1 Corinthians 10: lessons from history

1 Corinthians 10 : Lessons from history

(My notes for a talk.)

Over the summer The Independent newspaper carried a short series on great British Institutions.

The first was ‘saying sorry’:

Elton John once sang, that ‘Sorry seems to be the hardest word’. Not for us Brits it doesn’t. According to The Independent we say sorry on average 8 times a day!

If we don’t hear something we say ‘Sorry’, if we heard it but couldn’t believe it we say ‘Sorry?’, if we bump into someone we say sorry, if someone bumps into us we say sorry.

Another is punning: I know it’s not very punny! But it seems that shopkeepers love it.

British Hairways

But it seems fish and chip shops excel in this:

The Cod Father

Codrophenia

New Cod on the Block

A Salt and battery

Cod Almighty  - in Southmead.

The other institution is ‘grumbling’ – someone once wrote:

“It's the right of every free born Englishman, Scotsman, Irishman and Welshman to moan whinge and complain about anything and everything. Anything else we want to do is either illegal or charged for at a rip-off price.”

Yet when we’re asked how we are we reply ‘Musn’t grumble’!

For Corinth one of the minor institutions was the sex trade.

It was a city that was shaped by sex. The Greek geographer Strabo, wrote around 20 AD:

The temple of Aphrodite was once so rich that it had acquired more than a thousand prostitutes, donated by both men and women to the service of the goddess. And because of them, the city used to be jam-packed and became wealthy. The ship-captains would spend fortunes there, and so the proverb says: "The voyage to Corinth isn’t for just any man."

The temple of Aphrodite was set on a hill, Acrocorith, just outside Corinth. Each evening they would ring a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal (recall 1 Cor 13) to call men to ‘worship’, the priestesses would go out and compel the men in to have sex with them as worship. 

The term Corinthinaise meant ‘to prostitute’.

This attitude to sex was creeping in on the church. They were being squeezed into the world’s mould. Sex had become an idol. Paul even had to write to them to remind them not to commit sexual immorality (verse 8)!

What is it in our society that is shaping us? How are we being squeezed? What are the idols that shape us?

What are the temptations that we face? As Paul writes ‘No temptation has seized you except what is common to man’ (v 13).

One temptation we face, is one of those great British institutions, grumbling!

Grumbling is not new! It maybe very British, but we can trace it back a few thousand years at least.

You see history is important. Paul starts off this chapter by looking at the importance of history.

He doesn’t want the Corinthians to be ignorant of it.

Why do we need not to be ignorant? Because History repeats itself –

As Santayana said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"

Or as Steve Turner put it

Let’s look at these first few verses:

Verses 10:1-4

The Israelites had success, miracles and daily provision – they were seemingly totally dependent upon God.

But we get that important word: Nevertheless,

God was not pleased with them! Why?

Success and miracles are not a measure of how much God is pleased with us!

The Israelites had that! Let’s learn from their history!

The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land took 40 years.

One of the most tragic verses in the scriptures is this in Deuteronomy 1:2

(It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)

And yet it took 40 years. Why so long?

They were out of Egypt in a day and yet it took 40 years to get Egypt out of them.

Their constant refrain was it wasn’t like this in Egypt!

You see the greatest threat to the next move of God is the previous move of God.

As I was starting preparing this talk – I thought I’d take a break and read the next section of the scriptures, in my Bible in a year programme it was Number 14 – you can see how far I’ve got! : It starts like this:

1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

It was exactly what Paul was referring to in this 1 Corinthians passage. Maybe God wants to say something!

Why didn’t the Israelites make it in two weeks? Grumbling and wanting to go back held up them up.

As Paul wrote in 1 Cor 10: 10:

“And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.”

Let’s take a quick walk through the book of Numbers to see what we can learn from history.

One commentator writes:

Numbers tells a story that should never have happened, a story that warns against the rejection of God's plans. Nonetheless, the story reveals that God remains faithful to his gracious promise, even when his people neglect the means and aims of grace.

It’s a message we need to hear- even though we mess up God is faithful to his gracious promises.

The book is about two generations: the death of the old generation (1-25) and the birth of the new (26 onwards)

Orientation ch 1-10

Disorientation ch 10-21

Reorientation ch 22-36

Basically it’s the Gospel – God created a great world, we messed it up, we can’t do it ourselves, God rescues us!

The German philosopher Martin Heidegger was right when he said ‘only a god can save us’. Heidegger was an atheist, he was stating that there’s no way out of the mess – but he was right only God can save us. We can’t do it ourselves.

Heideeger’s approach was echoed by another famous philosopher, this time a Scottish one: Dad’s Army’s Private James Frazer!

We are doomed – and only God can save us! That’s the message of Numbers, that’s the message of the Bible.

We get a hint of this coming saviour in Balaam’s prophecy in Num 24:

17 “I see him, but not now; 
I behold him, but not near. 
A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. 
He will crush the foreheads of Moab, 
the skulls of all the people of Sheth.

The Bible is like a stick of rock – instead of Blackpool it has Jesus all the way trough it!

The first ten chapters of the book of Numbers paint a great picture: there is no conflict, no disobedience and no one dies.

The changing point comes in chapter 11.

From Ch 11 onwards: anarchy breaks out! And it all starts with grumbling!

From grumbling and complaints to mutiny!

First it’s the people. Ch 11

Then the leadership: Ch 12 Miriam and Aaron

In Ch 13 after the spies are sent out to spy out the land we get mutiny in chapter 14.

What’s most surprising is it that great British institution of grumbling that causes so many problems. It’s no different today.

We say ‘Oh musn’t grumble’ but go on to do so!

Number 14

20 The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. 21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, 22 not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— 23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24

Grumbling is treating God with contempt!

Grumbling - the first instance of grumbling in the Bible occurs in Ex 15:

²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) ²⁴So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

 ²⁵ Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

The people had seen the deliverance of God – but the first they do is to complain against the leaders: against Moses.

How did he respond? He cried out to the Lord.

As a result the Israelites saw God's miraculous provision.

There’s lesson here for those of us in leadership – and by leadership I don’t mean just church leadership. But any form of leadership, be it in the home or in work or anywhere. How do we respond when the people we are leading are grumbling and complaining?

Do we, like Moses, take it to God – that’s the way to see miracles! God can take what we have, in Moses case stagnant water and a piece of wood, and change things.

God says, what do you have? A piece of wood? Let him take it and let him use it.

It’s not us that do it – it’s God.

As Heidegger says, ‘it takes a god to save us!’

Moses was an intercessor – time and again he stood in the gap between the people and God.

God wants intercessors. We talk about prayer, but not often about intercession – intercession is the crack cocaine of prayer; intercessors are God’s SAS – they stand in the gap, they pour out their lives in prayer. God wants to raise up intercessors.

It may be you he is calling.

How do we respond when things go wrong, when change happens, when we don’t get our own way, when God seems distant? Are we tempted to grumble?

We need to be careful when change happens – as someone once said, ‘constant change is here to stay’. How do we respond to it?

The temptation is to say – it was better before, or we never used to do it that way.

That’s exactly how the Israelites responded: Here are some inspirational posters I’ve designed:

‘We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.’ Num 11: 5

We were better off in Egypt’ Num 11:18

‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’

‘Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ Num 14: 4

 “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Num 21: 5

We see the past through rose-tinted spectacles. We have selective memories.

If we grumble watch out!

Numbers 14: 7

26 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ 35 I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”

Let us learn the lessons of history.

The first generation in the wilderness was wiped out because they grumbled and went after idols. God then raised up a new generation. There was a new start – a new census in Num 26.

Let’s go back to 1 Corinthians

Now these things occurred as examples, to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

Do not be idolators

Do not commit sexual immorality – sex outside marriage.

23, 00 died

Putting God to the test? They were killed by snakes (Num 21:6)

Do not grumble – killed by a destroying angel.

These are warnings for us.

Don’t be tempted to indulge in that great British institution of grumbling and flee from idolatry!

As Paul wrote elsewhere:

Phil 2:14

¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life.

1 Cor 1:10-17 division part 3: stew

Recognise that differences need not be divisive

Church is not like Stepford wives or about producing clones where we all think and act the same.

We need to glory in our differences!

There can be unity without uniformity.

Two models for unity are a bowl of soup and a bowl of stew.

Soup is all the same – there is no variety, no difference, it is all blended together; but a bowl of stew has separate parts, yet it makes a whole. There are carrots and meat but together they make a whole, each mouthful is different but still a whole. We can see the different kinds, there is a boundary between carrot and meat. The carrot is not trying to be a piece of meat! But they work together.

We are not all the same and neither should we be!

God’s creation has many different aspects and yet it is still his creation. Why should the church be any different? Black and white is boring!

Unity within diversity – this theme is picked up late by Paul in this letter – the body is a whole but many different parts.

The danger comes when we take one aspect of creation and make it the whole. Partial truth becomes the whole truth. That’s what idolatry is. We don’t always have the whole truth.

Let’s learn the lessons of Corinth:

Let’s avoid divisions by thinking of boundaries, nuts and stews.

Let our desire be to bring glory to Jesus and not ourselves, or a particular Christian stream.
Be boundaried – but make the boundaries with fences with gates not with divisive walls.
Celebrate diversity – be a stew!
Be nuts for Jesus!
See that in him the whole thing holds together!

1 Cor 1:10-17 division part 2: nuts

Let’s go back to Corinth.

How did Paul deal with the factions? He brought them back to Christ. He asks a question: "Is Christ divided?" (Sometimes a key question can unlock situations.)

Recognise that we are one in Christ.

Christ is not split. He is the centre of all things

Lesslie Newbigin had a great phrase that sums it up: "Christ is the clue to the whole creation."

Jesus is the one that unlocks the whole creation. It is in him that everything has meaning.

Apparently, helicopters have one single nut that holds the rotors to the craft and holds the whole thing together. If that nut fails the helicopter fails. That nut is called the Jesus nut. The Jesus nut holds the whole thing together.

In Jesus the whole thing holds together. In Jesus is the whole meaning of creation.

Temptation 2 Lessons in dealing with temptation – or taking the LID off!

Lessons in dealing with temptation – or taking the LID off!

1. Temptation is not sin

As we saw in Matthew 4 Jesus was tempted.
Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin.

Temptation is not a sin – giving in to it is!
As Martin Luther once said, we can’t stop the birds flying over our head, but we can stop them nesting in our hair.


2. We can’t always resist temptation by separation from it

Charles Spurgeon: “What settings are you in when you fall? Avoid them. What props do you have that support your sin? Eliminate them. What people are you usually with? Avoid them

There is good advice here. But if taken to an extreme we will disengage from the world – and that’s not what God wants!

But it may be for some that you are in situations that you need to avoid.

However, Origen discovered that removal doesn’t always work!
He castrated himself – and yet still found he had the desires. The problem is the mind. Our mind is a battleground.

The key is to renew our minds. Be reliant upon the Spirit and on Scripture.

Jesus in the wilderness when tempted by Satan quoted scripture at him. All the scriptures Jesus quoted came from the book of Deuteronomy. No doubt that was what he was reading and meditating on. Like Jesus Get the word of God into us. Use that.

There are 5 things we need to do with scripture:

Read
Study
Hear
Memorise
Meditate- much neglected part; it helps it become part of us.

Philippians 4:8 whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.


3. Temptation is a problem for all Christians

We all face temptation. Usually it comes in three categories: Money, Sex and Power. Money might be stealing, fiddling or gambling; Sex might be pornography, sex outside of marriage; Power might be an oppressive use of it, a desire to dominate and so on.
We need to guard our hearts and minds in these areas.
No one is exempt form temptation. Even the most spiritually mature.

Jesus faced it

1Cor. 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

4. There is a limit to temptation - not beyond what we can bear 1 Cor 10. 13


5. We are to pray not to be tempted - prayer is a powerful weapon; it is the most subversive thing a Christian can do! Particularly when tempted.

Mark 14:38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation

If you are tempted pray! It’s the best defence against temptation.


6. Accountability – we have each other. If you are faced with temptations that you give into confess it to a friend. Ask them to pray for you. Ask them to ask you how’s it going?

If your problems come through the Internet – use accountability software.

7. We mess up – deal with it!
What if we do give in? Don’t let the enemy accuse us. Confess it to God – and maybe someone else - and ask forgiveness.

God has provided a way out. On the cross he dealt with our sin and our sins.
Our sin – the hardness of our hearts, our old self, has been dealt with – put on our new self, a new heart in Christ.

Also our sins the ones we continually commit that come from that sinful heart have been dealt with.

Sin and sins have been covered by what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Confess and ask for forgiveness.


There are two lies we can succumb to:
Once won’t hurt – falling down the slide may look like fun, but it hurts at the bottom!

You have blown it – giving into temptation means that that’s it. God doesn’t love you. That’s a lie of the enemy. Nothing you can do can separate you from God if you confess and ask his forgiveness.

Temptation - the slides

Temptation

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Temptation 1 - the source

We are working our way through the disciple’s prayer and we have now come to the section: lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Temptation is a bit like a kid’s slide.
We stand at the top thinking I don’t need to go down – but the look of it, the thrill of it can be attractive – then when we do give in it can be a little painful.


In many ways we think it’s like this – when in fact it’s like this or even this.
(see the slides)

Let’s look at the slide of temptation:

Source
Lessons
In  
Dealing with it
Examples of temptations we might not know we have fallen in.



The source of temptation

Lead us not into temptation – is the phrase from the disciple’s prayer. Is it then the Lord then that leads us into temptation?
This verse almost seesm to imply that.
However, the key to understanding the scriptures is to let the scriptures interpret themselves. Let’s look at the book of James:

James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

James 1:14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

So, temptation, in part, comes from our own desires. It is from our hearts, our won desires.

There is however, another source:

Matt. 4:1  Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Matt. 4:3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

The devil is a source of temptation. We are in a battle – we have an enemy.
The good news is that he has already been defeated!

The verses we are looking at tonight are a couplet:
Lead us not into temptation BUT deliver us from evil.


The devil is the tempter. We need to be aware of his wiles.

But we should remember that the devil is not the opposite of God – the devil is a creature but God is the uncreated, self-existent and eternal creator. God has no opposite. God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent; the devil isn’t omni anything!

He is the one who comes and tempts us and then when we fall into the temptation he says – see look how bad a Christian you are, look what you have done. He is the tempter and the accuser.

So, how can we deal with temptation? I'll deal with this in a subsequent post/

What happens when I die?

[These are my notes from a recent talk on 'What hapens when I die?']

Death is something we all have to face. It’s a great leveller! In more than one sense!

Death though is not “natural”; the wages of sin is death, death is the last enemy. However, salvation means victory over sin and death – death, because of Jesus’ resurrection is a defeated enemy. When Jesus died death was conquered – so much so that (Mt 27: 52) the earth quaked, some tombs were broken open and people who had died were raised to life! We don’t have to be afraid of death.

What happens when I die is a question most of us have to face at sometime or another.

Though, you may be surprised to know that not everyone will die! Those alive at Jesus’ return won’t die we’ll put on immortality.


About 10% of what I’m going to tell you is wrong! The only problem is, I don’t know which 10%! We need to test all things against the scriptures.

Many people claim to have had death experiences and have come back – many of them non-Christians. All seem to have a similar story to tell: an out of body experience, a tunnel, meeting someone.

One scientific study done by the university of Southampton has been set up to examine 1.500 survivours of cardiac arrest – the study known as AWARE (awareness during resuscitation) started in 2008 and planned to take 3 years. Time 18 Sept 2008


I’ve not seen any of their results yet.

Other Universities have departments of death studies.

At Bath there is the Centre for Death and Society

At Durham, Centre for Death and Life studies



There are a number of places you can get an MA in death Studies; including Bath and Lampeter,


However, personal experiences or scientific studies are not a reliable basis on which to base a theology or a doctrine.

So, what does happen when we die?

There are many responses to this.

The materialistic atheist on the other hand maintains that when we die we die, we get eaten by worms and that’s it. There is no continuity. We die we rot, end of story

Some maintain that we will be reincarnated, according to what we have done. If we have lived well then we may enjoy an eternal disembodied bliss, otherwise we might come back as a cockroach, an ant eater or an ant.

For the Buddhist they hope to get off the wheel of life and cease to exist or face reincarnation (again).

Two dear old friends, Abner and Fred, had many conversations through their life about death and what they thought Heaven would be like. They made an agreement that whichever of them died first would make every effort to make contact with the one that was still living and tell them what Heaven was like.

Well, Fred was the first to die and about a year later, Abner was truly missing his dear friend. One day, the phone rang...and when he answered it, he heard a familiar voice on the line.

Abner said: "Fred, is that you?"
"Yes it is my old friend, yes it is."
Abner was overjoyed, and said:
"So, tell me, what is it like where you are?"
Fred said: "This is wonderful. You wouldn’t believe what I am experiencing now. The most plentiful food and lushest fields you have ever seen, I sleep in late, have a long luxurious breakfast, and then I go and make love.

If it's a nice day I go out in the fields and make love some more. I come in and have a long lunch, then I go out into the fields again and make love all afternoon and retire early in the evening.”

Abner responded: "Heaven sounds so amazing!"

Fred replied: Heaven? Who said anything about heaven? I’m a rabbit in Minnesota!"

For many Christians it is a combination of the Buddhist and the atheist perspective. Our bodies get eaten by worms, but our souls or spirits get into n eternal bliss we call heaven. This however, is not the biblical picture! It is a Greek idea. It stems from a wrong view of what it means to be human. We are not souls or spirits trapped inside a body.

So, what do the scriptures say?

It is something that you’d think they have a lot to say on it. Isn’t that what Christianity is all about getting to heaven when we die? However, there is very little in the scriptures! The problem is that many of our ideas about heaven come not from the scriptures but from non-Christian culture.

As Tom Wright puts it:

“We should remember especially that the use of the word heaven to denote our ultimate goal of the redeemed, though hugely emphasised by medieval piety, mystery plays and the like, and still almost universally at a popular level, is severely misleading and does not begin to do justice to the Christian hope.” FATS p. 20-21

The Bible says nothing about going to heaven when we die.

In the Scriptures heaven is the hidden dimension of our ordinary life – it is where God is. It is not a place that we go to when we die. 

Heaven is not our future hope – our hope is physical bodily resurrection and that will be on the new heavens and new earth.

In the OT it was clear that the dead go to Sheol. David Lawrence in his book Heaven It’s Not the End of the World illustrates it like this. (see slides)

Sheol is translated unhelpfully by the Authorised Version as hell. The two are different places. Sheol is simply the realm of the dead. It was a place of waiting – not punishment or rewards. There are some glimpses of resurrection in the OT but not much. There is some hint that the rewards and fate of the righteous and unrighteous will be different.

The Hebrew word ‘Sheol’ is usually translated as Hades in the NT. This again is the place of the departed and not hell. In Revelation 1: 18 we are told Jesus holds the keys to Hades. Death was not able to hold Jesus and one day when Jesus returns Hades will have to give up the dead.

The New Testament picture looks something like this: (image from Key note – adapted from David Lawrence)

Sheol becomes Hades. There is some sort of “Intermediate State” – the position of the dead between death and Jesus’ return. At Jesus’ return there is resurrection and judgement. The fate of believers will be physical resurrection bodies on a new earth and the unbelievers Gehenna. Gehenna, usually translated as hell, is the name of the rubbish dump outside Jerusalem, where a fire burned all the time to destroy the rubbish that was chucked on it.

So, what then happens between death and the return of Jesus, in this ‘intermediate state’?

It was this question that bugged the Thessalonians – they expected Jesus to return pretty quickly, certainly within a few years of his ascension, but things were dragging on. Believers were dying – what was going to happen to them? Would they miss out? It is these questions that Paul is addressing in his letter to them.

Grieve – grief is important, but don’t grieve like the rest who have no hope.

Hope – because of Jesus’ death and resurrection there is hope. They won’t miss out.

Paul’s focus is not on the intermediate state but on the resurrection. The dead and those alive will meet the Lord.

Incidentally, the word meet here has been used to justify a rapture of the saints up into ‘heaven’ before the tribulation – a modern day theory popularised by the Scofield Bible and by the recent Tim La Haye Left Behind books. However, the word used is the word used to denote meeting a visiting dignitary. A group of important people would go out to meet the dignitary, to welcome him and bring him back to the city; not to go off into the distance with him!

In verse 13 and 15 We have the phrase ‘fallen asleep’.

Some have interpreted this to mean an unconscious sleep.

The dead are asleep. They have no consciousness of what is happening.

David Lawrence writes: ‘evidence from other New Testament passages seems to conflict with this. John [in Revelation] hears the souls of the martyrs in heaven not snoring but shouting’! (p 69)

Some have suggested that for the dead in Christ there is no intermediate state – it is as if they die and are at the resurrection at Christ’s return. This has much going for it. Not least an attempt to get away from a dualistic view of what it means to be human.

However, Jesus on the cross speaks to one of the thieves and says, today you will be with me in Paradise – this seems to imply a conscious awareness of Jesus after death. Lk 23:42, 43.

It could be translated ‘I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise’ – the today refers to when Jesus spoke it and not when the thief would be with him in Paradise. But then why would Jesus use the term paradise?

Paul in Phil 1:21 – depart and be with Christ – if this was an unconscious state how could he then say it would be better?

Why aren’t we told much about what happens between death and Jesus’ return?

I suspect because that is not our goal – our hope is resurrection bodies and the new earth. The physical is important!

There are three possibilities then for what happens when we die, in this intermediate state:

1. We are asleep and are not aware of anything until the resurrection

2. When we die we immediately experience the resurrection, so there is no intermediate state for the dead, but there is an intermediate time for those who are still alive

3. We are with Christ in paradise waiting for the resurrection

What is the take home from this?

Death is not the end. We don’t need to fear it as Jesus has the victory over it.

We don’t have much scriptural information about what happens when we die - because that’s not the focus of the gospel of the kingdom.

Our hope is not in heaven with harps but resurrection bodies on the new heaven and earth. We don’t look forward to life after death, but as Tom Wright puts it, life after life after death!

Jesus is coming: plant a tree

Slides for my talk below

Jesus Returns 2 Pet 3

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The return of Jesus: plant trees!

What would you be doing now if you knew Jesus was coming tomorrow?

Luther, when asked a similar question said: "I would plant a tree today."

Why would he want to do that?

Will what we do now make a difference after Jesus has returned?

If it does then planting a tree is important.

Our role as image bearers of God is not to populate heaven!

If it was all we would have to do is get someone to pray the sinners prayer and then kill them.

The Bible is clear Jesus is returning. How do we then behave? How do we then respond? Does it matter what we think about Jesus’ return? Eschatology, the study of the end times, is it important?

For many the idea is that we are waiting around on an earth which is a training ground for eternity, waiting for Jesus to come and whisk us away so that we can be with him in a mansion in heaven. The earth will be destroyed, time will end and we will be in heaven for ever.

That view has nothing to do with the Bible - it is a reading into the Bible of pagan Greek ideas. It is wrong on nearly every single point!

Eschatology does affect what we do now. It affects the priority we place on culture, business, politics, science and so on.

In the passage we had read (2Pe 3) Peter writes:

1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

Wholesome thinking - thinking is important. How do we renew our minds? - part of the answer is given here: “I have written...”: the scriptures. We need to soak and marinade in the scriptures, then our minds can be renewed, become wholesome. Like a jazz musician we will then be able to improvise and develop ideas in the way they were intended to go.

Peter goes on in verse 2

2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

There are 31,124 verses in the Old and New Testaments, and of these 8,352 are predictive prophecy, almost one third! In fact only four biblical books contain no predictive prophecies: Ruth, Song of Songs, Philemon and 3 John. The emphasis in the scriptures on prophecy is itself justification enough to study it and the end times.

When it comes to theology and eschatology in particular many Christians complain that there are too many terms to understand; and yet we can walk into the Coffee shop and order a coffee - what's going on? expresso, frappacino, baby cino, latte, americano, skinny, how many terms do we have to get our minds around to get a cup of coffee?

So, rather than look at coffee terms, most of which I suspect you will all know I want to look at some theological terms. If we order a coffee we can do theology.

There are four main views regarding theology. All centre around what’s been called the millennium - a period of a 1000 years mentioned in Rev 20.

2. Millennial views (see slides)

A key question is: What about culture? How much will make it in at the return of Jesus.

Does planting a tree now have any lasting influence when Jesus returns. Does it matter what job we do as long as we evangelise and practice singing in church for heaven?

What will be the fate of the earth? Will art, science, poetry, commerce make it into the new earth?

There are two apparently opposing views:

Annihilation or transformation

Discontinuity or continuity.

Renewal or destruction

There are a number of verses that suggest destruction and a number that suggest renewal.

In this passage Peter describes the return of Jesus as the earth being destroyed. The writer to the Hebrews, echoing the psalmist, talks about the earth and heavens perishing and being rolled up like a garment, and Jesus says that heaven and earth will pass away.”

On the other hand we have Romans 8 suggesting a liberation not a destruction.

¹⁹The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Acts 3: 19-21 restoration of all things apokatastastaseos panton suggest at Christ's return the creation will be restored to its original perfection.

He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

How do we reconcile these conflicting accounts? Is it restoration or destruction?

In many ways the scriptures can sometimes be like those 3D images - to make the image 3D each eye must see something slightly different, when these are then re-focused a new image appears. We have to take these conflicting images and refocus them.

The first thing we need to remember is that these passages may not necessarily have to be taken literally; they may well be metaphors to describe the catastrophic and cataclysmic event the return of Jesus will be.

Let us examine three passages that talk about an apparent destruction of the earth.

(i) Matthew 24:35: ‘heavens and earth will pass away’ (cf Mk 13:31; Lk 21:33).

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Greek word ‘pass away’ is the same word that occurs in 2 Corinthians 5:17, where Paul describes the person in Christ as a new creation, saying ‘the old has gone’ (literally passed away). This implies not total destruction but transformation. Hence we could legitimately paraphrase Jesus as saying ‘heaven and earth will be transformed but my word never changes’.

(ii) Hebrews 1:12

"In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
¹¹They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
¹²You will roll them up like a robe;
like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.

The word translated as ‘changed’ in v12 is the same word is used in 1 Corinthians 15:51 and 52. Here the context is the resurrection of believers: ‘we will all be changed’. Yet again the meaning can be understood as transformation. When we receive resurrection bodies we shall not be destroyed but changed or transformed; in the same way the earth will be transformed.

Now we come to this tricky passage.

(iii) 2 Peter 3:10

The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

The KJV has “the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up

This was a translation of a word (katakaēsetai) from one particular manuscript (Textus Receptus) version of the passage- recent discoveries have found that a more accurate version of the original (Codex Sinaticus and Codex Vaticanus) comes from a different Greek word (heurethēsetai) meaning: ‘will be found’. The emphasis is not on destruction but on disclosure.

The context here is Noah’s flood. The water purified the earth, the water removed not Noah and his family but evil and the wicked. In the same way fire is used time and again in the scriptures to denote a purification. In fact the language used here is a metallurgical one - the purification of metals by fire. Fire doesn’t destroy the metal it purifies it. So, the new earth will be disclosed, transformed, purified and redeemed.

Jesus’ return then will mean some massive changes – there will be a judgment. However, the earth won’t be destroyed. It will be changed in a similar to which our bodies will be changed, but we will still be us and the earth will still be the earth, albeit a new and redeemed earth.

So, how does that affect what we do now? Should we be planting trees?

It’s interesting to note that in Rev 21 a brilliant description of the new heaven and earth. The imagery isn’t us going to heaven but heaven coming to earth. [Incidentally do you know how many times the phrase ‘going to heaven’ (or similar) is used in the scriptures? None!]

But in verse 24:

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their spleandour into it. .. the glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it.

And in Is 60 – the imagery which Revelation has borrowed:

³ Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

⁹ Surely the islands look to me;
in the lead are the ships of Tarshish,
bringing your sons from afar,
with their silver and gold,
to the honor of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.

¹⁰ "Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
and their kings will serve you.
Though in anger I struck you,
in favor I will show you compassion.

¹¹ Your gates will always stand open,
they will never be shut, day or night,
so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations—
their kings led in triumphal procession.

What are these ships of Tarshish? They were large trading ships – why are they here in the holy city, the new Jerusalem?

They were the objects of God’s wrath in Is 23 and yet they appear here.

Richard Mouw writes:

My own impression is that the judgement that will visit the ships of Tarshish is of a purifying sort. We might think here of the ‘breaking’ of the ships of Tarshish as more like the breaking of a horse rather than the breaking of a vase. The judgment here is meant to tame, not destroy. The ships of Tarshish will be harnessed for service in the Holy city – a process that will require a ‘breaking’ of sorts.

The ships of Tarshish represent pagan commerce and yet they seem to under go a purging and appear in the new Jerusalem.

In the same way all our acts will also undergo a breaking, a purifying. Culture will be transformed and be a part of the new earth. What we do now has eternal consequences.

Some of you may be thinking: nothing matters but the kingdom – and by that you think of prayer, worship, Bible study, personal piety and so on. But God would say, because of the kingdom everything matters! Art, history, poetry, wiork, science, business – everything matters.

There was once an engineer – he wanted to be Christian in all that he did. He was accurate in all his measurements, he worked hard, never stole from work, even bought his own paperclips, when he photocopied his own things – he worked extra to cover the costs, he shared his faith with his co-workers. It wasn’t until later he realized he’d been helping build the Tower of Babel.

Nothing matter but the kingdom – but because of the kingdom everything matters.

So, if Jesus were to return tomorrow what would you do tonight? Let’s plant trees!

Trees of culture, commerce, politics, art, …. It matters.

Our original mandate was to fill the earth – that includes a cultural filling.

Jesus is coming – plant trees!