This past Sunday we had an “Ask a Pastor” session. It was quite an enjoyable morning, but there were way more questions asked than we could answer in the time we had allotted to us. So, many of the questions and answers will eventually be on the main church website, but I thought I’d put some of the ones that I answered in particular here on this site too.

Question: God is perfectly just. He loves us all equally. Why then does God show favouritism towards the Jews in the Bible, especially when they seem so unworthy of his favours? E.g. Making and worshipping idols, and constantly whining and complaining when Moses was leading them out of Egypt.

Answer: Favouritism and mercy to Israel was God’s plan to win over the whole world. This responsibility  has now been turned over to the church as Israel didn’t live up to their calling and instead wanted to have God to themselves. However, we can’t be smug in that. We have a significant responsibility that we see in Jeremiah 29:7 Seek the peace and prosperity of your captors. As it goes for them it will go for you, so pray to the Lord for them.

Question: How do you explain Zechariah 13:8-9? Who do these verses refer to? When will this happen? In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’ Zechariah 13:8-9

Answer: These verses refer to Jesus and the Jews but the principle applies to us all.  God’s plan to purge Israel through the Exile didn’t bring them close to God as False Prophets misled them (read Jeremiah 29).  Prophesying Christ’s death as an act devised by God did not sit well with the false-prophets.  The sheep were scattered by the death of Jesus because they did not prepare for such an event.  At some point in the future God will purge Israel and they will finally see the truth of God’s redemptive plan. However, in our day we must be careful of creating a God that we believe to be “fair.” We may find ourselves in the same type of situation.  Prophecy must be discerned.

Question: Can you explain why Matthew 27:5 and Acts 1:18-19 have differing accounts of the death of Judas? Why are they different? What really happened?

Answer: The short answer is that they are not different. When one hangs themselves especially on a hot day the body fluids pool and then over time the body bursts.  The point in acts is that Judas must have hung for some time before the smell alerted someone which shows that everyone deserted Judas including Satan because Judas no longer served a purpose. This is a sad way to die.

Guest post  by Carmen Bellamy.

Individual Judgment versus Communal Judgment

In ancient Jewish thinking, the lamp stand was a symbol for the presence of God. In the book of Revelation, the choice facing the church is: Will God remove his presence from the church (by removing the lampstand) or will God imbue the church with life through his presence? Even if there are individuals who are doing the right thing (as is seen in some of the seven letters), if God removes his presence from the community of the church all people will be affected, regardless of their individual piety.

In the Old Testament we see many examples of communal judgment. God brings judgment upon the Israelites through the nations of Assyria and Babylon because the people of Israel have forgotten their first love (God). Even the remnant who did not bow down to other gods is affected by these foreign invasions. The Assyrians and Babylonians did not care who was pious and who was not. They were equal opportunity enslavers.

So what about God’s separating of the goats and sheep in Matthew 25, is this judgment individual or communal? In the ancient world a flock of sheep were thought of as being one animal, not a group of individual animals (Just as the body is made up of many parts we do not think of our bodies as a collection of parts: arms, legs, chest, back, head etc… we refer to it as my body not my bodies; thus God considers His church or His sheep to be one body not a collection of individual body parts). Notice the communal response in Matthew 25 When did we… they do not respond as individuals saying when did I…

Thus it is that the point of the seven letters in the book of Revelation is not individual salvation. The letters are written to the Church in Ephesus, the Church in Pergamum etc, they are not written to Tom, Dick or Harry. The point is the presence of the Spirit of God in relation to the church.

Theologian Thomas Oden once said something to the effect that as our culture becomes one of COMFORT our feelings becomes GOD’S VOICE.

In effect he is saying that we have become so acclimatized to comfort that it will be hard to believe that God would place us in a situation like he did to JOB.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. People claim this promise and really believe it and because of our culture we do not see the condition on that promise in verse 7, “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” So in verse 7b, our hope is linked to the hope you have for your enemies, that is, If you want prosperity.

Note how in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks about loving our enemies. What hope is there for the world if we do not love our enemies? Paul reminds us that we were all in that position (Romans 5).  Verse 8 in Jeremiah 29 then says, be careful not to encourage the prophets to come up with the answer you want to hear.

Jeremiah 29:8  Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.

Please read Jeremiah 29 carefully in the next week. What are you hearing from God?

• How can I make my Prayers count?
• Are My Prayers selfish?

Prayer is all about transformation not about things.  Prayer is about character not about desires. Prayer is about being not doing.

2 Peter 1:3,4 “His divine power has given (past tense) us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge (intimacy) of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us His great and precious promises, so that through them (promises) you may participate in the divine nature (incorruptible) and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (our).

Without God’s intervention our desires will regress to evil.  This is the law of the flesh (Romans 7:7-25). The only answer is the Life of the Spirit (Romans 8:1-5).

The Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11 is Jesus’ teaching on prayer. Pay special attention to the section on ask and it will be given seek etc. In Matthew the point is understood, but Luke names it to make sure we get it. Verse 13 says; . . . “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him”

When we seek the Kingdom everything is looked after. Matt 6:33.

Now lets go back to 2 Peter 1:5, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge and to (etc). . . For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, (this is where prayer becomes a battle) they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive . . . But if anyone does not have them . . . (well you get the point).

The Desert Fathers tell us that this type of prayer (asking the Holy Spirit to transform us) is a battle to our last breath.

Phil 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. NIV

Page 10, Section 6 One day Abba Arsenius consulted an old Egyptian monk about his own thoughts.  Someone noticed this and said to him, ‘Abba Arsenius, how is it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?’  He replied, ‘I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.’

John 1:21-23 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
John 1:27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” NIV

Page 123, Section 3 A woman had an illness they call cancer of the breast; she had heard of Abba Longinus and wanted to meet him.  Now he lived at the ninth milestone from Alexandria.  As the woman was looking for him, the blessed man happened to be collecting wood beside the sea.  When she met him, she said to him, ‘Abba, where does Abba Longinus, the servant of God live?’ not knowing that it was he.  He said, ‘Why are you looking for that old imposter?  Do not go to see him, for he is a deceiver.  What is the matter with you?’  The woman showed him where she was suffering.  He made the sign of the cross over the sore and sent her away saying, ‘Go, and God will heal you, for Longinus cannot help you at all.’  The woman went away confident in this saying, and she was healed on the spot.  Later, telling others what had happened and mentioning the distinctive marks of the old man, she learned that it was Abba Longinus himself.

James 4:6-7 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. NIV

Page 129, Section 11 When Abba Macarius was returning from the marsh to his cell one day carrying some palm-leaves, he met the devil on the road with a scythe.  The latter struck at him as much as he pleased, but in vain, and he said to him, ‘What is your power, Macarius, that makes me powerless against you?  All that you do, I do, too; you fast, so do I; you keep vigil, and I do not sleep at all; in one thing only do you beat me.’  Abba Macarius asked what that was.  He said, ‘Your humility.  Because of that I can do nothing against you.’

EXCERPTS  FROM  The Sayings of the Desert Fathers translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG