Appreciating God (Psalm 31)

Last Sunday we concluded our message time with this great quote from Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch: Instead of trying to fit God into our lives, missional Christianity asks where our lives (both individually and collectively) fit into God’s mission (“The Faith of Leap” p.178). The question then is, how can we help each other (and others around us) embrace, experience and enjoy this concept as a guide to fulfilling life. I suspect that the starting point is in the area of appreciating God for everything that God is.

This would help us avoid the trap that the third “slave” in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) fell into. This third “slave” completely misinterpreted and misunderstood who his master was and what his master (representing God) was about, and because of this, the third “slave” in the parable made the wrong decision and took the wrong direction. Therefore let’s pursue this notion of appreciating God more, and thereby be more ready to “fit into God’s mission”.

It is often how we see God working in the lives of others, together with how we experience God in the cut and thrust of our own lives, that we come to appreciate God more. We are also encouraged by the biblical witness to God’s beauty and effectiveness. So, in light of this, it would be worth studying Psalm 31. This is both the Word of God to us, as well as a real person’s reflections upon God’s place in his life. The psalmist here (commonly held to be David) also reflects on his place in a complex and difficult world environment. As we read Psalm 31 what do you notice in terms of how we can appreciate God?

We should note that because the psalmist so confidently prays for God’s help, he is absolutely sure that he will receive this, probably on the basis of his past experience, and also because of what he himself has come to know and appreciate about God over time. What he discovers and understands through verses 1 to 23, allows him to conclude the psalm at verse 24 with the public statement, Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. This seems to set the psalmist up well to fully appreciate God and fit himself right within God’s mission in the world!

(1)    God is the one in whom we can seek “refuge” (vs.1,2,3,4,14,15) – refuge can be sought in the One who is perfectly trustworthy and reliable in all ways. God hears our cries, even our very thoughts; God knows all our troubles. Life can have all sorts of challenges and pitfalls – described in the psalm as, the net that is hidden for me (v.4). Such difficult times or tests can come as a (“hidden”) surprise, whilst others have been buried for a while and come back to rear their ugly head. It is in taking refuge in God that we can obtain the leading and guidance we need. Jesus leads and we follow. To take ‘refuge’ is to decide to move from a place of danger and insecurity to another place … where we can feel safe, be accepted, sense we belong, and feel valued. Such is the capacity of God to be our refuge, that Jesus at the height of his pain and torture on the cross, said these very words, Into Your hand I commit my spirit (v.5).

Going down to verse 20, this refuge is seen as a “shelter” – the “shelter of God’s presence”. We could think of the “shelter” gained from living in a home, where we are protected from the worst of the heat or the wet. Shelter is what we need to escape the extremes of what can happen, that the psalmist categorises as “human plots” and “contentious tongues”. God will form a “shelter” for us against the worst of human behaviour … we may see it and hear it, even feel it, but it won’t touch us beyond what we can cope with. Such behaviour will not have the power to destroy us. Also, verse 23 talks about the Lord ‘preserving the faithful’, which would indicate keeping them alive and useful – salty and tasty, if you like! Even when regrettably the worst happens, because of the fallen and often dark place the world has become, we would know that we have followed Jesus to the full and entered into a blessed eternity.

(2)    God is the one who has arranged our “redemption” us (v.5) – when we were taken over by the power of sin, living in guilt and shame … which brought a dark overlay to our lives, God took action to open the opportunity of coming back into relationship with him and experiencing new life. This came at a great cost to God – the life of his Son, but God would argue it was worth it … for God would not easily give up on his creations. And though it was costly, it came to us as a free gift – just needing to be accepted, unwrapped and embraced.

(3)    God sets our feet in “a broad place” (v.8) – this is a place where we can stand firmly, and have as a sure foundation for life. Having our feet set in a “broad place” means that we won’t easily topple over one side or the other of our life’s platform – we won’t fall for “worthless idols”, and we won’t be destroyed by our afflictions, or those who set their mind against us. The picture that I have of the “broad place”, is the platform above the swimming pool, that although the water below has some challenge and danger attached to it (just like life), I can start the adventure with my feet firmly and safely poised. This “broad place” is wide enough to embrace and experience all the freedom, opportunities, learning, growth and potential that God offers. The NIV translates here “a spacious place”. So, I will not be confined, but rather have the space to build relationships and make a difference in the community around me!

(4)    Even more than bringing refuge and redemption, in times of deep distress, God’s grace can bring solace and comfort (v.9). Because life is fragile, we inevitably run into grief and sorrow when we suffer loss. Such grief and sorrow can have a dramatic effect on our lives – we know that many drift right into depression. In fact we might read verses 11-12 as the state of mind of one suffering from depression – ‘I have no friends, no supporters, no one who understands – I might as well be dead – there is no hope’! We should never underestimate the negative power of these emotions, nor ever be trivial enough to expect someone to just get over it. Yet, God is always available to those in such a position … non-judgmentally with unconditional love. We may need to, however, pray and/or gently guide someone toward such an understanding of God’s availability to them. Going down to verse 22, we see that a person may feel a long way from God, but in reality it can be said that God hasn’t gone anywhere, and remains available as the greatest and most attentive listener.

(5)    God is known for his “steadfast love” and “goodness” (v.7,16,19,21) – this has been experienced with rejoicing by the psalmist in God’s provision and salvation, but also in personal consideration and relationship … Let Your face shine upon Your servant (v.16). When God’s face shines upon a person, one would expect that they would then shine or glow themselves – in that knowledge of God’s continuing and abiding love. Good things happen for those who prayerfully and actively seek first the kingdom of God – God works within the situations and circumstances that occur in life, even when we feel like a city under siege (v.21), and brings about blessing and changed outcomes (toward the common good). There comes greater capacities to cope and to bear with adversity, to overcome and sense victory over formerly persistent weaknesses. Our character develops, and thus we can be seen to becoming more like Jesus. Reflecting upon such evident love and goodness brings a great witness to God’s glory – for such happenings occur in the sight of everyone (v.19)! The way we handle what might seem to others as insurmountable odds, strongly reflects the relationship we have with our Divine Creator and Saviour.

(6)    God will ultimately bring vindication for his children … the ones who love and serve him (v.17-18,23), as against those who practice evil, deal in untruths, say hurtful things, and show arrogance. The path of the kingdom of God will be proved to be the right road, because this is the way of love, peace and hope. On the other hand, those who are self-seeking, apathetic, uncaring and downright corrupt will be shown up. Our integrity, in God’s hands, will silence our detractors! This vindication ultimately comes in the form of ‘eternal life’ i.e. fulfilling life with meaning now … leading towards life in uninterrupted relationship with God later. Yet it is promised that the efforts of those, who are willing to ‘stick their necks out’ for Jesus now, will be honoured.

"The Parable of the Talents" (Matthew 25:14-30)

The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) is a telling challenge concerning how we respond to the grace that God has imparted to us. When this passage begins “For it is as”, this refers back to the beginning of the chapter where we read, “The kingdom of heaven will be like this”. Matthew’s “kingdom of heaven” is a parallel to the other gospels’ “kingdom of God” … referring to the reign of God both in heaven and on earth. We often pray the words Jesus taught, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. So when we come to parables like this one, we are being guided in our understanding of what it is to be God’s church and God’s agents on earth.

So we have here a man who is going on a journey and giving over responsibility for his assets and investments to his “slaves”. We should first note what these “talents” actually refer to. They are units of money (or exchange) in the form of gold, silver and copper. The monetary system was such that various combinations of different metals of different weights gave certain values. A “talent” normally related to metal to the value of around 6,000 denarii (equal to thousands of dollars today). So then, in giving his “slaves” a number of “talents”, he was giving them responsibility for the management of funds of a significant value. It would be normal practice for such funds to be invested to bring about the best possible returns. The “master” would not want such capital to be left unemployed during his absence!!

In case you wondered, “slaves” could in the society of time, while still being “slaves”, be given quite a bit of independent responsibility. The amount that they would be trusted with would relate to their abilities and past performance. Here, one “slave” is trusted with “five talents”, another with “two talents”, and the third with “one talent”. The “slave” given “five talents” invested them well and doubled them. The “slave” given “two talents” invested equally well and also doubled them. These two obviously worked hard at making some good commercial deals, thus having success. Such large amounts of money could have made them nervous, but they didn’t let this get in the way of their responsibilities. They both utilised their abilities to the full.

When we get to verses 21 & 23, we see that, on the return of their “master”, the first two “slaves” receive the same warm commendation. They have both been proved ready for even greater responsibility. And they will be able to prove effective in this new level of responsibility, because their capacities have grown through their previous productivity. As well, these two were not only given greater trust, they would experience also a new level of joy. It is worth noting, in terms of the character of the “master” here, that whereas in the society of the time, those who were wealthy would more likely seek a five-fold or ten-fold return, this “master” was satisfied with just a doubling.

Yet the focus of this parable is on the third “slave” – the hearers and readers of this parable are invited to form a view on his behaviour (in comparison with the other two). This third “slave” used all his ingenuity to just dig a hole in the ground and bury the “one talent” he had been given there. He didn’t even try the most modest and safe investment in a bank! Clearly this third “slave” had sufficient ability, for he had still been entrusted with a fairly large sum. What was his problem??? Was he miffed that he was only given the one “talent”? Sometimes we think we are given less than we deserve. Perhaps … but there was definitely more to this. Fear of failure! Why so??

This third “slave” had an inappropriate and incorrect view of his “master”!! The one that had trusted him and given him responsibility for his hard-earned wealth, was being viewed as “harsh” and unjust, leading to fear and inaction!!! This third “slave” completely misunderstood what his “master” was about. He tried to excuse himself by stating this very belief (v.24), but his theology, so to speak, was wrong. This master wasn’t “harsh” nor unjust, but rather benevolent and gracious. This reaction of fear and inactivity was a complete misrepresentation of who his master was. This was the complete opposite view to the other two effective “slaves”, who fully understood their master’s generosity, and had rightly honoured him through their productive activities.

The seriousness of the third slave’s insult towards his “master” … the fact that a vital activity had been ignored, ironically led to the sort of judgment that the third “slave” feared the most. His desire for security resulted in the opposite. When we are too reticent to step out in ministry because of a fear of failure, the only possible result is … failure! We can see the grave problem of ignoring the benefits and responsibilities we have been given – a normally benevolent and all-wise “master” allows the ways of the world (not of the kingdom) to take us over. The third ineffective “slave” actually got what he feared the most – judgment and (eternal) punishment. Strong language, is it not! In this way, this parable further explains Jesus’ earlier saying: “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). [We also see in this parable, that whereas the natural ways of God are a redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, when God’s mission is ignored, tragically the opposite happens. This is dramatically borne out by the unfaithful slave’s only “talent” going over to the one who now had ten.]

How might we then translate these “talents” for today. Remember, in the parable, these “talents” represent God’s wealth that he wishes to entrust us with. So I think this would translate best to God’s grace that leads in turn to faith, salvation, discipleship and eternal life. The responsibility before us is to be agents of God’s grace in the community and world. The figure of the third “slave” is to alert us to the possibility, and indeed peril, of idleness, neglect and unfaithfulness in this mission. This would be a warning for the individual, but probably even more so for the church collectively. Even with just one “talent” at hand, there should be commensurate effort.

Do we fully appreciate God’s love for the whole world such that we involve ourselves in the dissemination of that love. Or on the other hand, do we doubt God’s love for the world, think him to be harsh, consider the people around us to be unlovable and unredeemable, and thus become idle. Or might we allow preoccupation with other in-house agendas to conveniently restrict the spread of God’s grace. We read in Revelation 3 about the “lukewarm” church in Laodicea, and how they risk being spat out of God’s mouth! [Some commentators view that in this parable Jesus was again taking aim at any of the religious leaders of his time who were resisting change and seeking to keep certain people (who were undesirable to them i.e. the gentiles) out. The third “slave” would then represent anyone with a closed mind toward other people.]

Now, this is not about working our way into salvation. This is about what we do with our salvation! Keep it to ourselves … because our own needs have been met; or, build God’s kingdom by investing wisely what we have been given. The third “slave” could only give back what he had been given; yet God’s capital should gain interest! Grace and salvation are not to be hoarded selfishly but shared lavishly. To act otherwise is to defraud God. With the reaction contained in this parable in mind – to keep it to ourselves is to throw it back in the master’s face. We can hardly complain about the state of the world while “talents” are being withheld i.e. the “good news” being muted!

Coming to Jesus is the beginning of our salvation experience, not the end of it! On the journey there will be all sorts of investments to make and all sorts of roles to play. The social problems in our community, instead of being an excuse for judgment and condemnation, are actually an opportunity for service and ministry. We will not be expected to succeed beyond what is reasonable – God knows our capacities and abilities, and gives us responsibilities in line with these (whether that be five, two or one “talents”). In investing well, there is much joy on the horizon … especially when the “master” returns! Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch write: “Instead of trying to fit God into our lives, missional Christianity asks where our lives (both individually and collectively) fit into God’s mission”.

Adventure - Matthew 14:22-33

This little boat trip was certainly an adventure for the disciples and most especially for Peter. We go to Matthew (14:22-33), because this is the only gospel that includes the added narrative of Peter walking on the water. When we recently read John’s account, this only recorded Jesus walking on the water (and Mark is the same as John in this way). Luke doesn’t include this water-walking incident at all. Yet, something only being recorded in one of the gospels does not lessen its significance or relevance. It could be that Matthew’s largely Jewish audience/readership needed a larger dose of the notion of challenge and adventure. I would argue that the church at this time needs to embrace greater levels of challenge and adventure (if we are to be effective in mission).

So in Matthew, we don’t just have the story of a storm-tossed boat filled with disciples in fear who need to apply faith in Jesus and take him aboard to safely reach the shore. This is of course an important enough message in dealing with the fear that often impinges itself on life. To properly deal with fear, and to get to the other side, requires us to embrace Jesus and take him with us wherever we go. We need to recognise that the creator of life can see us through life’s worst storms and bring us through more wise and more courageous. But there is indeed more for us in this Matthew passage, because Peter is prepared to get out of the boat and have a crack at walking on the water like Jesus was … and not through just calm water … but rather through very rough conditions.

Jesus had just fed the five thousand, and Peter had witnessed how Jesus had taken in his hands and prayed over very inadequate provisions, and subsequently there was more than enough for everybody with twelve baskets full left over. Peter, although he didn’t know or understand everything of what he was getting into, was willing to buy into this Jesus, continue to follow him, and try to do everything that Jesus himself was doing. Isn’t this what a follower does – follows his leader! We know that Peter had his problems with all this later on, probably as any of us would have, but we can still remark on the boldness and courage of his actions on this particular day. Even if we were to judge Peter’s actions to be impetuous or perhaps foolhardy (which I don’t), we could say that being impulsive or rash is much better than the other extreme of being passive or apathetic.

I don’t think we can be critical of Peter for his moment of doubt and potential sinking for at least two reasons. Firstly, he was prepared to get out of the boat and try to emulate Jesus. Secondly, in so doing, he was able to personally experience and appreciate the saving hand of Jesus. It is only those who risk failure, that can truly know how powerful Jesus is! So I think that this passage encourages us to be adventurous in following Jesus. And as we are being adventurous in Jesus name’, Jesus himself has our back! Jesus will bring us through wiser and stronger, even if we have suffered some bruises. After all, we need only look to the experience of Jesus himself – who had nowhere to rest or lay his head, who carried out his mission out on the road … in the dangerous conditions of an occupied land and against a hostile (and dodgy) religious elite. Such a mission cost Jesus his life on a cross, but the outcome of this was a resurrection that all God’s people could be drawn into. An adventure worth being involved in!!

Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, in their book entitled “The Faith of Leap” write the following words about adventure: Adventure is an attitude we must apply to the day-to-day obstacles of life – facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown, and in the process, discovering our own unique potential as God’s people. Followers of Jesus should not respond to difficult circumstances in the same way people without faith do. Catastrophic world happenings and dreadful local events, that cause others to worry and express fear, should not have the same impact on us. It would not be right for us to buy into any societal culture of fear. Why do so many Australians want to ‘stop the boats’? What do you think really drives the gun ownership of so many Americans!?! Fear is the source of so much limited human decision-making!

Whilst understandable and human, fear causes a kind of contraction of the heart, which in turn inhibits godly actions like love, hospitality and generosity, and thereby depletes our own discipleship. Yet, we who know Jesus, should be agents of hope, courage and faith. In the face of challenging times, followers of Jesus certainly wouldn’t retreat or hide, followers of Jesus do not resort to retaliation, but rather followers of Jesus proactively seek to honour God and love their neighbour in even more obvious ways. After all, when Peter came to believe that it was Jesus walking toward the disciples’ boat on the water, he wanted to jump out of the boat and take on the big waves as well!

Like Peter, we would not know how much potential for good we have, unless we put ourselves on the line. In the same way as Jesus encouraged Peter to take this step of adventure by saying to him, “Come”, Jesus invites us to be adventurous in our life and mission – both individually and collectively. Peter could have fallen flat on his face (metaphorically) or literally sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Peter could have floundered right away in those waves, flapping his arms about in what could have been a very funny scene. Other ‘disciples’ could have mocked him or laughed at him for what he was about to attempt. Yet these possibilities did not deter either Peter or Jesus. And because Peter was willing to step out into a new adventure, he experienced something truly exhilarating!

Again we should note that when Peter faulted and asked Jesus to save him, “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him” (v.31a). You might read the words that follow (v.31b) as a rebuke, but I read them more empathically than that, as an encouragement for Peter to learn from this experience. It was when Peter “noticed the strong wind” (v.30a) that fear cut in, and Peter began to sink. This suggests then, that when Peter jumped out of the boat he had his eyes so firmly fixed on Jesus (and not on the danger), that a remarkable adventure could begin. If Peter had just been able to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus, i.e. maintain a high level of faith, then Peter would’ve been able to walk all the way to the shore.

In any case, this little moment of doubt did not negate Peter’s magnificent step of faith. Larry Richards writes, “If later he flinched at the fearful waves, it was only because [Peter] had enough faith to dare”. Aren’t those beautiful words … in verse 31 … when the adventurous Peter felt in danger … “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him”. Those watching from the boat could only respond with worship and praise to the One who calls us into adventure while being with us always … “Truly you are the Son of God”.