Thursday 21 July

Hosea 3:1-5:15

You’ve got to watch out for those raisin cakes.  The raisin cakes represented the kick-backs the Israelites got from giving their allegiance to idols rather to than their God.  And the Lord hated them.  He compares them to the pleasures of a prostitute.  He saw them as the deceptive sweeteners to a life of gross and disgraceful adultery.  We can all nod our head and agree.  How terrible of them to have bowed down to wooden images.  But what could this mean today?  Surely Hosea isn’t telling us we have to place an embargo upon the produce of Greggs the Bakers?  I think the raisin cakes still remain but they no longer have many raisins, and they don’t look much like cakes.  Maybe they are the praise of colleagues when we stay at work rather than cut away on time to get to house group.  Maybe they are the extra minutes of sleep we get rather than starting the day praying to our God.  Maybe it is the extra bit of cash we have from not tything or giving money to His cause.  Praise from others, greater comfort for ourselves, more insurance for our future.  All things that can be good and fun and enjoyable - who after all doesn’t like raisin cakes? (I guess quite a few people won’t but you get my general point) - but all things that can obliterate the purity of our worship.  Woe to those who love the most important seats in the synagogue. We can’t worship God and money.  Woe to the rich fools with the bigger barns.  The Lord is coming to show us his love once again, let’s admit our guilt, seek his face and earnestly seek him.

Romans 6:15-7:6

We belong to him who was raised from the dead.  That is pretty cracking news.  It’s good reason to open a new pack of biscuits.  But that’s not the end of it.  Our comfort and pleasure are not the end-game.  There is more yet to come.  Now, most people would think twice about including the word ‘slave’ as one of the primary benefits of anything at all but not old Paul.  He puts it right up there as the pinnacle of our salvation.    The ultimate pay-out to us for our faith in Christ is becoming slaves to righteousness.  Or, to put it another way, becoming holy.  Or, to put it yet another way, bearing fruit to God.  It seems remarkable to me how rarely we actually hear about this concept in mainstream Christian culture.  We talk about worship a lot, and healing a lot more.  We might talk about discipleship and evangelism every now and them.  But bigger than all these activities, bigger than any programs or structures or events is the question of our identity.  Who actually are we now?  Paul seems to talk about this a lot.  And his thrust seems to be that we are not volunteers.  We are not people who can choose how much of an involvement we want in this church-melarky-business.  We are recruits.  We have been conscripted into the people of God and our commander is laying out his battle-plan.  Our role in actually doing stuff is not only vital; it is also expected.  God has given us the gift of grace but that gift carries bounds of its own.  We have been given the generous gift of service; service in the new way of the Spirit.

Psalm 88:1-9a

"I feel like a man without strength."  You've got some cheek Heman.  How could you dare to reference me like that in your psalm?