Bible notes for January 2014 by Barrie Morley

CHRISTMAS DAY   John 1:  1-14  

'In the beginning was the Word'   (The Gospel of John,  late first century).

'It's only  words, and words are all I have to take your heart away'   (The Bees Gees, late twentieth century).                                               

'Only words, ONLY words?' 

At Christmas millions of worshippers across ther world will hear of John's famous 'WORD'  (Greek Logos) passage.    Logos occurs over and over again in the New Testament, it's meaning varies according to use and context.   It can be something to despise, mere talk.  Paul uses it this way about some of the Corinthians who were 'All talk'.  But Logos can also describe lofty discourses, treatises or narratives.

Words have a different role in Western society now from say 100 years ago.  Our world is full of words, but they are often used in short  texts or Twitter, or Answer Phone messages.  Lofty words and beautiful prose can seem like things of the past.   On our screens the visual has become more important than the script.  Films rely on glorious colour,  computer graphics, special effects and wrap around sound effects, rather than the prose of writers such as J.R.R. Tolkein.  Yet, one meaning of Logos is 'narrative'.  Might we translate it 'script'?    Many in our world no longer believe in a 'script',  a mega narrative.   Life has lost any meaning beyond what each person constructs for themselves.  'Only words'

BUT what if John is right?  He declares in his gospel that there IS a Word, narative, script.  A wise design, and this Word, God's Logos has appeared among us, in our own time and place.

This Christmas preachers have a chance, by using the first 14 verses of John's gospel to to declare that life does have meaning and purpose, because God's Word has been revealed here in human society.   The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us.  Jesus reveals God's Grand Design for life.

December 29th  Matthew 2:  13-23.   The holy family flees to Egypt.   Sceptics may struggle to take this story at face value.  Matthew loves to show God fulfilling prophecy in Jesus, but his attempts to make things fit can seem forced and contrived.  Is one of Matthew's motives in this passage to explain why the Messiah comes from Nazareth rather than Bethlehem?      What was the point of avoiding Judea when the family return?  True, one of Herod's sons rules there, but Galilee is ruled by another of his sons.  

There are echoes of the great Hebrew leader Moses in this passage.  He fled from  Egypt into exile, and then returned there to begin his great work of salvation.  Jesus flees to  Egypt for sanctuary, but returns to the Holy Land later to begin his work. 

WHATEVER we make of this passage, the theme of tyranny, bloodshed and suffering refugees is as relevant and  urgent today as ever. 

January 5th 2014, John 1:10-18  

'In the beginning was the Word', proclaims the opening of John's Gospel.  Many congregations will be content only to wonder and worship at that fact, and to celebrate the incarnation on Christmas Day, but  now the RCL nudges us a little further into John, and the question the Scriptures asks us is 'So what?.' 

'So what' is a question some occasional worshippers may not have asked as they left Midnight Mass.  The preacher's task today is to both challenge and offer good news by putting that question before people.     This might be done by referring to some of John's key words, Light, Grace, Truth, (verses 14, 16, 17)   Jesus offers us light  to walk by in a dark world, grace in our failure and frailty, and THE truth in a world of many relative but no absolute truths.     

January 12th 2014, Matthew 3:13-17   

The New Testament writers offer several reasons or signs for their belief that Jesus is the Son of God.   In John 1, he is The Word who was in the beginning with God.   In Romans 3: 4 Paul says 'He was declared to tbe Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead...'  Here, Matthew tells us that God declared Jesus to be his beloved Son at his baptism, v17.   However Matthew is probably not claiming that Jesus was adopted by God at his baptism because he has already gone to grreat lengths in his birth stories to underline the miraculous nature of Christ's birth.  Some see in this passage a story of the time Jesus first became aware in himself of his special relationship with the Father, and his mission.   OR the time the Messiah (King) was anointed, as at a coronation,   (Messiah=Christ/Annointed one), and so began his mission. 

Baptism for Jesus seems to have been a watershed - an accepting of a mission and a role, a role which was to cost him dearly.   OUR baptism is in part a baptism into discipleship, and following Jesus for us too will always involve cost.  Baptisms are occasions of great joy, rightly so, but they are also times of commitment to the way of Christ.

Preaching point    How far do we,  accept the cost of living the faith into which we have been baptised?

January 19th 2014, 1 Corinthians

In western Scotland, and the Western Isles are a  number of communities with the name Tarbert.  meaning a place where the land is so narrow that it is possible to drag a boat from one piece of water to another.   SO IN CORINTH, this Roman settlement built on an earlier Greek city was set on a four mile wide isthmus over which smaller boats could be dragged on rollers.  Because of this narrow neck of land,  Corinth became a port for trade from north south east and west.  Like all sea ports there was money to be made, but also the seamier side of life to be indulged.  Add to this the fact that although Corinth was never noted for its learning and culture, the residents of the city took an interest in these matters and liked to think of themselves as  learned and cultured.  So riches and poverty, power and powerlessness , sexual liberality, cultural snobbery, all combined to make a toxic mix which caused problems in the church. and utterly divided It.  It  is these problems which Paul was forced to address in his first letter to the church at Corinth.

• What is our record as Christians in the light of fabulous wealth and grinding poverty within our community,our country and the world? (Ch.11)
• How far is our church united in its views on sexuality? (Chs 6-7)  Is unanimity a good thing, or does it indicate an absence of  creative  plurality within the fellowshp?   
• How much ego is there in the use of the gifts we have in church? (Ch 12).
• How often are the gifts of the Spirit in evidence in our congregations? (Chs 12 & 14)  

January 19th, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9  

Paul begins his letter with some  of the usual pleasantries.  He is anxious to address the problems of the church.  First however he looks 'upwards' to God in Christ.  This church, (with all its faults) is sanctified in Christ, called to be saints, and a cause of thanksgiving to their apostle (v4)   Despite human frailty God remains faithful ( (v8 & 9)

It can be helpful in the face of problems and disappointments to look away from them, and up to God.

January 26th, 1 Corinthains 1:10-18

After 'looking up'  to God, Paul now comes down to earth by wading straight into the main problem of the Corinthian fellowship - division.   Elswhere he calls this 'party spirit'   Division is an embarassing reality in today's church.  In the first century church at Corinth the divisions seemed to centre on loyalties to different personalities, Paul, Apollos, Peter.  

• DOES THIS HAPPEN IN YOUR CHURCH?    
• DO PEOPLE RECOGNISE IT WHEN IT DOES, OR DO THEY MAINTAIN THEY ARE SIMPLY STANDING ON LOFTY POINTS OF PRINCIPLE?

Within older denominations we have 'High' and 'Low', Liberal, Radical and Evangelical.   In the newer churches there can sometimes be schism, and a failure to acknowledge and support work already being done by long established churches in an area.

THOUGHT - 'We are not divided, all one body we,

                       One in  hope, in doctrine, one in charity'.

                                                               Sabine Baring-Gould  'Onward Christian soldiers'

Before we scoff too much at those lines we might ask 'If we are united in hope and charity, how far do we need to share a unanimous understanding of Christian doctrine?'

• AND/OR  How charitable are we in our different understandings of the faith?
• WHAT are the limits of allowable differences in beliefs within the Christian community?
• WHAT is the real agenda behind apparent differences on points of principle in the church?

Paul's answer is to look beyond these egotistical differences and to Christ, into whom all true Christians have been baptised, and to whom all are answerable, and who is Lord of us all. 

• In our differences and disagreements, whose honour are we really seeking to defend, Christ's  or our own?

February 2nd, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

In denominations there are 'High' and 'Low', Liberals and Evangelicals.   In congregations there are lovers of tradition and lovers of the new, there are leaders and followers, and often leaders and their followers form cliques.  It may seem that Paul has wandered off into a digression in this passage.  He begins with the problem of faction, but then turns to his favourite subject - the cross of Christ.  But of course the problem of personality cults leads the apostle to propose a solution and that solution is the cross.  He sees the real issue here as one of pride  I  am of....      Paul invites the Corinthians to jettison their pride and instead rejoice in their lowly status.  Because they have little standing in this world, they are able to access the greatest wisdom and power of all - the foolishness and weakness of the cross.

'Nothing in my hand I bring - simply to thy cross I cling'.   

'Forbid it Lord that I should boast save in the death of Christ my God.' 

February 9th, 1 Corinthians 2:1-12   

Corinth was known for its promiscuity and sea port sleeziness, yet the proud Corinthians liked to imagine that they were sophisticated,  wise and  learned in philosophy. It became evident later that some at Corinth despised Paul for not being a gifted speaker or able to present the Gospel in philosophical terms.  This chapter provides one of several defences Paul makes of his methods in the two Biblical letters to Corinth.    

IN FACT Paul does have a philosophy.  His philosophy is that human weakness is a vehicle for divine strength, divine foolishness is better than human wisdom.    Our wisdom is a 'secret wisdom'.  This wisdom precedes time and will outlast it.    Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Gospel still thrives best among unsophisticated people.  

In the current revival of Christian faith in the west is it surprising that growing congregations are often found among those who have tried most of the 'cool' life styles on offer and found them wanting, or among people at the bottom of the social amd economic pyramid?  

• HOW EFFECTIVE is our work with people in these groups? 

February 16th, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9  

The ESV uses the same heading for ch 1:  10-17 as for the whole of chapter three,  'Divisions in the Church'.    By returning to this siubject, Paul highlights just how serious the divisions were in the church at Corinth.   In the last two weeks I have heard of complete splits within two of today's churches.   You will know of more. 

Usually these divisions are dressed up as matters of high principle.  In reality they are as often as not about power and personality.  This can lead to unlovely bullying and power trips.    When I want power, or cling to office, I need to return to the words of the Covenant Service,  

'Let me employed for you or laid aside for you,

Exalted for you or brought low for you.'

It takes a truly holy person to say and mean these words.  

• HOW FAR DOWN THAT ROAD AM I/ARE YOU/ARE THE MEMBERS OF OUR FELLOWSHIP?   

February 23, 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 & 16-23   

In his letters Paul used a number of metaphors to describe the church or assembly, e.g.  Body of Christ,  God's Temple.  In this chapter he mixes metaphors splendidly!   He is a gardner who  plants while Apollos then waters the garden of the church..  (v6)   Then, a Master Builder laying the foundation of Christ on which the  the church  is built, (10-11)   Then, he describes the church as God's temple (16-17).    Does the reference to God's temple being under threat of destruction indicate how seriously he felt the church at Corinth was being threatened by division?  (v16-17) 

• Have you ever felt your work was being undone by someone who took over from you?
• Are you ever guilty of being precious about your work or 'your people' or 'your' church? 

Verses 18-21 suggest that pride and vanity was once more the basic problem at Corinth with their high but inflated opinions about their own wisdom.

Paul seems to suggest that a big dose of realism about ourselves, and a proper humility might be the cure (21)

'Nothing in my hand I bring - simply to thy cross I cling.'