and 'friends') have turned against her and left her alone. One the face of it this paints a simple picture of the sheer horror of the situation that Jerusalem is facing, and certainly it would have helped in creating empathy with a shocked and disillusioned people in exile. There is in this, though, the start of the real meat of this poem; that is, it begins to explain the reason for the situation Jerusalem has found herself in. It is not just saying how awful it is that she has been betrayed by those she trusted, deserted by those closest to her, but in fact it starts to turn to the shameful whoredom of Jerusalem in the run up to her fall.

To explore this further we need to think back over the right foreign policy that Israel was to have, compared to the reality of how she operated. Quite simply Israel was supposed to be a holy nation under God's unique kingship; this was a core element of the government of God's people. This separation was to create a unique and peculiar people - a people who stood out by their distinctive living pattern, characterised by obedience to God leading to a deep love of him, with every aspect of the national life reminding people of the great God who had brought them out of Egypt and settled them in the promised land. It was to be a land of worship and blessing; a nation that people would look at with jealousy, seeing the wonderful life that right relationship with God brings. As for Israel's foreign policy it was to be a distant policy, in a sense, not forging alliances with neighbouring nations, not adopting their customs or intermarrying. People were to join Israel, fitting into her God-given way of life; Israel was not to fit into the practices of outside nations. Israel was to rely totally on God's protection and guidance, not on the ruling methods and military protection of other nations. Israel rejected all this, choosing a human king and increasing alliances as they drifted from God. In fact Israel fell so low, as God allowed them, that they became a vassal. The period of time leading up to the fall of Jerusalem sees increasing attacks on Israel from her so-called friends, until eventually the Babylonians swooped in and crushed Jerusalem, dragging her people away to captivity.

The point is simple - Israel was not to have 'friends' or 'lovers' among the nations. She opened herself up and became corrupted by these pagan nations. The fact they turned against her and rejected her is hardly surprising, as history reminds us time and time again. Humanity is inherently disloyal and untrustworthy; especially compared to God. Jerusalem had prostituted herself out to the nations, her 'lovers' - she was, after all, only to have one lover, that is God himself. The book of Hosea makes this point fairly forcefully, as we see Hosea's marriage to the prostitute Gomer representing Israel's unfaithfulness to Yahweh. This point is ultimately made increasingly bluntly thoughout this poem, but the author is already looking to remind the people of their failings that led to their downfall.

Another interesting point to come out of this, quickly, is the relative power of gods. Take the days of the judges, for example, where God brought some incredible military victories. Those days must have seemed like ancient legends to the exiled Israelites. What they had done was exchanged their true God for false gods, adopting the pagan religious practices of the surrounding nations. God had turned his hand against Jerusalem and there was nothing that the gods Jerusalem had whored herself to could do. Such is life still. Where do we put our trust? To whom do we ally ourselves? What brings us our security in life? Nothing has really changed for those who put their trust in Yahweh - this remains the only sensible place to seek security. This almost certainly won't mean that those who oppose us are crushed (yet), but it does mean that the eternal battle for our soul is secured; our future is secured by the cross. If the church is the bride of Christ, then we must certainly avoid prostituting ourselves to the surrounding culture; avoid taking on the values and priorities of the world.

So, Jerusalem is left alone and bitterly weeping. Deserted by her 'lovers', betrayed by her 'friends'. How pathetic she is. Jerusalem is like a girl who has gone out seeking security, love, popularity, acceptance. Like a girl who has tried to find those things by chasing the things of the world that seem so desirable: by partying; by sleeping around; by ignoring her values to try and fit in. She has received nothing that isn't part and parcel of that life she chose. Do not try to imagine Jerusalem as some unfortunate victim, who has suffered at the hands of a neglectful God, two-faced friends, and unfaithful lovers. That is not what this is. She is like a girl who finds herself diseased, hated, used, alone - a girl who sold herself to the cool seeming kids, but ended up used up and lying in a pool of her vomit. She is a disgusting mess, not some unfortunate deserving pity. It is from here that we get the right understanding of what this kind of prostitution to the surrounding culture achieves. It is from here that we can form a right response. We will continue to see these themes played out over the remaining twenty verses, and ultimately we will see how the author seeks to help the people in exile respond rightly to this self-made catastrophe.

Christian celebrities

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? James 2:1-4

James gives us a useful warning here about the way we treat others, and I think for a lot of us it is probably a relevant warning. When I was at university, in my church student study group, we were talking about the way in which we often viewed other Christians as 'better' than ourselves whilst seeing ourselves as failing. One person brought up an example of how when he had been a student there was a 'in-crowd' who were 'friends' with the previous student worker. He remembered wanting to be part of that group because they were the best Christians, or something along those lines. Despite my poor retelling of that story, we probably all see something we recognise in there. There is a way in which we can easily build up a ranking table of the Christians we know based on who we think is great and who is not. This is also something that is quite apparent in the way certain Christians, both locally and globally, are viewed or spoken about. I remember hearing another student say how great guys like Calvin were, and how far beyond anything we're capable of they must have been. I can't help but feel that this is somewhat missing the point.

Clearly we can be doing better or worse in our Christian walks in our many different ways - it is easy (and maybe fun) to think of some examples for this. The point, though, is that we can all too easily start building some people up in much the same way we do celebrities. Our view of them focuses not on how we can follow their example in following Christ, but on how awesome the things they have done is. It turns towards worshipping people, who afterall can only do these things through the gifts and grace given to them by Christ. It is interesting to see the people who are most popular in a church environment - it so often seems to be based on how their Christian life seems to be going. It is understandable that certain characters within a church will be needed by many members of the church regarding issues that they oversee (such as leadership, youth work, etc.), but so often there seems to be a desire to be on good terms with the big players in a church and little interest in the everyday folk. A lot of interest in the guy who preaches frequently and has just written a best-selling book, but little interest in the awkward, shy person who put up the coat racks and painted the doors. Again on a more global scale there seems to be a real excitement about watching a few random video clips of some famous preacher, not so much in hearing a full series from a local accountant who speaks in our church occasionally.

The reason I included the quote from James is that I think he is talking about this sort of issue as he urges us, "don't show favouritism". The man in fine clothes may well be something different to us: a top worship leader; someone very funny; the beautiful person; our pastor; or almost anything else. The poor man is invariably going to be the person we struggle to notice, or would rather not have to deal with. Perhaps it is reading too far into this, but I think it is a fair point, that the saddest part of this is how superficial the criteria is. I have met people wearing very expensive clothes, who have then proved to have little else attractive about them; similarly I have met some people who have nothing, yet are wonderful to talk to. We are not as Christians given a free licence to pick and choose who we favour, who we give our time to, on our criteria. Without Christ we are all nothing and have nothing, and it is only with Christ that there is anything of lasting value in any of us. To start using our own personal criteria to decide who we seek out on a Sunday morning is to ignore any notion of church unity.

My real point is very simple. We need to be careful about how we are viewing our Christian heroes; we mustn't start idolising them. And we need to be open-minded, patient, loving, and outward looking in who we look to talk to on a Sunday morning (for example); being willing to welcome anyone in to the church family, whatever our first impression of them may be. Once we start showing favouritism we make two fatal errors: i) we exclude people from the church, and ii) we start to form little cliques that divide rather than unify the church. Let's not 'discriminate among ourselves and become judges with evil thoughts'.

Lamentations 1:1

Lamentations is an interesting book, possibly authored by Jeremiah (although nobody knows for sure) and containing five poems mourning the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. It is not a book traditionally associated with joy, but is well worth while studying as it shows us the way to respond to times of utter bleakness and desolation. The people of Jerusalem had turned away from God, as is frequently mentioned in Lamentations, and thus fallen under his judgment. Lamentations brings a response to exiled people who doubtless felt distant from and abandoned by God. Lamentations 1:1 opens up the book by showing us the huge contrast that had been the result of God's wrath being turned on Jerusalem. A quick look through Joshua to 2 Kings provides the background for this book: in Joshua and Judges we frequently see powerful victories won by God (much like the in the exodus from Egypt); the monarchy then begins in 1 & 2 Samuel, continuing into 1 & 2 Kings, with the disobedient kingship of Saul setting the pattern for what follows in a sense; through 1 & 2 Kings we see continual patterns of disobedience, ultimately leading to the gradual decline of Israel into a divided and weak nation. Lamentations is speaking to a people for whom the tales of God's great victories over Israel's enemies are just stories from the past; for whom the idea of Israel as a land of blessing living under God's rule is an alien concept; and for whom the oppression suffered by the Israelites in Egypt has become a reality again. Lamentations contains several powerful messages for us: about the severity of God's response to sin; about the way we should respond when God seems to have abandoned us; and about the results of idolising the surrounding culture. Over a long series of posts I will slowly work through Lamentations trying to unpack it a little, and hopefully be helpful in seeing what is going on.

How isolated sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.

Lamentations opens with this bleak appraisal of Jerusalem's fallen state. Jerusalem is personified as a woman here; a woman in a sad and lonely situation. We are told how she was before: she was "full of people"; "great among the nations"; and "a princess among the provinces". This is what was mentioned earlier - Jerusalem had been the centre of a powerful and victorious nation, with God at her head defeating all who opposed her. Jerusalem was the city of David, or the city of God; formerly named Jebus, she was captured by David when he become king, and became the capital of Israel. She was a city belonging to the whole nation, not just one tribe. Jerusalem was the religious centre of Israel, with the temple that Solomon had built standing there; before this the ark of the covenant had moved from place to place in Israel. It was the political centre of Israel; where the king was, but again where God's dwelling place was. In the wilderness the camp was organised around the tabernacle, symbolising the way God was at the centre of life and the centre of command; Israel had been organised this way, with Jerusalem at the centre of life. Jerusalem genuinely had been great at one point. Arguably the highlight of life in the promised land came early in the reign of Solomon: he had asked God for wisdom to rule; Jerusalem was viewed as a great nation, as seen by the visit of the Queen of Sheba; and the temple had been built - the house of God. Up to this point Jerusalem did not rely on foreign allies, or on human weaponry, but on God. This ideal had already started to be eroded though - the clamour of the people for a human king showed a lack of trust in God's kingship. This lack of trust continued to deepen, as Israel divided into two nations, built up foreign allies, and adopted foreign gods. It is this decline that is summed up here in blunt and non-accusatory terms.

At the time of writing Jerusalem was a broken and burnt out city. She had fallen to become a vassal for many years, now had fallen further as the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and dragged her people away into slavery. Jerusalem had been rejected by her so-called allies, and left by God to suffer at the hands of her enemies. This is brought out in depth over the rest of this chapter though. The reason for this start to Lamentations is probably to draw the hearers in. It is purely factual and brings a mournful, not accusatory tone. The author later draws out the reasons for Jerusalem's destruction, but to start with the hearer is shown empathy. This start shows the hearer that the author has a genuine and deep concern for the fall of Jerusalem: there is a instant recognition of the greatness and sadness of the fall. There is the contrast between greatness and isolation; between royalty and slavery. This is married with the imagery of bereavement; Jerusalem is portrayed as a lonely woman in mourning. This beginning to Lamentations sets the tone for what will come; the author genuinely does see this as a terrible tragedy. For the city of God to fall to pagans and for the people of God to be dragged off into slavery is truly a terrible thing. This tone remains throughout Lamentations, although the reasons for the real tragedy of the situation are perhaps not those which the hearer may initially expect. As this chapter continues we will see more of the tragedy of the fall of Jerusalem, and also where the author is trying to take his audience. It is a journey that reminds us of the reality of God's judgment, and shows us how to rightly respond to this.

Rebel to the core

One thing that often makes me chuckle is when people react with anger to the idea of hidden speed cameras, or in fact speed cameras in general. The idea that someone is spying on us waiting to catch us out is something that riles most of us, probably because that is how we view it. It make me chuckle because it is such a silly reaction really; it essentially just boils down to "I don't like it when someone catches me doing something wrong, which really I want to do". I chuckle, though I have to admit I am not immune to it. There is a similar reaction to, say, being behind a police car on the road; the same kind of dislike of being watched, although in this case when we aren't doing anything wrong. The expectation that we are about to be pulled over for something we do all the time without even thinking about it, that really we shouldn't be doing. I get that a lot, although I suspect it has much less foundation to it than I believe at the time. I think these attitudes remind of two things about us as humans:

1. 
   
   We like to break rules. The reason we hate the idea of someone watching us is that deep down we know we run a real risk of being caught, because we know we will be breaking the rules. The reason we then get angry is that we want to be able to go on breaking the rules. The hatred of any authority beyond our own is something inbuilt to humanity, and is exactly the attitude that creates sin. The refusal to accept God's total authority over our lives leads to us happily finding ways to ignore him and write him off.
2. 
   
   Deep down we know that we are utterly rebellious. Deep down we know that everything we do is tainted by selfish ambitions and desires, and these attitudes manifest themselves almost constantly in rebellion: against any authorities over us, and ultimately against God.

Now, nothing is ever as clear cut in our lives as that, but those attitudes do seem to run deep in people; certainly in me. It is those attitudes that show why we are so utterly helpless when we stand in judgment before God. We have rebelled against him, and forfeited our right to know him; and we are unable to break out of the pattern of rebellion that cut us off from him. This is what we typically call 'freedom'. This is what the Bible calls being dead. This is where we all stand under our own power: rebel to the core.

Merry Easter?

So here it is, merry Easter, everybody's having fun. Look to the future now, it's only just begun...

We're hardly inundated with Easter songs. We spend only a fraction celebrating Easter that we do Christmas. We certainly don't have an 'Easter eve'. We don't even have an Easter version of Santa. Overall it seems fair to say that the way Easter is celebrated tends to be far more muted that Christmas. Should we be surprised though?

Clearly to the Christian there is much more to be excited by at Easter, but in a secular society there is much less appeal in the Easter story. At Christmas we have angels, a baby born in a manger, shepherds, and wise men. At Easter we have a man brutally executed, we have a claim of resurrection from the dead, and we have the utterly offensive claim underlying this: that we humans have got ourselves into a mess from which we cannot extract ourselves. That our flat-out rebellion against God has earnt us a fair wage of death and eternal separation from God under his judgment. That we have been judged unworthy of life, but that God himself subjected himself to the hands of us rebels, willing offering up his life in our place to give us the hope of reconciliation to God. Hardly an idea that sits comfortably with us.

So, as we enjoy another Easter Sunday, let us remember the true significance of Easter, in amongst all the eggs (chocolate). That some 2000 years ago a tomb was found empty, save for some folded grave clothes, and that its occupant (Jesus) was gone and alive. That is by far the most important fact in history, and it is why Easter is the most significant holiday we have.