Sunday 21st July
Read Psalm 66
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
This Psalm begins with “Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name” (v1-2). This is not the personal “Bless the Lord O my soul”, it is an invitation to all the world, it is saying, “Come and join me”. If we have found something great we want others to know. Jesus told parables about people finding great things and wanting others to rejoice with them – the prodigal son, the woman who finds the lost coin, the shepherd who finds the lost sheep.
I wonder if in our culture and background – ecclesiastical as much as anything – we haven’t fully grasped what we have in Christ. Have we realised what he did for us and what he has invited us into. Picture a small street urchin peering into the window of a Christmas party. There are bright lights, decorations, food, music ….. and then the door of the house is opened, and the owner invites him in. That’s what Christ has done for us – are we beginning to enjoy it? Peter says it in the New Testaments, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4). Grasp it, rejoice in it. Share it.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Having told the believers in Thessalonia not to be unsettled by false rumours about the return of Christ which would leave them lost in their troublesome situation, he encourages them by saying that he thanks God for them, calling them brothers and sisters and saying that God chose them as among the first believers. He knows this because their faith was growing since they believed the truth of the gospel that he shared with them at first.
He asks them to stand firm and to hold fast to the teachings that Paul and his companions taught them. There is always the danger in the Church that false voices get a hearing because they are current and people imagine that this is progress or improvement on what they have already. The word “progressive” is often used today implying a forward and better idea but C.S. Lewis once said that putting the clock back can be the right thing to do if it is telling the wrong time. Paul has already warned them about the deceitfulness of the lawless principle at work in the world and so here he wants to remind them of what they heard and believed at the beginning.
AS the Thessalonian believers heard and accepted the gospel message he asks them to pray for him and his companions as they spread the message that it would be rapidly spread and honoured as it was with them. Of course the Thessalonians knew that not all accepted the message eagerly because there was a commotion in Thessalonica when Paul was there causing Jason one of the believers to be dragged before city officials and made to post bond and get rid of Paul (Acts 17). The apostle ask them to pray that they would be delivered from wicked and evil people because not everyone has faith (v2). Christians down the ages and no less at present are often the targets of attention by those who are resistant to the gospel. We need to remember such and pray for them – and they are not only those in far-away countries, some Christians in our own country find themselves under oppressive powers.
Wednesday 2 Thessalonians 2:6-18
In these verses Paul has something to say about things he has heard and it appears that there are some disruptive elements in the Church who are not living in the way they were taught. It isn’t just believing but behaving that is important in the Church and in this instance there were some who were idle not willing to work for a living. Paul gives his own example which was that while they were there they did not behave idly but worked to support themselves and not be a burden on the believers (v8).
There were some who were not busy but busybodies (v11). The word implies that they wandered around more interested in what others were doing and probably commenting on or criticising. They were disruptive people and the Apostle tells the folk not to associate with them which is quite strong language but the aim was not to cut them off completely but to bring an element of shame on them for what they were doing. There are people who can hang around the Church and be troublesome – Paul tells the people to take note of those who are disobedient and warn them (v15)
He closes with a blessing that they would have peace from the Lord of peace. Yes, you can have that even in the midst of troublesome and difficult circumstances.
The Book of Numbers.
We turn now to the book of Numbers which is the fourth book in the Old Testament. Genesis is the book of beginnings which starts with creation, take us through the history of Abraham whom God had specially chosen, and finishes with the children of his grandson Jacob, also called Israel, residing in Egypt. The book of Exodus finds the Israelites trapped and imprisoned in Egypt and the man Moses, chosen by God, leading them out of Egypt and bringing them to Mount Sinai in the Arabian wilderness where God gives his law and makes a covenant with Israel. Leviticus is about the worship of God through the sacrificial system and the spelling out of the law.
In the book of Numbers we find the story of the years of wandering in the wilderness under Moses until the commissioning of Joshua as his successor who would lead the people into the promised land.
In the first chapter we see Moses, at the instruction of God, organising the 12 tribes of Israel, numbering those over 20 years of age able to serve in the army. The tribe of Levi was left out because they had a special task, that of carrying the Ark of the Covenant and all the furnishings of the tabernacle tent that was the place of worship. They were the priestly tribe.
Everyone had a role just like the Church in the New Testament where we see the apostle Paul ordaining elders and telling of the gifts of the Spirit for the ongoing work of God.
Friday Numbers 2:1-34
In this chapter we see the arrangement of the tribes around the Tabernacle. This is the way they camped and moved when the pillar of cloud and fire, the physical manifestation of the presence of God, gave them their ‘marching orders. Notice that they surrounded the tabernacle; in our New Testament time the works and movement of the Church must always be from and around Christ. Imagine yourself in one of those blocks. You belong to a greater community, you’re not the only one but you are there.
We are introduced here to the mysterious deaths of Aarons two older sons, Nadab and Abihu. We are only given the briefest of text about this centring on the offering of unauthorised or strange fire. What this meant has given rise to different explanations but the heart of it seems to be that the young men did something without the express permission of God and it was something to do with approach to God. Would it have been an easy-oasy attitude to worship of God? The idea that approaching God could be done on their own terms? However much we may feel the greatness and goodness of God and his mercy towards us he is always God and not our personal Pal. “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth” says the Psalmist ((96:9).
The next verses tell of God’s appointing of Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, as priests with the assistance of the tribe of Levi in the work of the tabernacle, any others approaching the tabernacle were to be put to death. Once again, the emphasis on the holiness of God.
In verses 11-13 we are told the background to the choice of the Levites as servants of the sanctuary. Initially after the exodus from Egypt when all the firstborn of Egypt were killed by the Angel of Death making Pharoah let the Israelites leave the land and after the crossing of the Red Sea, God said that all the firstborn of the Israelites would belong to him for service. However after the events of the rebellion of the people when Moses was up Mount Sinai, God separated the Levites to serve in place of the firstborn. They were granted this honour because they had proved more faithful to God (Exodus 32).
