Romans 2:17-29 - It's not about foreskins!

Paul has been talking about Jews and non-Jews like they're just the same in God's eyes and this wouldn't have gone down very well with some of his Jewish readers.  After all, God chose them out of all the nations to have his law and his presence (and to be a blessing to the rest of the world too).  God also gave them circumcision (ouch) as a special reminder that they were different.  Why would God lump them together with everyone else when they're doing so well?  The thing is, religious people can sometimes really miss the point and this is something that was just as true in Paul's day as it is now...

Romans 2:17-29

The Jews had God's law through Moses (the 10 commandments etc) but Paul says this isn't enough to make them right with God (unless they're keeping it perfectly, which is impossible of course).  Many of the Jews apparently thought that possessing the law was as good as keeping it but it's not or that God chose them because they're better than anyone else, which isn't true either.  Paul's logic is: 'If you know God's law so well, you should also know that you're guilty of breaking it.'  He even says that they've become so ungodly that they're the reason non-Jews mock God (v24).  The same is true today.  Some religious people doing 'religious stuff' have so much pride that rather than pointing people to Jesus, they actually push people away from him.

Paul takes the example of circumcision and explains that it's only a sign of something.  As if cutting off your foreskin could ever be the thing that makes someone right with God!  Ridiculous.  It was only ever meant to be an outward sign of an inward reality.  Like a wedding ring doesn't make people love each other but it's only a sign that they do.  And just as it's possible to wear a wedding ring and not love your husband or wife, it's possible (and it should be stating the obvious really) to cut your foreskin off and not be right with God.  In the same way, just as it's possible to be married and not wear the rings, it's possible to be right with God and not be circumcised.  Sounds obvious doesn't it?  But to a lot of Jews at that time, they thought their religion was what saved them instead of God.  And people still make the same mistake today.

So it's not about foreskins and it's not about religion.  They're not bad, it's just that people miss the point when they do the religious physical signs without the inward reality of knowing God.  Being a Christian is not primarily about Bibles, churches and praying, though they ought to be useful.  Being a Christian is first and foremost about being saved by Jesus and knowing God personally.  So breathe a sigh of relief and throw your flint knife away!

Romans blog

Romans 2:1-16 - God is right and we are wrong!

So Paul has been explaining how people have been running from God for a long time now and he's described the kind of wrong thinking and wrong behaviour this leads to.  Now he challenges the self-righteous way we judge each other and describes the righteous way God will judge all of us...

Romans 2:1-16

So because everyone has been running away from God and our sin has twisted the way we think and act, Paul says we are without excuse when we stop to consider God again.  And looking down on others to make ourselves feel like we're good is no help at all and is complete hypocrisy because in the scheme of things, we're as far from God as anyone else.  We might feel like we're good when we compare ourselves to Hitler but next to the infinite perfection and holiness of God, we're in the same boat as him.  We have no right to judge anyone else because we're rebels too.  Only God can do that.  The fact that God allows us to keep on living in this world is not because we're good enough to deserve it but because he is patient and wants to give us time and repeated opportunities to be sorry for our sin and come to him asking for mercy and forgiveness because we're wrong and guilty.

Paul says those who continue to reject the opportunity to stop running from God and ask for his forgiveness are actually making God angrier and angrier because he hates sin and wants us to know him.  This is justice.  The more they sin against God and think, speak and act selfishly, the more proportional punishment they rack up.  No-one gets away with anything in the end.  God sees it all and will judge everyone perfectly according to the truth.

Paul then describes two kinds of people and it's easy to misunderstand what he means but we must be careful to understand him in the light of what else he says about this in other places in Romans and in other letters he writes in the New Testament...

What he doesn't mean... is that there are good people and bad people and the good people go to heaven and the bad ones go to hell.  This is a myth!  God never says this, Jesus never says this and it's nowhere in the Bible!  It's easy enough to make the Bible say this but only if you pluck verses out in isolation and ignore the context of the rest of what the Bible says.

What he does mean... is that there are people who increasingly do good because they have faith and are trusting and following Jesus and know God personally and there are those who generally don't because they don't have faith and aren't trusting and following Jesus and don't know God personally.  Compared with God and his standards, there are no good people, only bad people.  It's clear from what Paul has said already that no-one is in a position to earn their way into heaven by their good actions so it can't be about this.  People have two choices though: either they continue to be 'self-seeking and reject the truth' or they repent (stop running from God and start running towards him instead) and trust and follow Jesus and receive the forgiveness from God they need. This is our only hope.

Paul then explains that all this applies equally to Jews (Israelites) as well as non-Jews (Gentiles).  Just because God gave the law to the Israelites does not make them any less sinful and in need of forgiveness and rescue than anyone else.  There are no excuses for Gentiles either.  God has given everyone a conscience and feelings of guilt when they do what is wrong.  There is no-one who can say to God, "But I didn't know I did anything wrong!"  In the previous chapter, Paul told us that God has given everyone enough knowledge to know there's a creator because of creation.  Now he tells us God has also made sure we know all too well that we need forgiveness because we know we fail to live life innocently.  No excuses for anyone!  And there will be a day when God judges everyone justly.  He will be proved right and we will be in the wrong.  Forgiveness through Jesus is our only hope.

Romans blog

Romans 1:18-32 - God's anger and hatred

The Bible says 'God is love' and this is true but love is more than just an emotion - it is about action too.  In fact, God's emotions are wide-ranging and include anger and hatred when the situation and his goodness warrants it.  As CS Lewis said, 'anger is the fluid love bleeds when you cut it'...

Romans 1:18-32

The first thing Paul says God gets angry about is the suppression of truth, especially the truth about himself.  Of course, Christians are just as capable of suppressing truth and telling lies about God as anyone else is but Paul is talking about those who manage to exist in this world and invent reasons why it had to have come from nothing.  It's illogical, unscientific (Science can't observe 'nothing') and just plain wrong.  If our Universe had a beginning (and science assures us it did), its existence necessitates an uncaused cause.  More than this, the design, functionality and beauty of our Universe (even though it is broken) shows us the creativity of God.  Paul says everyone gets creation and there are therefore no excuses for not believing in the Creator.  And when people suppress this truth and believe lies instead, God hates it and gets angry because he loves the people he has made and he wants us all to know him. 

People's thinking continues to be 'darkened' in many ways and the truth about God is exchanged for many things, none of which deserve to come first in our lives.  The building of our lives around anything other than God is 'idolatry'.  People love to do whatever they want and act as god of their own lives.  Interestingly, this almost always leads to the devaluing and abuse of sex whether through the enjoyment of pornography, casual sex, gay sex or adulterous sex. For now, people are 'given over' and totally allowed by God to run their own lives and sin (wrong thoughts, words or actions and neglecting good thoughts, words or actions) to their hearts' content.  God hates it and gets angry because he loves the people he has made and he wants us all to know him.

Paul specifically mentions gay lust and sex as being sinful.  This is frequently misquoted and misunderstood by Christians and non-Christians alike.  Some will say God hates gay people and it's wrong to be gay but that's not what it says here.  Others say love is love and God's fine with gay relationships provided they're loving but that's not what it says either.  Paul is explaining that one way in which people sin sexually is to actively desire and have sex with the same gender.  This doesn't mean it's wrong to be gay but it is wrong to choose to sin sexually and to spend time thinking about sinning sexually and this is just one of the ways people do that.  It's unnatural and falls short of the best God intends for us.  God hates it and gets angry because he loves the people he has made and he wants us all to know him.

Incidentally, in our culture, singleness and community are both incredibly undervalued.  If a gay person decides to remain single in obedience to God, they're not ruling out personal fulfillment.  Marriage is great but our happiness is not dependent on pairing up.  I know lots of people who have stayed single their whole lives and they wouldn't have it any other way.  They aren't lonely because they're committed to friendships and are plugged into a community.  Our sadness at the suggestion that gay people might choose not to pursue romantic relationships is part of our 'darkened' thinking resulting from thinking that sex is more important than God in our culture.  God hates it and gets angry because he loves the people he has made and he wants us all to know him.

If you were faced with a glass of water with a big log of poo in it, you wouldn't drink it!  What if it was just a little bit of poo floating on the top?  You still wouldn't drink it!  Why?  Because poo is poisonous and dangerous.  This is what sin is like to God.  And no-one is off the hook.  We all sin in some of the various ways listed.  We all make selfish decisions to put ourselves first instead of God.  God hates 'little' sins as well as the 'big' ones because all sin is destructive, it's all against him and keeps people from knowing him.  God hates it and gets angry because he loves the people he has made and he wants us all to know him.

What should we expect from a perfect good God who created us and gave us life to love him back and be like him?  How long should we expect him to tolerate our sin?  Should we expect him to let us live forever?  If he did, he would not be a good God and there would be no justice.  The God of the Bible promises ultimate justice for all the sin in this world there has ever been or will be.  No-one gets away with anything!  Unless God intervenes in a dramatic way, we can all expect death and separation from God in the end.  What would it be like if God let us into heaven as we are?  Heaven would just as messed up and broken as this place is.  If God is real and perfectly good, something radical needs to happen to us before we could ever expect anything good from him.  For now, we experience the natural consequences of a world that is generally running away from God instead of towards him.  The good news will come later in Paul's writing, but before we can understand it properly, we need to grasp the bad news and the seriousness of our sin.

Romans blog

Romans 1:5-17 - All about the gospel

What happens when you live for Jesus and put him first?  You want everyone to know him, that's what...

Romans 1:5-17

Paul mentions how the good news of Jesus (that he lived, died and rose so we could be forgiven, friends with God, live life to the full and forever) is not just for Jews (people descended from Abraham) but Gentiles (non-Jews) too.  God wants everyone to know his forgiveness and love and there are many in Rome who are trusting and following Jesus and are experiencing this reality.

Paul's heart aches for these new Christians.  He loves them and they are precious to him because they are trusting and following Jesus and trying to serve and share him too.  He wants to encourage them and he would love to be there in person to teach them more about living for Jesus and invite more people to join them too.  There's such a mixed bag of people in Rome and the gospel (good news of Jesus) is for all of them so Paul is excited to tell them all and see people of all nationalities and personalities come to know God personally through Jesus.   Paul knows that the gospel message is powerful and the activity of sharing it is also powerful work because God saves people to trust and follow Jesus and know his forgiveness and love.

It's a challenge for anyone who trusts and follows Jesus.  What's the most powerful job in the world?  It's not being President or Prime Minister and it's not running a multinational business.  It's sharing the good news of Jesus to people who don't yet know God personally.  If we're living for Jesus, let's not neglect this job!  We should want everyone to know Jesus.

Romans blog

Adoption

As me and Chrissi prepare to adopt kids, we've been reflecting on what a huge theme it is in the Bible as we see how God relates to his people...

1. God adopted Israel in the Old Testament.  Romans 9:1-5
'Theirs is the adoption to sonship...' Paul is talking about the Israelites. Since Genesis 12, God had chosen them out of all the nations in the world to be his people - his kids - and to be a blessing to the rest of the world. They were meant to belong to God, to know him, be loved and nurtured by him, love him back and grow to be like him by being in his family.

2. God was adopted so we could be adopted.  Galatians 4:4-7
'...that we might receive adoption to sonship.'  Jesus was born to an unmarried teenage mum in a barn in the least significant town in Israel and adopted by Joseph so that he could live, die in our place for our sin and rise again to make a way for us to become God's children - forgiven, right with God and becoming like him because his Spirit lives in us and empowering us to live the life we were made for.

3. God chose us to be adopted into his family.  Ephesians 1:3-14

'In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship in Jesus...'  God has made choices about who will be his people, who will trust and follow Jesus and know him personally and be in his family. Our wills are real and important too but not before or more so than God's. In love he chooses his kids. We don't earn it because it's all about God's grace to us. God gives us dignity, value and worth we didn't have before and could never have without him.

4. God adopts us spiritually when we trust and follow Jesus.  Romans 8:14-17

'...the Spirit you received brought about your adoption...'  God himself moves into our hearts when we decide to trust and follow Jesus. He awakens love for him inside us and we have the strong assurance that we are part of his family forever. We are loved, safe and protected. We can call God our Dad.

5. God adopts us physically when we get to heaven.  Romans 8:22-25'...we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.'  One day, the spiritual reality of our belonging in God's family will become a physical reality for us forever. All sin, shame, suffering an struggle will be gone. We will be made whole and be perfectly like our heavenly Father. Family forever with God.

Bring it on!

Romans 1:1-4 - All about Jesus

Even Paul's introduction of himself is itself a challenge to any Christian.  He's all about Jesus and his identity, value and purpose is in Jesus.  If we're trusting and following Jesus, how do we introduce or identify ourselves?  And how do we think about our work?  For Paul, it's all for Jesus.

Romans 1:1-4

The way Paul serves Jesus is as an apostle, which means he's someone whose gift is to make disciples and plant churches in places where there are none.  Jesus told Paul to do this job and Paul is doing as he's told because he lives to serve Jesus.

Paul then mentions three things about Jesus...

First, he reminds the Christians in Rome that Jesus came to fulfill ancient prophecy.  Throughout the Old Testament there are hundreds of prophecies predicting the arrival of the 'messiah' - God's chosen rescuer.  Jesus fulfills them all because they were all about him!  God knows and plans the future, told the prophets in advance and kept his promises to come and rescue his people!

Second, Paul says that Jesus was a real human man from the family line of David, just as the prophets promised.  Jesus was fully human.  He cried, got tired, got hungry and thirsty and felt pain like anyone else would.  Being genuinely human means that Jesus could live a life like we do but without sin and properly represent human beings when he died in our place for our sin on the cross.

Third, Paul explains that Jesus was not just a man but was the 'God-man'.  Jesus wasn't a man who became God but God who became a man.  Jesus is 'Immanuel', which means 'God with us.'  And Paul is saying that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead proves that this is true.  How else would it happen?  Unless Jesus was fully God, he would not have lived a sinless life and his death on the cross would not have been anything special, let alone payment for the sin of the whole human race.

Paul starts as he means to go on.  He's all about Jesus and he wants to teach us more about this man who is God - Jesus Christ 'our Lord'.

Romans blog

Uncover by UCCF

UCCF have produced a brilliant pocket-sized version of the gospel of Luke for anyone looking into Jesus and there's some excellent accompanying videos online featuring various qualified experts answering some of the big questions people have.  Check them out and forward them on!

Uncover - An introduction

1. How do we know Luke's account of the life of Jesus is reliable?

2. Doesn't science rule out miracles?

3. How can an all-powerful and loving God allow people to suffer?

4. Aren't Christians arrogant to believe that Jesus is the only way to God?

5. Doesn't faith contradict reason?

6. Is living a good life enough?

7. Did the resurrection really happen in history?

Responses to the evidence for Jesus

This is a reply too lengthy to include on a Soul Pancake forum so I thought I'd blog it instead and then it might be helpful for others too.  It's responding to questions not included here but hopefully it should still make some sense to everyone who might be interested.

Ok, I've done some exploring, had a think and I think this will be a long one but I hope it's ok to make the effort and you've been doing the same so I hope you won't mind reading some more! :)

Thanks for the point about the lack of external links in my blog on the evidence for the reliability of the gospels.  I don't want people to take my word for it.  I must get around to adding some useful links to decent research that's been done.  Thanks!


It's a good point you raise about the truth of the gospels.  For this, the first thing I would look at is the intention of the authors.  Were they trying to write literal history?  As I mention in my blog, Luke is most clear about his intentions to get an accurate account of recent events and he mentions interviewing eye-witnesses too (Luke 1:1-4).  The next thing I would consider is the dating of the gospels.  All of them were written within living memory of Jesus (Wiki article on this) and so Luke's first readers would have been eye-witness and well-able and well-motivated to disprove what he wrote.  The Roman authorities were especially keen to stop Christianity spreading.  Christians were killed often.  If their writings were clearly false and easy to disprove, they would not have been believed, died for or lasted credibly beyond that culture.  These are the some of the things that convince me of the truth of the accounts.  More on why I believe in God

Responses to your questions/comments:

1. External evidence for Jesus

Having started looking into archaeological evidence for Jesus, I found this article.  It seems the evidence is not conclusive (I wouldn't expect archaeological evidence alone to prove everything) but it is compelling for the people and events described in the gospels and for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth.  I certainly don't think it's true to say there's no archaeological evidence for Jesus.  Have a look at the article.  I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it. :)

2. Hiding Jesus' body in the dessert

It sounds like a plausible point you make about the possibility of hiding the body in the dessert but there are a number of things that would also need explaining for that to be possible.  People saw the 'stolen body' hoax coming a mile off and that's why a guard was posted (Matthew 27:62-66).  And there's still hundreds of people who claim they saw him alive after he died.  Over 500 at once on one occasion (1 Corinthians 15:3-7).  If the accounts are reliable (and I'm convinced they are), this still needs explanation. 

3. The far-fetched-ness (definitely should be a word) of the 'seeing things' and 'swoon' theories

These came about presumably because the evidence was hard to deny and people felt the need try and explain it in ways that meant Jesus didn't really rise from the dead.  The 'swoon' theory seems to have got started in the 18th century without any actual evidence other than the presupposition that the resurrection was impossible and there must be alternative explanations for all the evidence pointing to it.  The Wiki article on this is very useful.

4. People dying for stuff doesn't make it true
Absolutely right but the point I was making in my blog about this was that the first Christians surely wouldn't have died for something they knew to be a lie.  I certainly wouldn't.  So this isn't proof it's true but it does help rule out the idea that they were part of a deliberate conspiracy.  It brought them no advantages whatsoever.  So you're right.  People do die for untruths but usually because they don't realise.

So I hope that's helpful.  I'm aware that a lot of the above is my personal response but I hope it has value to you.  And there are some external links to explore too so hopefully that's helpful.  It's been a while since I read it but the book 'The Case for Christ' by Lee Strobel was really helpful to me.  It's an investigative journalist whose wife became a Christian and he set out to disprove it but ended up becoming a Christian himself and writing a book about all his findings.  Have you read it? 

Romans blog

  1. Intro - Great good news!
  2. Romans 1:1-4 - All about Jesus
  3. Romans 1:5-17 - All about the gospel  
  4. Romans 1:18-32 - God's anger and hatred
  5. Romans 2:1-16 - God is right and we are wrong!  
  6. Romans 2:17-29 - It's not about foreskins!
  7. Romans 3:1-20 - There are no good people!
  8. Romans 3:21-31 - Made right through faith!
  9. Romans 4 - Believing God  
  10. Romans 5:1-11 - Three big words
  11. Romans 5:12-21 - Two men  
  12. Romans 6:1-14 - Sin, grace and baptism
  13. Romans 6:15-23 - Free to serve  
  14. Romans 7:1-6 - Dying to be free
  15. Romans 7:7-25 - God's law and our sinful nature  
  16. Romans 8:1-17 - Two ways to live
  17. Romans 8:18-30 - In the end  
  18. Romans 8:31-39 - As bad as it gets
  19. Romans 9 - God's choice and ours  
  20. Romans 10 - Close but so far away
  21. Romans 11 - What about Israel?  
  22. Romans 12 - What is true and proper worship?
  23. Romans 13:1-7 - Christians and governments  
  24. Romans 13:8-14 - Loving and living for Jesus
  25. Romans 14 - Family is family  
  26. Romans 15:1-13 - Loving the family
  27. Romans 15:14-33 - First things first  
  28. Romans 16 - Signing off but not checking out!
Back to Bible book blogs

Romans Blog - GREAT GOOD NEWS!

Having finished the Mark blog today, I'm breathing a big sigh of relief but I want to try and keep reading my Bible and knowing Jesus better so I'm committing myself now to start blogging my way through Romans. 

Romans is mega!  It's a big book full of big stuff about Jesus and what his death 2000 years ago really means for us today.  It's a book that hits on some controversial issues and causes many arguments in and out of the church.  I'm really looking forward to getting to grips with it and I hope it will be helpful stuff for anyone else who wants to read it too!

Romans blog

Mark 16 - Jesus is alive!

Every other religion has a dead guy.  Christianity has Jesus who came back from the dead.  Without this fact, Christianity crumbles and is the same as any other religion or belief system: man-made.  But if the resurrection of Jesus is real, then he's telling the truth and God has done something to save us all into a relationship with him that outlasts this broken world.  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:14... And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead (and the evidence for it) changes everything and demands a response from each of us!  

Mark 16

We see the dedicated women again first thing in the morning, going to attend to Jesus' dead body.  God gives great dignity, value and worth to women in a sexist culture by letting them be the first to discover the empty tomb (v4).  They're also the first to see Jesus alive again after he died (v9).   

The stone that blocked the entrance to Jesus' tomb would have taken five men to move it.  It was very secure.  The three women would not have been able to move it.  It's also one of the facts that scuppers what's called the 'swoon theory' that says Jesus only fainted on the cross and later escaped from the tomb.  A half dead Jesus is definitely not going to move a stone that big!  Oh and then there's the guard to take on and the fact that Romans were expert killers in the first place and the challenge of convincing everyone he's really risen from the dead and in no need of urgent medical attention and... well you get the idea.  You can look at the article I've done on the evidence for the resurrection for more about that.   

The women are surprised and worried when they see the tomb is empty and a shiny white man (an angel appearance I think) sitting casually by the entrance.  The angel's message is simple.  Jesus has risen from the dead just as he said he would (several times actually).  He tells them to tell the disciples and especially mentions to tell Peter, presumably because God really wanted Peter to know Jesus had risen and that Peter's earlier denials could be forgiven.

And then we have a slight ending issue.

The first ending we have is verse 8 where Mark finishes quite abruptly (in true Mark style) by telling us the women ran off scared.  Not much of an ending in some ways but Mark has been fast and urgent throughout his gospel and has missed out lots of details that the other gospels will include later.  He's just bashing out the essentials.  Just enough so people can be sure of what happened and trust and follow Jesus who rose from the dead.

The second ending we have is not found in the earliest manuscripts.  We don't have the original stuff Mark wrote - only copies of copies of copies.  The earliest copies are the most reliable and so that's why we have the little note here in our Bibles explaining this alternate ending.  It's possible that someone added it in to round things off based on other details they knew to be true.  There's nothing significant here that's absent from all the other gospels (Jesus appearing to people, commissioning disciples to tell the good news, ascending into heaven) but it's possible that Mark wasn't the one who wrote it.  None of this affects the historical reliability of the gospels.  The Bible scholars aren't trying to hide anything but explain the facts just as they are.

And so we have, in this alternate ending, three big things going on...

First, we have mentions of appearances of Jesus alive after he died.  The women see him first (more details in John 20:11-18), then two disciples on the road to Emmaus (more details in Luke 24:13-35) and then the rest of the group (again more details in Luke 24:36-49).  People were seeing Jesus alive again, walking and talking with him, eating meals with him, touching his scars.  He was really back from the dead and truly alive. 

Second, we have Jesus telling his followers to tell this great good news to everyone.  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is indeed good news.  It means Jesus really is God and that he really was dying on the cross in our place for our sins so we could have forgiveness (Mark 2:5), friendship with God (John 15:15), life to the full (John 10:10) and life forever (John 3:16).  Keeping this life-saving good news to ourselves is the worst kind of selfishness.  Jesus wants everyone to know!

Third, we have the ascension of Jesus up into heaven, which, as far as I can tell, means he physically started floating up into the sky!  Very weird, but having seen him come back from the dead, flying is really not that big a deal!  Besides, Jesus had told them he would have to leave them so that the Holy Spirit would come to live in them (John 14:15-17) and I guess he wanted to make it clear that this time he was really leaving.  Having had God with them, they now had a big job to do and they needed God in them.  And so do we!

Mark blog

Facebook and Twitter - The Opportunities and the Risks

This is the unedited version (I wrote too much) of an article I wrote for a magazine recently...

Facebook is the largest social networking website in the world and has grown massively in the 8 years it has existed. Today Facebook has over 955 million active users. [1]  That’s 13.7% of the world’s population.  If Facebook was a country, its population would be 3 times larger than the USA.  It’s as popular with the girls as it is with the guys and the average user is on Facebook around half an hour a day.  Young people are well represented on Facebook: 20% of users are aged 13-17.  The youth leaders are on there too: 26% are 18-25 and another 26% are 26-34. [2] The co-creator, co-founder, Chairman & CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is the world’s 2nd youngest self-made billionaire. [3]  And Facebook even has its own feature film – ‘The Social Network’, released in 2010. In short: Facebook is HUGE.

Twitter (a micro-blogging website that allows registered users to ‘tweet’ short messages of 140 characters or less) is now one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world.  It has over 500 million active users. 63% of Twitter users are aged under 35 and millions follow the tweets of the celebrities who make up the ranks of the twitterati.  Right now Ricky Gervais is dispensing advice: ‘It sometimes takes 10 to 15 years to become an overnight sensation.  Don’t give up too easily.’  Oprah Winfrey wants us to know that ‘the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are’.  And Justin Bieber (the second most followed celebrity on Twitter with over 27 million people signing up to get his thoughts) wants us to know he’s at his house ‘cookin some noodles’.  Wow.        

So what are the best opportunities of Facebook and Twitter, especially for youth workers?  And what are the pitfalls and risks?  For what it’s worth, here are my top 5 likes and dislikes…

Like 1: People!
The best thing about Facebook and Twitter is they’re all about people! Have you ever stood in an art gallery and spent most of your time staring at other people instead of the paintings?  Maybe it’s just me.  God has made people in his image and they’re fascinating, creative, surprising, enterprising, compassionate, touching and funny!  Facebook connects us with family and friends we wouldn’t otherwise see or speak to much or at all.  Twitter allows us to connect to the latest from the minds of people who are famous for their wisdom, wit and humour.  Social connectivity and cultural enlightenment at the touch of a button. Brilliant!  For me as a youth worker, Facebook is basically a second email account for getting hold of young people who either don’t have email or do but never check it.  Facebook is where they are so that’s where I have to go.  Or take my friend Sarah for example who managed to build such great friendships on Twitter with Strictly fans that they went away on holiday together.  Great stuff.

Like 2: Interest
If you’re someone who wants to take an interest in people or like me, a youth worker who’s always thinking about people in the group, wondering how they’re doing, what they’re up to and what they’re talking about, Facebook is a great thing.  And when a young person’s on Twitter it’s usually because they’ve got things they want to say.  And it’s all in the name of ‘sharing’ so it’s not spying at all!  And when you notice people are happy, sad, worried or whatever, you can show your interest by messaging, commenting, sending prayers or asking questions so they know you care about what they’re on about. As youth workers although it’s entirely possible to do without these things and just deal with people on phones and face-to-face, I think we’re missing a unique opportunity if we’re not also connected with our young people on Facebook/Twitter.  It’s one of the main places they share their lives openly so why wouldn’t we be interested in that?

Like 3: Invitation
Another great thing about Facebook (more so than Twitter) is using it to invite people to stuff.  Set up an event page, make it look awesome and then start telling everyone on Facebook about it so they can RSVP.  Admittedly people on Facebook are renowned for saying they’ll come to stuff when all they mean is ‘I like the sound of that’ but it’s a useful indicator of who’s at least interested in what you’re putting on.  I still do flyers as well but it’s got to the stage where I’m convinced people pay more attention to me on Facebook than they do to the bits of paper I hand out.  And it’s not just events.  Recently, my friend skateboarded 1000km across Holland to raise money for LIV Village. I spent half an hour inviting 1300 people to consider giving online and something like an extra £150 was donated as a result.  Not overwhelming but definitely worth half an hour!

Like 4: Integrity
This one is debated among some youth workers.  Some say we should stay off Facebook or go on it with a fake name so we’re not found by young people.  Some youth workers even have two Facebook identities – one for adult friends and one for connecting with their young people.  Others use Twitter instead because it only shares a few words at a time and they wouldn’t want young people seeing all their photos of them having fun with their friends.  I have to say all this makes me feel disappointed.  If we don’t want to be hypocrites leading double lives with double standards in physical reality, why would we do it online?  Our integrity as youth workers should mean that we don’t have anything in our public life that we should want to hide from our young people.  They’re not stupid.  They’ll find out what you get up to one way or the other and you’ll be influencing them if they look up to you at all.  The best thing is when youth workers model life-sharing on Facebook so young people can know them better and see what it looks like to share well.

Like 5: Influence
People are influencing each other all the time on Facebook and Twitter.  When things ‘trend’ it’s because millions of people are paying attention to something.  But it’s not just about trending.  As youth workers serving Jesus, we care about influencing and leading individuals and sharing things that will help them.  I know one youth worker in Exeter who reads his Bible every day and shares one line on Facebook each time summing up what he’s read and how it applies so people in his group (and others) can see it.  As for me, I’ve been blogging my way through Mark’s gospel for a while and tweeting links to every new post so people on Twitter and Facebook get pointed to the Bible.  I’m not reaching millions but I do know that 22 people read my last article and that’s a lot better than keeping it to myself.  When Jesus gave us the great commission, I think he had the Facebook nation in mind as well as everywhere else.

Dislike 1: People!
The best and worst thing about Facebook and Twitter is the people.  People are a mixed bag and it doesn’t change when they’re online.  People online can be fascinating, fun, thoughtful, kind and compassionate human beings but they can also be offensive, idiotic, boring and cruel bullies.  Lonely young people post their mobile numbers regularly because they’re so desperate for attention.   Spiteful people slag others off publicly on their walls.  Celebrities tweet mind-numbingly useless information for sheer vanity, knowing millions will read it because they’re famous.  There’s a real sadness and brokenness about it because it’s full of people. 

Dislike 2: Junk
How many times have I been on Facebook and seen yet another group called ‘Let’s get a million people to join and Steve will shave off all his body hair!’ or something like that?  What a waste of time!  I guess it’s a cry for community but it’s no substitute.

Dislike 3: Fronts
People can be whoever they want online and this is liberating but usually in the worst possible way.  People are too big for their boots when they comment or tweet things they’d never dream of saying face-to-face.  Or they take photos of themselves and photoshop it to portray a version of themselves that is exaggerated or false. Sometimes it’s done for obvious fun and that’s fine but sometimes it’s fake and people are lying to others and themselves about who they really are and what they really want to say.

Dislike 4: Secrecy
Youth workers have to think about Child Protection and develop and follow policies that help keep people safe.  Secrecy online between a youth worker and a young person where no records are kept is as inappropriate as meeting them one-to-one in a bedroom somewhere with the door closed. Private message conversations can easily be had on Facebook and deleting them is an easy trap to fall into, especially if you like a nice tidy ‘inbox’ but we must resist the urge.  False accusations can be quickly cleared up and proven false if the transcript is there but if it’s not, it can lead to trouble.

Dislike 5: Distraction
Too many people would rather deal with people online than in person.  Face-to-face or even phone conversation is so much better when it comes to significant conversation.  And the number of times I see people in public ignoring each other to look at their mobile devices is incredibly sad.   The irony is that Facebook and Twitter are about connecting to people but they can also distract us from opportunities to truly and deeply do so.

Conclusion
Facebook and Twitter (like all other forms of communication) are essentially about people sharing stuff and that is the single best and worst thing about them.  People are made in the image of God and are valuable so Facebook and Twitter provide opportunities to share their lives and care for others.  But people are also sinful and broken so Facebook and Twitter fill up with this stuff too.  Like any other forum, we need to mentally filter everything we absorb in order to get the best from it and so that we can put our best in.  God came all the way down right into our messy world as a human being to rescue people.  The least we can do is wade through the mess online if it means connecting to people meaningfully.  It could even save lives.

Mark 15:33-47 - Jesus: dead and buried

The most earth-shattering moment in the history of the world...

Mark 15:33-47

God came as human being: Jesus and at this point in Mark's gospel we read of how he died. It's a monumental moment.  The death of God!  No wonder big things started to happen like it going pitch black for 3 hours in the afternoon (v33).  Far too long to be explained in purely natural ways.  Jesus' death was shaking the world.

This is the first time in the history of everything that God the Son has been separated from God the Father (v34).  The separation is a necessary part of the punishment for the sin of the world and Jesus willingly takes it, even though it's painful beyond what anyone could imagine.  Crucifixion is torture enough but separation from God is something far worse. 

The sponge they use to offer Jesus a drink is often cited as a moment of kindness and mercy from those standing nearby but as we've seen, those standing around the cross were mocking Jesus throughout all this.  It's unlikely to be kindness on their part and those who loved Jesus were watching from a distance (v40).  In Israel, the crucifixion site is well known and nearby there are ancient public toilets where they used sponges to clean themselves after using them.  It has been suggested by some that this would have been the sponge used to offer Jesus a drink.  It wasn't an act of kindness but a disgusting act of cruelty and mockery. 

As Jesus breathes his last, the curtain in the temple is torn from top to bottom (v37-38).  This is a huge sign.  The curtain was to separate people from God and only the high priest was allowed to enter through the curtain once a year.  They used to tie ropes onto his ankles just in case he dropped dead while in there and they had to drag him out.  Such was the fear people had of the presence of God because of his perfect holiness and their sinfulness.  The fact that the curtain was torn top to bottom shows that God is doing it and showing us what is really happening on the cross as Jesus dies.  Jesus is blasting open the way back to God for everyone by dying on the cross in our place for our sin.  God is making it possible for people to know him personally and be forgiven once and for all.  No more curtain, no more priests - just God and his people.

Whilst many remained against Jesus and no doubt continued to mock him, the way Jesus died is enough to convince the Roman centurion that Jesus was who he claimed to be - the Son of God (v39).

We've seen already how Jesus' closest friends had scattered in fear (Mark 14:27) but some of the women who loved Jesus were also some of the bravest.  It's interesting that it's the women whose dedication to Jesus means they stick around watching from a distance (v40-41).  The men have run away scared.  I really think it's a challenge to the church in our time where most Christians stepping up to serve and lead are women and too many Christian men fail to turn up to learn, let alone step up to lead. 

One man who does step up is Joseph of Arimathea.  He's someone who is waiting for the kingdom of God and the Messiah - God's chosen rescuer (v43) and he has great courage and conviction to stand before Pilate boldly asking for Jesus' body.  Pilate is shrewd and doesn't take Joseph's word for it that Jesus is dead.  he knows the rumours about Jesus claiming he would come back from the dead and he wants to make sure no-one can claim it has happened.  The centurion confirms it and so Joseph is allowed to take Jesus' body and bury it properly in his tomb.  The rock that covered the entrance to the tomb would have taken five men to move it.  Jesus is definitely dead and buried.  But the tomb is a loan.  In three days Jesus will give it back!

And who else is there to witness the safe burial of Jesus?  It's the women again (v47).  The same women who have been committed to Jesus throughout the toughest of times.

Mark blog

Mark 15:21-32 - Crucified and mocked

Jesus is crucified and mocked by the religious leaders, passers by and even those being crucified with him...

Mark 15:21-32

Romans were experts in torture and killing.  Jesus had been beaten and whipped to the point where his flesh was bare and then he was made to carry the cross to the execution site.  Many people died before they reached even this point.  Jesus is so exhausted that he's physically unable to carry the cross any further and so Simon (a passer-by) is forced to carry it for him.

As Jesus is dying on the cross, Mark tells us about those who mock him...

The Roman soldiers carrying out the crucifixion show their apathy and disrespect by passing the time playing games and gambling for Jesus' clothes (v24).  Like many people today, they can't even be bothered to pay any attention to Jesus.  They play games instead and pretend nothing else matters.

The passers-by show their ignorance by totally misunderstanding what Jesus was getting at when he talked of destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days (v29-30). They use it as an excuse to hurl insults at him and have no idea that Jesus had actually been speaking of his death, burial and resurrection.  Today there are many whose ignorance leads them to insult rather than question what they don't understand about Jesus.

The religious leaders are just as bad, mocking Jesus to each other (v31), no doubt in an attempt to feel better about getting him killed.  Like many religious people today, their religion stops them seeing the truth about Jesus and they can't believe anything about God unless it benefits them, reinforces their tradition or they see it with their own eyes (v32).

Mark only briefly mentions the criminals dying with Jesus but he records that even they spent their final breaths insulting him (v32).  From Luke's account we get more detail about one of them who seems to have had a change of heart (Luke 23:39-43) but like some people today, one of them remains stubbornly against Jesus right until the bitter end.

Many people today insult Jesus by ignoring him, playing games, remaining ignorant, following religion, or choosing bitterness.  But the real question is whether or not Jesus was telling the truth when he claimed he would come back from the dead in three days.  That would change everything!

Mark blog

Mark 15:1-20 - And justice for all

So Jesus goes on trial again, this time before Pilate.  But justice is the last thing on people's minds...

Mark 15:1-20

The religious leaders aren't happy with Jesus and they're desperate to find a decent reason to kill him but so far they haven't been able to.  No-one had.  On one occasion, Jesus even challenged people saying, 'Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?  If I'm telling the truth, why don't you believe me?' (John 8:46).  They hope that by taking him to Pilate (the local Roman authority), they'll be able to get him sent down somehow.  If they can stir up the crowd enough, Pilate just might have him killed just to avoid the hassle.

Jesus doesn't defend himself and Pilate can't find anything wrong with him.  He'd like to let him go and he knows that would be the right thing to do but he's scared of the people.  He doesn't have the guts to do justice as a leader so he lets the people decide instead.  He invites the crowd to choose one of two people to be released: Jesus - a man with no solid evidence to suggest he's done even the slightest thing wrong, or Barabbas - a murderer with no shame about it.  Pilate hopes they'll make the obvious choice but they don't.  The religious leaders have done their job well and got the crowd so stirred up about seeing Jesus killed that that's all they care about.  The crowd shouts loud enough and Pilate gives them the final decision. Jesus - the innocent man, will die because that's what the people want.

The Roman soldiers drag Jesus off, mocking him and his so-called kingdom and beating him as they go.  Jesus is meant to be a king but what kind of king ends up this way without a fight?  Yet for Jesus, this IS the fight.  Hundreds of ancient prophecies have pointed to this.  Jesus is called the 'lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world' (Revelation 13:8).  In other words, this has been God's plan since the beginning.  He will get his justice AND save billions of lives in the process!  It's all about to kick off!

Mark blog

Mark 14:53-72 - Unfair trials and bitter tears

The easily-persuaded rent-a-mob take Jesus back to the chief priests and other religious authorities as instructed for an unfair trial and Peter reaches his darkest moment...

Mark 14:53-72

Jesus' only crime is blasphemy, which basically means 'claiming to be God when you're not'.  The only problem is that no-one who wants him dead can find anything he's done wrong that would prove he's lying (v55).  The average lunatic claiming divinity would have loads of embarrassing dirt to dig up to expose them but Jesus has none.  The religious types try and make things stick but but none of it does and as Jesus stays silent, the only thing that's exposed is their own twisted agenda but no-one dares to admit it.

The only question Jesus dignifies with a response is about his true identity and he answers clearly (v60-61), saying he is indeed the Messiah (God's chosen rescuer).  He's happy to say it one more time, knowing that no-one can prove otherwise: "I'm God."

Religious anger takes over and they start attacking Jesus physically (v65).  This is the inevitable conclusion of the trial.  No-one's interested in the truth and Jesus will soon be tortured and killed.

Peter, who has been following at a distance and hanging out with Jesus' enemies (v54), now can't even stand up to a little slave girl (v67-68).  Three times he denies he knows Jesus and even calls down curses (v71), which probably means something like, "May God strike me dead if I'm wrong."  He's perfectly (but not deliberately) fulfilling the prophecy Jesus had made earlier the same day (v72).

Peter's response to his sin is bitter tears (v72) and it's the best response possible.  When we realise just how serious our sin really is, the only proper response is deep sorrow.  We stop pretending we're better than we really are and we fall down and admit that we're wrong, broken and in need of forgiveness from God.  This is the moment we all need to have at some point in our lives and it's the moment God waits for...

Psalm 51:17...
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.


1 John 1:8-9...
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

The promise of God in the Bible is that because of Jesus, we can come to him with the weight of our sin and guilt and he will forgive and purify us.

Mark blog

Mark 14:43-52 - Jesus is arrested

Events are unfolding exactly as Jesus and ancient prophecy said they would...

Mark 14:43-52

Judas comes to betray Jesus by identifying him with a kiss so that the mob sent by the religious authorities could arrest him.  Their biggest problem with Jesus was 'blasphemy', which means claiming to be God when you're not God (John 10:33).  Judas has been watching for an opportunity to hand Jesus over (Mark 14:10-11) and Jesus had predicted that one of his closest 12 friends would betray him (Mark 14:18-20).  Judas makes his own mind up but his actions are totally fulfilling everything Jesus said would happen. 

One of Jesus' friends sticks up for him violently by slicing off an ear of one of the mob.  From John's gospel account, we know that this was Peter (John 18:10).  His passion is admirable but his perspective and methods are wrong.  Jesus is not planning to win his battle with swords but by his own sacrificial death on the cross for the sin of the world (Colossians 2:15).

Jesus challenges the religious thugs but he knows their actions are part of the fulfillment of prophecy.  He himself had said it would happen this way (Mark 8:31).

All Jesus' friends desert him at this point and run away scared.  Again, fulfillment of prophecy from hundreds of years before, which spoke of God striking the shepherd and the sheep scattering (Zechariah 13:7).

And then we have this seemingly random detail about a guy who runs off naked from the scene.  What's that about?  It's not fulfillment of prophecy like the rest of this section.  So why is it included?  Scholars tell us that the description of the robe implies someone who was well-off and it's thought by many that this is Mark himself.  This detail is perhaps the author's way of saying he was there too and even he ran away and left Jesus alone.

These are dark times and even though the disciples can't see it, there is hope.  Jesus is not choosing to fight a battle with swords but he does have a battle plan - one that will get a lot worse before it gets better.

Mark blog

Mark 14:32-42 - Suffering for suffering

What do you do with your sadness, sorrow, struggle and suffering?  Jesus prays.

Mark 14:32-42

Jesus is fully human and fully God.  The Bible says that 'in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form' (Colossians 2:9).  We call it the 'incarnation'.  God took on flesh and became a human being in Jesus.  He's called 'Immanuel', which means 'God with us' (Matthew 1:23).  In this section of Mark's account, we see just how human Jesus is at his lowest point and yet he doesn't sin.  His soul is 'overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death' and he asks for another way but he remains faithful to God the Father and determined to trust and obey him whatever needs to happen.  

How does Jesus manage to struggle and not sin?  Is it because he's God and it's no real problem at all?  No.  He's not cheating!  Jesus is fully God but he's laid aside certain rights to become genuinely human (Philippians 2:6-8).  This is Jesus truly struggling.  Struggling but not sinning.  And he manages it be cause he prays.  He gets his friends to pray too, but they let him down.  When we struggle or face temptation we have two options: run towards God or run away from him.  In the garden in Genesis, the story tells us Adam and Eve sinned and ran and hid from God (Genesis 3:8-10).  In this garden, Jesus runs towards God in prayer and he shows us that full reliance on our heavenly Father in our darkest moments is our only hope.

Jesus is struggling and suffering for the world's struggling and suffering.  He knows his imminent death on the cross and separation from God the Father will ultimately bring peace, forgiveness, friendship with God, life to the full and life forever to those who trust and follow him.  Jesus knows he will pay a high price for the world's rebellion against God so that people who respond in faith may be free and have a certain hope that outlasts the suffering of this world.  He knows this part of the plan is necessary to offer rescue to the people he loves and that by going through with it, he will ensure that for those who trust and follow him, the suffering they face in this world will be as bad as it gets.  No-one will have to face absolute separation from God unless they stubbornly choose it.

Mark blog

Mark 14:27-31 - Known failure

Jesus knows his friends will fail and he knows exactly how they'll fail...

Mark 14:27-31

Here we see yet another prophecy from the Old Testament part of the Bible (written 500 years before Jesus came)... 'I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.' (Zechariah 13:7).  Jesus repeatedly said he was 'the good shepherd' (John 10:11, 14) and Isaiah (written 700 years before Jesus came) said that he would be 'stricken' by God (Isaiah 53:4) and that it would be God's will to 'crush him' (Isaiah 53:10).  Jesus is again describing how another prophecy would be fulfilled.  He knows his friends will all desert him in his time of greatest need, according to what God had said through the prophets hundreds of years before.

Peter claims he will remain true to Jesus, even if no-one else does but Jesus knows better and even describes the exact details of how Peter will fail.  And it happens just as he says (Mark 14:66-72).

Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows we will fail him and he knows how.  The good news is, this is not the end of the story.  Jesus is on his way to his death and our failure is the reason why.  He knows us.  He knows our failure.  And he knows what it will cost him to make a way out for us.

Mark blog

Mark 14:12-26 - The new Passover

It's the beginning of a pretty bleak time for Jesus and the disciples.  In this section as they share the Passover meal together, Jesus discloses some dark news about one of his closest friends and talks again about his death.

Mark 14:12-26

Passover was a big deal in Jewish culture and we first read about it in Exodus 12.  It was a serious reminder of Israel's slavery in Egypt and a joyful celebration of the miraculous way God rescued them.  This particular Passover would be one that Jesus and his disciples would never forget.

Jesus drops the news that one of the disciples will betray him.  Judas knows what he's on about because he's already decided he's going to do it (Mark 14:10-11) but the rest assume that Jesus is telling the truth because they know he knows the future.  It was only a few hours ago he accurately predicted the specific details of the preparations for the meal they're now sharing and they know Jesus must be right about this too.  One of them will betray Jesus and it will be worse than any of them can imagine right now.

Jesus continues to talk about the near future by using the bread and the wine to show the disciples about his death.  Jesus has spoken a lot about his death and they know it's going to be important somehow but they can't see it all yet.  He uses the bread to show them that his body will be broken and the wine to show that his blood will be poured out.  He speaks of his death as a sacrifice for people and he says enough for his disciples to know that it's all going to happen very soon.

This particular Passover meal became a new reminder and a new celebration.  Christians today regularly share bread and wine together to remember the death of Jesus.  Like Passover, it's a serious reminder of our old slavery to sin and a joyful celebration of the miraculous way that God has rescued us through Jesus.

Mark blog

ECCU Day of FREE CAKE!

So today was the Exeter College Christian Union Day of FREE CAKE!  We spent the day giving away cake to students and staff and asking people three questions...

1. What's your life all about?
2. What do you think Jesus' life was all about?
3. If it was possible to know God personally, would you want to and why/why not?
As ever, we had some AMAZING and significant conversations with loads of people, some of which lasted half an hour or more because people were genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of who Jesus is and whether or not he's really God and worth trusting and following.  It seems people really are hungry to explore and discover the truth rather than stick with gut feelings or popular opinion.  It was a real privilege to chat to them and try to help point them towards the evidence about Jesus and everything he's done for us so we can know God personally!

If you're reading this because we met you today - THANK YOU!  And please feel free to explore the blog (especially the Why Follow Jesus? bit) and ask me any questions using the link on the right.  I promise I'll get back to you and try to be helpful.  If you want to meet up to chat properly, I'm well up for that too.

Hopefully chat soon!

Dave
:)