I too am rescued

As I have watched men, women and children being rescued in Mediterranean waters from sinking boats or those being accepted into countries with gifts and provisions, it's easy to remain distant from those images. It's easy to think that I've never been in such abject need; I have never been brought so low. It's easy to see these refugees as subjects of pity and perhaps even shame. It's easy to feel that they are not like you and I.

But this is not true.

I have as much need for rescue as these refugees. I am in as a pitiful and low estate as they. For I too, despite my arrogance and desire to believe otherwise, am helpless and powerless.

Due to my sinfulness, my desire to rebel against God and my outright disobedience, I am subject to death's curse. I am a natural enemy of God. I go against even the simplest of His commands; I fail to love Him as I should. As a result, I am cut off from God's life-giving power and love. Romans 7:24 says:

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 

I am in dire need of saving. I need to be rescued, but not from war-torn countries and oppressive regimes. Instead I need saving from sin and from myself. But who is going to rescue me? It is the very God that I have rebelled against! The very next verse of Romans states:
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
God has delivered me. I am saved.

Although I will probably never experience the sense of fear, upheaval, uncertainty and dread that these refugees feel, I have no right to look down upon them or distance myself from them. Instead, I should acknowledge that I have been rescued and freed from the burden and prison of sin. Who am I to deny freedom and rescue to those seeking refuge? Who am I to forget them?

My whole being will exclaim,
 “Who is like you, Lord?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
 the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

Psalm 35:10

The edges of the fields

To read my previous post on the refugee crisis, click here.

The first five books of the Bible are known as the books of the law, mainly because a lot of it is about the rules and regulations God gives to his people. In Leviticus, we read about how the Israelites were to treat strangers and foreigners in their lands. These weren't long policies on how to process asylum applications or targets on how to reduce immigration. Nor were they statements on how few refugees they would accept. Instead they were rules on kindness and generosity.

Leviticus 19:33-34 says, "When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill-treat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God."

I don't these verses leave any room for misreading. If there is a stranger or foreigner among us, we are to love them. I think the "I am the Lord your God" part is brilliant. It reads a bit like, "Do you know who I am? So don't you dare think you can get away with not listening to this." God wasn't joking and we are definitely not to argue.

So, we are meant to love strangers and foreigners. But we can love them by giving nice smiles and being polite, yes? Well, there's more to it than that. A bit earlier in the same chapter (verses 9 and 10 to be precise), God gave instructions to the farmers. Now, I'm guessing that most the population of Israel lived in rural areas. (In fact, it was only few years ago that the world's urban population exceeded the world's rural population for the first time. So, it's a pretty safe assumption.) This meant that these rules applied to a lot of the people, if not most of them. This is what it says:

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God."

It was the responsibility of every farmer to think of the poor and foreigner. Rather than think of their own profit and earnings, farmers were to think of those less fortunate than themselves. The poor could go into the field after the farmer had finished his harvest and pick the bits he had left. The foreigners were looked after by the Israelites. It was the law. I don't think we can say the same about our society.

Instead of unfair subsidies and tax loopholes, God asked for generosity. Instead of greed, God's law showed consideration. Rather than abusing the foreigner and letting them suffocate in the backs of lorries, God asked for love. Instead of preventing foreigners from taking advantage of wealth by building fences, God told them to make themselves at home and to help themselves.

I am not a farmer, but I don't think that excuses me. I know the principles behind the laws are what mattered, not the fine print. So, it's my challenge to make sure these values are exhibited  in my life.

A child refugee

Before he had turned two years old, this child had fled his hometown to escape a brutal massacre. He had lived in an area of the Middle East that had seen much political turmoil. The current leader of the region was cruel and oppressive; he would do anything to keep his uneasy grasp on political power. This would include committing atrocities that saw many children murdered. So the parents of this baby boy made the difficult journey south to Egypt. They would have taken very little with them and they did not know when they could return.

I am not writing about Aylan Kurdi, the three year old who tragically drowned in the Mediterranean. Although Aylan's death is awful and has struck the hearts of many people, he is not the refugee I wish to discuss here.

This was Jesus. Matthew 2:13 says, "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 

So, the young Jesus and his family were refugees. They too had to flee to a foreign and unknown land to seek political asylum. From the outset, Jesus' life was marred by oppression, fear and upheaval. He knew what it was to leave his home, he knew what it was to make a hard and difficult journey, he knew what it was wait until he could return.

So, when you see images of refugees crossing turbulent seas in unsafe boats or those pressed against barbed wire waiting to pass the next border or those packed on trains in closed down stations, think of Joseph and Mary and a young Jesus. And when you extend your mercy and love towards these refugees, you extend love and mercy towards Jesus too.

Read Matthew 25:31-46, and think about which of the groups in this story you wish to belong to.

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Philippians 2

This is my second Bible study on Philippians. We've been doing it in Mosaic, and I just love this book. It's short but has a major impact factor. It's like well good, innit.

Philippians 2

• v 1-4 Humility, like that of Christ
• As Christians we are:
• United with Jesus
• Loved
• Tender and compassionate with each other
• United in purpose, love and attitude: that of Jesus (v 5)
• We have a fantastic passage about Jesus (perhaps an early hymn)
• This tells us about humility and the lack of ranks in the church.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 28:25-28)

• v 14 & 15 again emphasises the importance of our relationships. It results in being blameless and shining out like stars (what a lovely image!)
• v 12-13 interestingly tells us to ‘continue to work out your salvation’. Hasn’t Jesus done that for us? Here Paul is writing about the fact that having a faith in Jesus, which results in salvation, will have a response in how we live our lives. Have a look at James 2:14-19.

Implications for Mosaic

• Love, love, love, love one another
• Unity in purpose and attitude. We are ultimately united by a love of Jesus (not our age!)
• We need to serve each other and all that come into Mosaic’s midst before the needs of ourselves.
• We cannot have a faith that isn’t outworked somehow. Otherwise it is dead.

 Quick Questions

• What parts of the Bible have you been studying recently? What did you learn from it?
• Is humility something you've either got or you've not? Is it something that can be worked at?
• Isn't that a fantastic passage about Jesus? What are your favourite passages about him? 

  

Scrubbing up

Sometimes, working for a church is tough work. Working with teens in a church is even tougher. Last night we had great fun doing some modern painting using Bible passages as inspiration. The only problem was the resulting mess. Today I went into the church to tidy up. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it can be easy to forget that when you're on your hands and knees scrubbing mats you put down, or when a bin bag splits leaking garbage juice all over your foot, or you're washing up the cups that got put away dirty a few weeks back and started to grow things. Yes, that was my wild Saturday evening.

While on my hands and knees I was getting a bit frustrated about the attitude of some of the teenagers.* I was finding half-filled glasses every where despite asking them to put all the cups in the kitchen and paintbrushes despite have asked some one to collect them in. I was thinking how unfair it was for me to be going out of my way by coming in on what should be a day off and serving my teens. Then I realised that my grumbles were a bit petty. Mark 10:45 tells us that:

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Here I was moaning that I was serving a bunch of absent minded teens, when Jesus came to serve the very people that would have him crucified. This reminded me what an awesome privilege it was to be able to, in my own small way, offer an act of obedience to the God of the universe. Yes, we are called to serve. This isn't because someone is holding a gun to our head, or telling us that we are bad people if we don't, or we're being bribed by the promise of heaven. Even if I didn't clean up after the teens I would still get to heaven and I've still be made pure by Jesus' death (although I would upset the people who next came to use the room). I do it because I am grateful for what God has done for me.

Like I wrote in a post a while back:

I have received salvation. It's amazing. It's free. Stop complaining.


* I love my teens. For the most part, they're really helpful and lovely and I know how lucky I am as a youth worker. I don't want you to go away with the impression that they're a handful.

Skivvies

The main, if not only, reason I went into youth work was that I assumed I'd have an army of minions that I could get to whatever whim popped into my head. "Minion! Wash my car!" "You boy, fill in my tax return." Unfortunately, something went wrong in my plan, I ended up a reformed man and actually trying to encourage the teenagers that I work with.

However, James grasped the first opportunity to abuse his position of power as clan leader and forced the rest of us into hard manual labour. For the whole of the weekend we were made to move furniture, paint and paper walls, sand... It was like something out of a Dickensian novel. Some of us are still recovering from the ordeal.

Irony over. It was actually a really good opportunity to get together as a group, grow that real sense of community in the group and get to know one another. I learnt various things: white spirit is Steph's best friend when redecorating, it takes Duncan three months to notice things that other people notice straight away and I'm very good at holding things but not doing much else. Despite tiredness, colds and general life stress we did a pretty good job (we did notice that we had missed the sides of some cupboard doors).

Hopefully the Bemroses feel really blessed by our efforts.

Quick Questions

1. Have you been blessed by anyone recently?
2. What have you done to bless someone else?
3. What do you think of the colour scheme?