Dynamic God, dynamic world

Dynamic God, dynamic world

Some thoughts on Isaiah 45 following on from a lovely blog by Tanya Marlow 
The God who brings storms, based on verses from Isaiah 45.

 “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity.”

I was thinking about the creation. Well, plate tectonics to be more precise. Continental drift (or were they pushed?).  The fact that in order to have a world at the right temperature and with all the right ingredients the earth has like fish scales that can move against each other separately plus vents like my pressure cooker, so that the whole thing doesn't smash or explode. Part of that means that we have to cope with earthquakes and volcanoes. They allow growth of continents, rich farm land and even spit out fresh water into the atmosphere amongst other things. If we keep records (which most people's do even if it's oral ones), and take notice of them (which most peoples don't even when they're written down), most natural disasters are predictable - tho maybe not the actual precise date or magnitude. We can learn how to deal with things. We could avoid class dictated architecture - safe buildings for the rich, precarious ones for the poor; safe arable land for the rich, volcano slopes for the poor ....

How come, knowing that we have a dynamic, very dynamic God, did we let ourselves drift into the Aristotelian view of a static earth and static societies ?  We're designed to cope with comfort and adversity, both as individuals and as communities. How did we let ourselves drift into the easy peasy no more needy theologies so we can cop out of looking after each other, it's just lack of faith of course, isn't it ... ?


“Rain down, you heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together.
I, The Lord have created it.” (Is 45:8)


I find these verses particularly exciting cos after the appalling naughtiness and ultimate expulsion from their homes of those people, (despite clear guidelines and after centuries of warnings) God is not turning his back on them. It's a parental punishment that is for correction not rejection. He's saying :

"Look folks, I still have the map even though you feel lost. I'm bigger than all this. I made it. I make it work. I send good and bad. I can still talk even though you've not got a temple. I will eventually get you out of this desert parched cracked bit of Babylonia back to your nice green hills and rain off the Med. Until then, however, know that what really waters and nourishes you is my righteousness, the green shoots I want to see are salvation. ie no more being mean to the poor and needy and foreigners, no more leeching the fields of their fallow years, no more hanging with fake deities and copying their rituals of appeasement and orgies rather than thanks and repentance."

Wrath ?!

The working title for the thinking in my head is "What makes God really mad?" but it's not necessarily the best summary of the topic, just my starting point.

I had a problem with "wrath". I've read the bible through several times and my eyes sort of jump the nastiest bits. I finally decided I had to face it and so set myself a question. Why would the God is Love get that mad ? What on earth could make him act like that ? I picked a prophet at random and worked through the "because" verses. What an eye opener. Amos turned out to have been a good choice cos of the way it's laid out. I'd been put off cos of the odd (to me) imagery but in fact the "because" clauses are really clear ! and it turns out it's some of the things that I'm passionate about too so the answers please me rather ! I went on to Isaiah (link)- well the first half - the you naughty kids half . Same again. 

The needy, the poor, the fatherless and widow, aliens (I just love to use that word just to be naughty - like Sting, "I'm a legal alien, I'm an Englishman in New York) ok, foreigners, false weights and measures and rigged or biased 'justice'. 

Then there is the immorality and the false gods/idolatry etc. But I'd expected to find just that, and more of it. So God is not just concerned about private morality and his own public image and following. He gets so cross at how the weaker members of society are treated he's prepared to let bullies fall into the hands of even bigger bullies to get a taste of their own medicine. He gives them loads of warning in the hope they'll stop of course. 

Of course Amos and Isaiah were talking to particular situations but I've found it in many of the other prophecies too.

My lack of understanding about this had affected all sorts of things including feeling overly sorry for the Hebrew people being taken on off into exile. Yes they have been appallingly treated since and there is absolutely no excuse for that persecution plain and simple. However the second half of Isaiah is not comforting because God has to pay them to make up for the horrid Babylonians, it's just reassuring them that now they're on the receiving end it wont last for ever, they're not abandoned. They still deserved it. That isn't taken away !

This led on to thinking about what does God really like, what makes him happy ? Of course there are lots of things but the simplest answer has become even more clear to me. To love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind soul and strength and to love my neighbour as myself. The Westminster confession has not done us a service. Only worshiping God is half the story and if I only do that without the second half the first half is completely wasted. It's only paper roses (do you remember the song by Marie Osmond ? "paper roses, like your imitation love for me"). which leads on to James - Faith AND Works. 

It has so many practical out workings. Like how we treat employees. Do we pay our bills straight away ? I have a friend who is a decorator and can't live by it cos people don't pay for work until he's virtually taken them to court. Do we make sure our employees get a living wage ? the farmer who takes on ppl and pays the same what ever time of day they start - K Bailey says the wage was just enough to feed one family for a day - the crazy employer made sure that no family in that village went hungry that day. My home helps don't get enough to live on from the wage the social security gives them for my care so I top up their wage - I don't give it as a gift but as a right so they're not put in the position of keeping on thanking me. 

My baptism verse is in Isaiah 58 but it's a bit rich wanting the blessing of being a well watered garden without applying the first part of the chapter - this is the fast that I chose ... It's an "if" blessing like so many others. Same with Hebrews 13 - how many times have I sung we bring a sacrifice of praise - I led worship for many years and feel passionately about praising God (in all sorts of ways aswell as music) but it's a 2 halved verse : sacrifice of praise AND good works!

I'm sorry The Poor is not a "sexy" subject but the NT is so riddled with it. I reread early Acts again and there it is like Skegness through rock. What did the first ever Christian "Full Timers" do ? They thought that caring for the starving old ladies was important enough to not be able to get on with prayer and study !! The Jews, even the Pharisees who supposedly kept the law were letting them suffer. The first appointments in the early church were to take over. Not just one but SEVEN !! Cornelius was heard by God cos of his prayer AND his care for the poor. Paul went to see the brothers to check out he'd got his doctrine right - and they said fine but don't forget the poor. Galations 2

I did a little study on giving in the NT (link) - It's clear, no need for inferences from OT ideas. Relatives, leaders, brothers and the poor. The 4 areas of giving in the NT. No ambiguity. The Jesus mandate.

My summary of Isaiah

as far as i can tell 

foreword : dear isaiah – this mind blowing vision is a hint for you to volunteer to take my message. as soon as you say yes you will go i will then let you in on the secret that they’re not going to listen anyway. 

here are the messages :

ch 7 to 45 :  

"look after fatherless, widows, aliens, weights and measures regulations, justice, alcohol moderation, leaning on God not other nations, no idolatry or immorality or else. 

if you bully the weak you’ll end up getting bullied by a nation bigger than you and see how you like it then – look it’s happening to your neighbours so hurry up and get your act together cos i really mean it. 

and woe to the lying prophets who are saying its ok, we’re doing the right things, we must be in God’s will, he’s on our side."

ch 46 - 66 

"ok, ok, i know this is a horrible dry flat desert region but i will eventually let you go back to your hills and fertile crescent when you have twigged that i’m still with you even out here in this wilderness. look i made all this and i made you. you know you never really kept me in a box in the first place and you certainly cant now. 

i’ll send my servant to fix things. here are a few signs to look out for to know it’s him. 

ps even the trees and the hills will be rather cheerful about all this…

ps it all works out all right in the very end too."



(lizeph paraphrase of isaiah.)


therefore (my conclusions)

a) jews dwelling in the land should look out for the first half of isaiah's prophecy for those dwelling in their own land

b) jews living in exile should take particular note of the words to them while they’re in exile.

Thought : Ekklesia and Koinonia

Paul, I so agree with what you're saying here. I've given this so much thought. I've agonised over this. I've so longed for relationship, and depth. I've ached for it. The whole NT over and over : love love love. You cant just do that in a meeting. When I came to the Lord I already had church. What I needed was relationship. Relationship with God. Relationship with people. What principally brought me to make the commitment that made the difference was simple acts of kindness. Adults who remembered my name. Girls who invited me to sit with them in class and at lunch. Worship where I knew I just knew that not only was God present in the building but that He'd come out from behind the altar and sat with me in the pews. God talks. He even talks to ordinary people like me. Worship where even ordinary people could join in. Even ordinary people like me a shy 17 year old.

I found a lot of these things in planting new church. We had it. But then it got more formal and leaders got more distant and it changed. Alienation. I have to say that the influence from traditional pentecostal churches helped a lot in one way in helping us come into the fullness of the spirit. But we took on their priest heavy structures too.  Home/cell groups help a lot. They don't make relationship but it's easier to make relationship in a smaller group.

I've spent so many years talking about this, praying it over, going over and over the New Testament. Longing. Just longing.

I've come to the conclusion that it's not the church structure that makes the church. I've been in anglican churches where there has been heart organic church yet has a written liturgy for services and some of the services are still from the prayer book, but there's life. I've been in pentecostal churches that have been strangled, suffocated by the unwritten liturgy, unwritten rules, bullying of pastors or of anyone who was different.

I've come to feel that we need both ekklesia AND koinonia. They can both exist separately but are only half the story. Like so many of the pairs in the NT of seemingly opposites. Faith and Works. Grace and Truth. The words Church and Fellowship are not synonyms. They are opposites that complement each other. Yin and Yang. 


Ekklesia - NT greek - a public meeting for public participation. The original democracy.
Koinonia - NT greek - fellowship. intimate participation in something.





Remembered the old song :
Love and marriage,
Love and marriage,
Go together like a horse and carriage.

The structure + the organics.
Farms versus plants and animals. Plants and animals grow in the wild, that's organic. But feeding and protecting animals and tending the plants actually takes a lot of organisation and jolly hard work - that's farming.
Soulless mass farming leeches from the environment and finishes by leaving it sterile. No farming means everyone is just left to hunt and gather - OK for a few neanderthals in a very rich terrain.

Get starved of one and we resent the other. We blame the institution for the lack of fellowship. Obviously some institutions are less well designed for fellowship to be able to be incorporated but I've found that if I've been willing to do church within church by fostering relationship it compensates.

But where there is no structure at all there is no accountability, no adequate teaching and there is no obligation to remember the weak. The classic groups of course are the elderly who end up dropping off the map and the poor and weak who don't get on the map in the first place. I also think that unless we plan in time to pray and worship and teach it gradually gets left to the end then left out. I think good teaching needs serious study, prayer, maturity, experience, preparation. Worship got too big. Great have big worship from time to time but you can't do I Corinthians stuff in massive ekklesia. You need to have smaller scale ekklesia to be able to do more koinonia stuff with it.

Study : Giving - to whom ?

Giving - to whom ?

By Liz Figures in THRESHING FLOOR (Files) · Edit doc · Delete

1. Attitudes to giving

* 1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

* Matthew 23:23
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices— mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law— justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former.

* James 2:2-4
 2" Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.
    3 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,
    4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?"

* 2 Corinthians 9:7
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

* 2 Corinthians 8
The Collection for the Lord’s People
 13 "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality,"



2) Who to give to

A) RELATIVES

1 tim 5v8 "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."

B) LEADERS

17 "The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching."

1 cor 9v 13 "Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel."

Galatians 6v6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

C) BROTHERS IN NEED


Acts 4:34
There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
Acts 4:35
and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Acts 10:2
He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

rom 12 v13 "Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

Ephesians 4:28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Matthew 6:2So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

James 2:15-17
15 "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
    16 If one of you says to him, Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
    17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

1 john 3v17 "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
    18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."


D) THE POOR

acts 6v1" In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
    2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.
    3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
    4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

Matthew 19:21
Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.

Luke 12:33
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
Luke 12:32-34 (in Context) Luke 12 (Whole Chapter)
Luke 14:13
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
Acts 9:36
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor.
Acts 10:4
Cornelius stared at him in fear. What is it, Lord? he asked. The angel answered, Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
Acts 10:31
and said, 'Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.
Acts 24:17
After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.Galatians 2v9 James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognised the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.
   


Galations 2 v 9 
James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognised the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.


Matthew 25 The Sheep and the Goats
 31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
    32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
    33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
    34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
    35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
    36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
    37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
    38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
    39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
    40 The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'