Tuesday 12 July

Josiah 23:1-24:7

Holiness is spelt C-O-M-F-O-R-T-A-B-L-E.  Oh, no, that’s not what I meant to say.  Don’t know what came over me.  Let’s try again; holiness is spelt C-O-N-F-R-O-N-T-A-T-I-O-N.  Josiah was a paragon of holiness but, if we’re honest, he couldn’t have smashed up more things if he’d spent the whole day playing Grand Theft Auto.  And, along with the high places, the altars, the shrines and the household gods he also put a wrecking ball through my quaint little idea of what holiness looks like.  I thought holiness was sweet and beautiful and serene.  And, maybe it is.  But sanctification - the trek towards that beautiful state - isn’t like that at all.  Sanctification assaults things.  Sanctification smashes stuff up.  Sanctification tears things down.  So if we pray for God to make us holy then we better be willing to do some confrontation.  Confronting others - telling us when they have hurt us or confessing when we have sinned against them.  Confronting ourselves - taking captive every thought, rigorously training our bodies in righteousness.  Confronting God - repenting of our wickedness, begging him to cleanse us, screaming at him to bring purity to our world.  All this confrontation is done in love, but we can’t deny the fact that it is confrontation nonetheless.  Holiness is spelt C-O-N-F-R-O-N-T-A-T-I-O-N.  If we haven’t confronted anyone recently I would really wonder whether we have moved much closer towards holiness.

Romans 1:1-17

When the translators said Paul was bound to Greeks and non-Greeks they made a hash of it.  That’s my humble opinion anyway.  What Paul actually said was that he was in debt to Greeks and non-Greeks.  I don’t think that was because he liked to take a punt on the horses - not unless that his thorn in the flesh...  I don’t even think this debt was an appreciation of how much he had received from their knowledge and understanding and their culture.  This debt was of an entirely different order.  There are two ways that I can be in debt to you.  One is where you lend me £10 and I need to give it back to you.  The other is where your mate gives me £10 and asks me to pass it on to you.  This is the kind of debt that Paul had.  God had given Paul fabulous riches but they weren’t for Paul to enjoy - they were for him to pass on to other people.  God does not want us to force our own views onto our friends, neighbours and acquaintances.  He just wants us to give our friends, neighbours and acquaintances the treasures that are rightfully theirs.  God has put things in us that will massively enrich the lives of those around us.  That’s not arrogant, it’s just the role we have been given.  It’s not only true for some of us, it’s true for every single person who has accepted that Jesus is Lord.  We have all been made priests of the living God.  I believe that accepting this is at the core of really being used by God.  I believe it was the conviction that undergirded the whole ministry of Paul.  God is the treasure-giver.  We are just his conduits.

Psalm 84:1-7

Your soul years does it, eh, you Sons of Korah?  I can’t believe your cheek.  How could you  so blatantly plagarise the latest Vineyard UK worship album?  I'll see you pay for this.