Proverbs chapter 3

vs 1

These things are worth remembering and valuing.

vs 2

If only that could be a promise you could hold onto literalistically! The chances are they will do both, though.

vs 3

Two important values in wisdom - love and faithfulness. Not what you would expect. You might expect tenacity and brains, or coolness under pressure and openness to correction, or any other host of things. But no, love and faithfulness. The relational aspects of those elements says a lot about the value of relationships in the culture, and to God.

vs 4

Notice that these things will give you both favour with God, but also with humanity. That's the best kind of value. Sometimes values like righteousness get us in good with God, but people get antsy about them. Doesn't mean we shouldn't value them, of course. I'm just saying that love and faithfulness pretty rarely do you wrong.

vs 5

This is the typical memory verse, along with v6, that often gets quoted. And you can see why. It's a good, solid bit of information. Another important part of wisdom - to trust God, rather than yourself.

vs 6

You can see how this has been broken up, and probably also written - you get a couple of statements about something you should do or follow, and then a statement about how valuable it is. Trust God and submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Not like those knotted, windy paths of the evil people.

vs 7

A bit of repetition there.

vs 8

But with a new applicator - this time, shunning evil seems to have direct health benefits. I wonder if some people out there link this to the following of the food laws?

vs 9

So we've spoken generally about trusting God. Now we talk about honouring God, first of all financially. There is a lot of economic advice given in Proverbs, I'm led to believe. Which should instantly tell us how limited in scope it is, for the most part.

vs 10

The resultant blessing is an economic one. That doesn't mean the only reason to honour God economically is for economic gain, although it does point out this rarely-pointed out feature of how the world works - that if you are generous, you are usually also repaid in kind.

vs 11

A new point now. You will recognise it from Hebrews, methinks. What does God's discipline and rebuke represent here exactly? Is it the way we think of it - bad things happening in our lives? Or is it something more direct, something related to the priesthood? No idea.

vs 12

The same message found in Hebrews. You heard it first here in Proverbs. Or possibly elsewhere first, like Deuteronomy. In any case, whatever the discipline is, note that even one who is trying to follow the wise path is likely to come a cropper on it, because it's not about punishment, it's about discipline and relationship.

Proverbs chapter 2

vs 12

Froward things? Well, it is in the dictionary. Not exactly a word I see in regular conversation. Thanks again, KJV.

We're about to get a few verses about wicked people. Note that the TNIV maintains the gender distinction here, because the verse talks about men first, then women. Wisdom saves you from these people, who are first of all perverse in what they say...

vs 13

...who walk in twisted, hidden ways...

vs 14

The idea that everyone does wrong isn't lost, but there is a distinction drawn between normal people, and those for whom there is some sort of pleasure in doing wrong. Back in Israel, these people would have been in the minority sometimes (when popular culture was aimed towards following God) and in the ascendency at others (when idol worship was rife). I think modern Australia falls fairly neatly into the second pocket there.

vs 15

More or less a repeat of verse 13, showing a chiastic nature of the writing.

vs 16

Now we look at the wicked woman. The wicked man seems to be all about taking pleasure in doing wrong, and convincing others to follow him in his improper ways. The wicked woman is painted instead as a seductress, although still on the wrong path.

vs 17

Instead of deviousness and perversity, the focus here is on the breakdown of relationship with God.

vs 18

I suppose for the son of Solomon, women might pose quite a problem. But for all men I think women and the seduction of them is a problem, so Solomon here words his words strongly, to make the point that this is bad and destructive.

vs 19

Adultery it seems is a trap. Like a sticky thing which is impossible to escape. I suppose in once sense it is, because once it is done it cannot be undone. You can rob someone and pay them back the money you stole. But you can't take away the damage done from adultery - it's there forever.

vs 20

Obviously the paths of righteousness are better, as they protect you from these perversities and from death, or from actions that have consequences that cannot be undone.

vs 21

An obvious link to the promises of God to Israel - to the land. This is covenant stuff - those who obey the covenant will be blessed in the land.

vs 22

And those who don't, obviously, won't. The promise of stripping the land from the wicked is nothing new to the prophets. Solomon knew what was what. Even if the book of the law was lost (hard to know when that happened) there was obviously a knowledge of what God expected, and what his judgment would be if his laws weren't followed.

Proverbs chapter 2

vs 1

I'm sort of assuming that the "my son" brings us back to Solomon, although it could also be the words of Wisdom, I guess, given the "my commands". I mean, Proverbs doesn't really read like commands from Solomon.

vs 2

That is, accepting wisdom means listening to it and applying it. I might point out at this stage that even Solomon only does half of that sometimes.

vs 3

So you've really got to want it...

vs 4

And if you really value it...

vs 5

We have here a flat out statement about wisdom being fear of God and knowledge of God.

vs 6

So wisdom comes from God alone. And that's fair enough, too. I mean, if God made everything, then ultimately he's going to know everything and about everything. So the knowledge of something, even if ostensibly self-discovered, has in reality come from God who has created knowledge.

vs 7

Again breaking that cause and effect chain, we see that God gives success to the upright, not simply the lucky or the numberchaser. He protects people who are blameless, as opposed to simply those who are weak (or strong).

vs 8

God value-adds to justice and faithfulness in a way that simple cause-and-effect does not generally do.

vs 9

If you seek God's understanding, you will receive it, and then see every good path of righteousness, justice and fairness. Remember, because wisdom is by its nature moral, these moral statements are intrinsic to wisdom. Something cannot be both wise and unfair.

vs 10

There is a pleasantness about wisdom - I guess it's like we're made for it. Wisdom is ultimately a positive and good thing. It's not neutral.

vs 11

So when God says that he protects the upright and such, one of the tools he uses to do that is wisdom. Of course, because true wisdom is godly, then godly people are more likely to have it.

Proverbs chapter 1

vs 23

Wisdom calls for the simple and the fool to repent! That's quite amazing - the move from being unwise to becoming wise requires an acknowledgement of your lack of wisdom and a decision to follow the path of wisdom and not of foolishness. This just further solidifies the idea that wisdom is an absolute - although this is problematic. If wisdom is absolute, then we must conclude that there is a 'wisest action' that could take place for any given situation, and that therefore there is a 'right' way to do things. I don't think it's quite so simplistic though. I think while wisdom comes to us as an absolute, it also comes to us in principles, and I think those principles are what is expounded here in books like Proverbs - albeit in the form of specific sayings sometimes. That means that there are principles that are wise and should therefore be followed, but the exact nature of the following could be different. So wisdom creats a closed matrix of possible outcomes, to use gaming talk.

vs 24

That sounds a little threatening. But that's the thing about fools and simple people - they by definition don't listen to wisdom.

vs 25

Wisdom speaks using very God-like language here. And God is wisdom, so the words spoken by Wisdom (a girl!) are God's words.

vs 26

And I think it is fair to say that God will laugh and mock. Perhaps this is why we find foolishness so funny. Some people might say, "Yes, but God's allowed to laugh at people, we should mourn with them" or something. Whatever. Sometimes people are going to do something stupid, and it's going to be funny. I don't think we're talking about people burning in hell here anyway. We're talking about decisions that come out bad, but that are followed by more decisions. It's not like God gives people one shot at becoming a Christian and then after that they're doomed. And no doubt God is sad when people actually come to the end of their rope and find they've hung themselves with it. But I bet he laughs when someone hits someone else with a cream pie. The difference being, of course, that God's goal isn''t self-satisfaction, it is glory.

vs 27

These are the consequences of being unwise. Calamity, disaster, distress and trouble.

vs 28

This is the thing about wisdom - that it takes a little of it to get more, in a way. Wisdom isn't something that you can turn to in the middle of trouble and say "Get me out of here!" It's something that, once you are out of trouble, says, "Well, I won't do that again." You can't crack open a flask of emergency wisdom and get yourself out of a dilemma. Although that's a cool idea for a magic item.

vs 29

Knowledge and fear of the Lord - two things without which wisdom will not be found. I think sometimes we dichotomise wisdom and knowledge (thanks D&D), but of course you can't make wise decisions about things you don't know. Fear of the Lord encompasses knowledge (you can't fear God without knowing he's there) but also has an active element, a decisive part.

vs 30

No doubt something bad is going to happen with a setup like this.

vs 31

So unwise people will do unwise things and reap unwise consequences. I think we take cause and effect far too much for granted in the role of human activity. We know full well (from Ecclesiastes, as well as life) that the complexity of human living goes far beyond simple cause anf effect. Bad person does bad thing... nothing bad happens to them. Well, Wisdom (God) here says that she will ensure that unwise people who do unwise things, they will suffer the fruits of their schemes. Which, if we actually see it in this world, is a direct response from God. Interesting idea.

vs 32

Snap. Hard to believe, but read some of the workplace health & safety examples they give of the deaths on workplaces. Apparently 97% of deaths on a workplace can be easily avoided. Simple stupidities can lead to death and destruction.

vs 33

This is both a general promise from following wisdom (as in you will generally be on average safer and more relaxed if you are wiser), but also a specific promise from God, who can create cause and effect to work for those who love him, as well as against those who decide to turn their backs on him. Following wisdom might not always mean comfort and plenty (although when you keep reading Proverbs, you get the idea that it's at least a lot more likely). But God will ensure that destruction and death will be kept from you, at the very least eternally.

Proverbs chapter 1

vs 12

It's at this point that you realise that most criminals are actually out of work poets or lyricists. I mean, who says, "Swallow them like the grave"? So remember - Proverbs teaches to stay away from the poetic.

vs 13

Really? Apparently they're also liars. How full can you possibly make your house with plunder just by robbing people? They must carry a fair bit of wealth around.

vs 14

Especially if you're casting lots for loot, who's to say you won't just keep getting the poor peopel's underpants?

vs 15

Why would Solomon's son ever need to go and rob people? He's probably got more money than them anyway! In any case, rule number one of proverbial wisdom is apparently "Do not become a highway bandit."

vs 16

Yeah, okay. The real rule number one is "Don't follow idiots." Regardless of whether they're robbing people or investing in dodgy shares, the fact is that not only do they do stupid things, but they do evil things without even really thinking about it. I actually like the idea of calling immoral people fools. If you call them evil then you hate them. If you call them fools, you pity them.

vs 17

I didn't know nets worked on the principle of invisibility... I suppose if the bird flies around a corner and is confronted by the net, it gets stuck, rather than being in between two big trees in an empty space, where the bird just flies over it.

vs 18

Not that they won't necessarily kill people and take their money. But the fact is that they are harming themselves in doing so.

vs 19

Whether it ends up being a soldier who takes away their life, or just an ambushee who turns out to be better at fighting than them. Or I suppose even if you just become reliant on it as a source of income, then you've become trapped by it, and you won't be good at anything else.

vs 20

Of course wisdom is a woman. In Hebrew the word is treated as feminine I believe. But it's also interesting that wisdom and love are so often tangled together in Proverbs. The all encompassing nature of wisdom really is fascinating.

vs 21

So that everyone hears her, of course.

vs 22

A challenge to all who despise wisdom - whether it be the simple (without moral direction), the mockers (I wonder if cynic would be an adequate synonym?) and the fools (the morally deficient). Note of course that it's not purely about morality, but the element of morality included in, say, a fool who despises knowledge, cannot be separated.

Proverbs chapter 1

So, I don't know whether Proverbs is really going to lend itself to this reading style... but what the hey. I mean, in one way it will be the best book to break up into verses, because it is done that way already. But they are also probably self-explanitory for the most part.

vs 1

So unlike Qoheleth, this seems to be fairly straightforward in its introduction and authorship. No doubt I could go and pick up a commentary that would tell me different, but they would have to admit that this is much more straight up and down than Ecclesiastes, which is all twists and turns. That speaks in its favour to me.

vs 2

So, the KJV translates this a little differently - putting it in infinitives (like the NASB). I don't think the overall reading of the passage is that much different for it. The verse seems to be suggesting that these proverbs exist for the further understanding of wisdom. So the proverbs contain wisdom, but also allow the further understanding of wisdom.

vs 3

I can't help but comment - the KJV uses such unnecessary words. It's not that they fail to have understanding, even today. But the (T)NIV just has such simple words. Interestingly, the verb "to do" appears in the (T)NIV, but I'm not sure it does in the Hebrew... I can sort of see an argument for it - both in the words and also in the style - but it can read fine without it. You could also argue that if you leave out the "to do" - whether it's there or just assumed - that you end up becoming wise about ideals rather than actions. My faith remains unshaken by such trivialities, though.

vs 4

I'd love to explore what the KJV translators meant when they translated it "subtilty". But I'm no historic linguist. The element of training continues. The (T)NIV very helpfully explains the world that is translated 'simple'. Worth knowing that. Can't separate a moral idea from it.

vs 5

So these words aren't just for the simple. They are for the wise and discerning too. Now, I'd say you can't read 'wise' and 'discerning' without a moral understanding, if you can't read 'simple' and 'fool' without it. Who's with me?

vs 6

"Dark sayings"! Sounds like I've just travelled into Mordor! Thanks, KJV!

So these proverbs are to help us understand what the wise say. Because God knows that sometimes they speak in riddles, or are just fart-assing about.

vs 7

Probably as much because it leads to God as because they're a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

vs 8

Remember what both your parents had to say! Even though Solomon is the wise man of the Bible, even he recognises that his kids' mum(s) still have something to contribute.

vs 9

Valuable things, then. One's valuable materially, and the other more socially.

vs 10

Well, I mean, if you put it flatly like that, then of course I'll not do it. Of course, it's not as simple as that. I mean, what's the difference between an enticement and a legitimate request?

vs 11

Well, yes, someone asking you to help them ambush and kill some person on the street is probably enticing you to do evil.

Ecclesiastes chapter 12

It's been too long, really. I need to work out a way to both teach and do my devotions. They really shouldn't suffer like this, regardless of what I'm doing.

vs 1

What follows is a long poem type thing, the main theme of which starts here - to remember God while you are young, and things still seem joyful and fun. No doubt if you remember God while life is pleasurable, you will be better disposed towards him. That was the first impression I got as I read this. I suppose it could also mean that you should remember God while you're young and more likely to go around getting into trouble.

vs 2

Either this is a metaphor for darkness coming (like the darkness that comes over the eyes of an old person) or it is talking about a specific time and its weather - perhaps both. I think it is metaphorical, though.

vs 3

Certainly this is talking about the ageing of people.

vs 4

They lose their hearing too, and also seem to close themselves indoors. I think. This is a little difficult to understand, but I don't really think it's of devestatingly super importance, because it is just repeating itself for a few verses now.

vs 5

I love the idea that old people are afraid of heights and dangers in the streets. It's so true. Note that I don't think Qoheleth has any specific age in mind - more he has the time when people go from not old to old. When they start shuddering and complaining about law and order.

But then eventually they die, and they go to their eternal home (!) and mourners take to the streets to mourn them. That they go to their eternal home is quite a statement. It shows that Qoheleth obviously believes there is something after death. What is it? He doesn't see the need to expand. Obviously we should already know.

vs 6

Nope, don't have any idea about the silver cord etc. Although it is interesting to see the term silver cord used here - could it be that all the talk of astral travel's silver cord started here in Ecclesiastes?

vs 7

Dust obviously refers to Genesis. But the spirit going back to God - is that a new thing? That actually seems a rather odd idea to be included here. I don't think it means their spirit. I think it means the spirit of life breathed into the dust that makes us live - so again from Genesis. Where else does spirit go but return to God?

vs 8

We had to be told this at least once more, and in reference to the inevitable death of everyone, it seems fair.

vs 9

Why are we in the third person now? Could it be that the pseudonymous author is actually talking about Solomon now, who actually did write a fair number of proverbs? Could be.

vs 10

It could be that the author of Qoheleth based his treatise on the works of Solomon's wisdom, and of others, and sort of expanded from there. I mean, it is one of the things about Proverbs that strikes you - they are just little snippets of wisdom, but they don't create a great eternal picture. If you lived purely with that as wisdom, you would really see how meaningless life had become.

Anyway, the author certainly things that the works he is talking about are truthful.

vs 11

I assume what he is saying here is that the words of the wise prod us like a shepherd prods a sheep. They point us in the right direction, even if it hurts.

vs 12

I love this warning. Basically, it is better to accept wisdom than to soak in it. Better to drink it than to swim in it. Life is for living, not just for philosophising. A worthy reminder to those of us who like to over-intellectualise. Soon we'll all be afraid of heights.

vs 13

We're right at the end now, and Qoheleth finally lets us in on his secret application of wisdom. For those of us in modern times, who know the ending, it's a bit of an anticlimax. But as the argument goes, it's a great ending. Note that his argument is not based on enjoyment of life, or on some reward. It is humanity's duty to honour God by obedience.

vs 14

There is a little stick here, I suppose. I mean, judgement takes place, and there is no reward for doing the right thing - you merely don't get punished. But the point is that because eternity is the only true certainty and meaning, then we must live for it, and not for this life. Easy to say, but it is so often hard to do, because we actually do live here, and our senses tell us about now, rather than about eternity. It really is a great book, if difficult in parts. I'll look forward to preaching on it.

Ecclesiastes chapter 11

vs 1

The TNIV takes a huge leap out from the other translations and gives quite a strong interpretation of the verse. And you know what? That might not be what you think a translator should do, but it makes a whole lot more sense than anything before it. I mean, look at the verse in the NIV, let alone the KJV. What's it on about? Who knows! I always thought it was about feeding ducks at a duckpond or something. But in the context of verse 2, the TNIV really makes so much sense.

So now, when I read this, I see it as prudent investment wisdom. Most of all, this section seems to be about actually getting out there and doing it. If you've got the extra grain, don't sit on it, send it out overseas and see a return on it, even if it is a long time in coming. So much simpler than the weird interpretations I've heard. It's funny how such a difficult verse got so widely used. Almost like some people want to give difficult verses certain meanings...

vs 2

Prudent investment is spread across many ventures. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, basically.

vs 3

Stuff happens when it happens, and when it's happened, then it's happened. Things that are are. As it were. A simple but wise lesson, I suppose. Some of us are more prone to wishing the world was another way.

vs 4

Since things that happen happen, you can't wait for perfect conditions. Sometimes you just have to get out and do what needs doing, in the rain.

vs 5

No doubt modern people are clambouring over themselves to say, "Ha, look how smart we are! We know which way the wind is going to blow, and we know how kids are made. Stupid ancient people. We don't need God to fill in such gaps." But the point of the verse is actually, "There are things you don't know, and there will always be things you don't know, so how can you expect to fully understand God if you can't fully understand something simple like the universe.

Oh, and you don't know where the wind will blow. You guess. Ancient people could also guess. And they knew how babies were made about as much as we do. How do 2 cells become millions of differenciated cells? So there. Take that, science!

vs 6

So work hard all the time, because something might suddenly pay off. Don't work stupidly, obviously, but don't not work just because you can't be assured of as big a success as you might hope, or because you think you've done enough work if everything goes to plan.

vs 7

I suppose so. Possibly this verse is necessary for nerds.

vs 8

What an awful statement, but true. People should enjoy their lives, but be aware that such enjoyment is ultimately hollow. They should also be aware that life does suck. It's never all flowers and sunshine for anyone. Everyone has dark days. But hey, those too are ultimately meaningless and hollow. So don't sweat it.

vs 9

So enjoy your youth, but don't do anything too stupid, because God doesn't lower the standards just because you're young. I don't think it's a threat, although it's easy to read it that way. More just saying that in joy don't disband wisdom, even in youth.

vs 10

Both in the having and then in the losing, it's just not worth worrying about. Qoheleth says, smartly, to enjoy youth while you have it, because you won't have it when you're older. But don't worry about it when you lose it, because it's meaningless anyway.

More To Life than ATAR youth talk

This is a talk I have been asked to give to a small group of HSC students, to remind them of the realities of life and that the HSC isn't the end of the world, pass or fail.

More to life than ATAR

Time must be just flying for you guys. You might even be thinking, “I shouldn't have come here, I should be studying.” I can tell you, having spent the last couple of weeks in a school staff room, that your teachers are flapping around trying to do everything they can to make sure you have as many resources at your disposal as possible. You guys are their number 1 priority. Right now, you have probably spent about 10% of your whole life being told that the most important thing in the world is the HSC. And that's if no one mentioned it to you before year 11. The HSC is like a finish line, but instead of a ribbon to run through marking the end, it is a large, heavy curtain, so that you can't see anything on the other side of it. Here you are, running towards that curtain, and since it's so big, since it's really all you can see, and since it's getting closer, it becomes more and more important. Occasionally, people appear from the other side of that curtain – parents, teachers, newspaper reporters, politicians – and they all seem to say the same thing: that this is so important, that it is a once in a lifetime thing, that this will shape your future.

What I'm here to do tonight is bring a little bit of reality into those comments. I want to shine a light onto that curtain, so that you can see through it and realise that it's not the life and death event that it can be made out to be. I could tell you this in any number of ways. I could tell you that while school helps you work out what you can do for a job, it's not simply all about making you an employment machine (school is about making people well-rounded informed citizens, if you didn't know). I could tell you that modern education theory thinks that measuring students against the results of their peers is one of the least effective ways of measuring ability. If I wanted to be really cynical, I could tell you that the HSC is a political construct made to try and explain why we don't have enough university places for all the people who want to study. I could tell you about the number of university and other tertiary institutions in Australia that don't even look at your ATAR – they prefer to interview you, look at your community involvement, see an example of your work.

Perhaps even just hearing some of those things makes you feel better. But I'm not going to explore them in any great depth, because while there might be truth in all of them, they still don't give you a real understanding of where the HSC fits into life. The HSC is one of many times in your life where you will face the concept of pursuing excellence. But the problem we face today is that we've forgotten what excellence really is! I don't know what happened exactly, but one day the western world woke up and decided that excellence was something we achieve, something we do. We thought, “Hey, you know I bet we can measure excellence by looking at what people achieve, and how they perform on a test!” Whoever came up with that idea just missed the mark by a mile. But you can understand their thinking. In modern times, we like to be able to measure things, to quantify, to rank, to rate, to put values on things. It helps us to have control over things, because it means we can put them in their place, and feel comfortable knowing where they are. We even do this with other people – we want to be able to label them, measure them, rank them so that we can happily say, “This person is smarter, this person stronger, this person prettier, this person faster.”

But how often do we think about what happens next? When you say, “This person is stronger,” then how does the person next to them feel? But you say, “Oh, that's okay, you're smarter.” Now both feel bad – one's dumb and one's weak. Not only that, but the next person isn't as strong or as smart as either, or as pretty, or as fast. You don't want to tell them they are less valuable, but what do you say? “Don't worry, I'm sure you are good at something.” Oh, great. That's really what you want to hear. So what happens now? People become afraid of doing things if they can't achieve at the highest level. Failure becomes something to be feared, and so it becomes something to be avoided – you can't fail if you don't try. This apathy towards achievement is the result for people who are average in a world where excellence is measured externally. It stifles any chance they had of doing their best, because their best isn't good enough – only the best is good enough.

Thank God that's not true. No matter how much society tells us that excellence can be measured or achieved or performed, it's just not true. You know why? Because excellence isn't something to do. Excellence is something to be. The person who was excellence itself, who shows us how to be excellent, is Jesus. You might say he did some great things. But his excellence wasn't a function of what he did – even great things like healings, miracles, teaching the truth. No, his excellence was a matter of his closeness to God. Jesus was God, and so he was excellent. He followed God's path totally, never straying from it, and so he was excellent. Now you might be thinking that's all well and good, but Jesus never had to do the HSC. But that doesn't mean he never faced a situation where he was called to pursue excellence. When Jesus was sat before a group of hateful priests, when he was cast before a Roman governor, when people were calling for his blood, for his death, he could have told them he was God. God's voice could have boomed out of heaven and claimed him as his own. It had several times before. He says he could have summoned a legion of angels to his aid, to prove his excellence by doing something – a healing or a miracle - but he didn't. He let them lead him to a hill, nail him to a cross, and execute him publicly and shamefully. He didn't do it so people would think better of him. He didn't do it because it was a good career move. He didn't do it because it made him a better person. He did it because it was what God wanted, and that, I tell you, is pursuing excellence.

The HSC stands before you as a moment in your life that marks a pursuing of excellence. But you must measure your success in that pursuit properly. If you ace physics, chemistry and maths, get an ATAR in the top 0.1 percentile of the state, get into Medicine at one of Sydney's prestigious universities, and become a world class surgeon, but do not help the poor and needy, you have failed to pursue excellence. If you blitz your exams, gain a scholarship into law, and become a barrister working in the highest court in the land, but do not seek justice for those who don't have it, you have failed. If you become a top research scientist, and discover a cure for cancer, or AIDS, but you are not walking humbly with God, you've failed. It goes against everything we're ever told, but it's the truth – excellence is how close to God we are, not how much we do. It's a condition of the heart, not a list of actions we take. Anything we do, we can only achieve with God's strength anyway. He wants us to know him, to love him, and to serve him. That is excellence in the eyes of God. That is the path Jesus trod.

The truth is you don't need to do the HSC to please God. In fact, doing it to further your position in life is exactly the opposite of what God calls us to. That attitude of self-centredness is the very core of a failed life before God. It is that failure in all of us Jesus came and died for – to free us from our own failure, and to give us his status of excellence before God, so that our relationship with God might be unspoiled, so that we can then choose to serve him.

You can serve God as faithfully as a doctor or a dancer, a scientist or a service station attendant, a lawyer or a lollipop lady. What does God want of you, today? In this next couple of months? Breathe a sigh of relief, because he doesn't demand the best. He just wants your best. He knows who you are, he loves you for who you are, and he expects only for you to give back to him what he has given you. That is the excellence God demands. He knows what you're good at, and if you trust him, he will lead you to use it. But you have to know him, and trust him. The only way to do that is through Jesus, God as a man. Accept what God has done for you, and you can really pursue excellence in your life – excellence in serving God. To live any other way, ultimately, is to fail. But if you ask God to accept you, your successes and your failings, he will. And he will count you as excellent as Jesus, if you accept that you can't find excellence without him. Let me finish by praying for you guys for the next couple of months.

Our Lord God, help these guys pursue excellence in whatever you equip them to do. Help them to see through the curtain of the HSC, and understand that what matters to you isn't passing or failing, but knowing you, loving you and serving you wherever they are. Help them to do that during this HSC by giving them keen minds, discipline, and a closeness to you. Amen

Ecclesiastes chapter 10

vs 11

Does he receive no fee because he's now on the floor writhing in pain and dying? Or just because he didn't do the job?

vs 12

Not a pretty picture. But it is interesting to think that proverbial wisdom is that being wise (or at least saying wise things) is less likely to get you into trouble. More than that, though - to be wise is to be gracious. Grace and wisdom are linked. Not something we'd accept in modern times, I think.

vs 13

Poor fools. They start out bad, but end up really very bad. Nebuchadnezzar sort of bad.

vs 14

Not the most adequate verse break up, I'd say. But hey, if you're ever looking for a fool, then it's someone who is not gracious, whose words end up biting them, who starts dumb and ends crazy, and who talks a lot. Damn it, why do they always sound like me?

This might be a reflection on fools, but it could also be more general. The fact is that we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Sure, the world follows a pretty reasonable order, but that order breaks down often enough for us to not be able to second guess a lot of things. It's funny - people often talk about how God put order into the world for our sakes, to make our lives better. And yet the disorder and inability to know what's going to happen is what makes us rely on him.

vs 15

And I do not know how to really comment on this verse. Do they work themselves so hard that they forget how to get home? I suppose that's possible.

vs 16

Remember that feasting is not just eating - it's celebrating, and so drunkenness can come pretty quickly when feasting. As for a king who was a servant, I think the idea is that generally those not raised to be leaders aren't going to be as good as those who are. Instant power can easily go to a person's head, and coming "from the people" in a rags-to-riches style is not generally a positive thing, no matter how many movies love the plot for their RomComs.

vs 17

The opposite of the last verse, and it helps to highlight some of the reasons - although noble birth is still reason enough, it seems.

vs 18

I assume because they don't get in and fix the problems. And as everyone knows, when problems with house structure don't get fixed, they get worse, and then require more work, and the loop goes on.

vs 19

I think this verse is strongly dripping with sarcasm, but that's just in my reading. I mean the fact is that feasts are for fun, and that wine does make people feel happy, and money does solve lots of problems. But everyone's been to a feast that wasn't fun, has found that wine didn't make them feel better, and knows that money can't buy everything.

vs 20

Hence "A little bird told me." Obviously birds don't really carry the information, but it is incredible how stupid people are when they say things out loud that other people really shouldn't hear. The number of criminals who get caught because they're talking about their crimes in pubs or coffee shops and someone overhears, it's crazy.

Ecclesiastes chapter 10

vs 1

Another group of proverbial wisdom statements. We start with a statement that shows how, if you thought wisdom was powerful from the last chapter, folly is strong to defeat it, at least from within. Foolishness is like the termite of wisdom's wood. Remember that foolishness isn't just stupidity, or even a misunderstanding of how the world works. It is a misunderstanding of how God makes things work. So when you see a really smart, successful non-Christian make a career in politics, only to screw it up by having an affair, that is a classic example of the rot of folly. Even if he doesn't get caught, it will eat away.

vs 2

This is not a political statement, but damn it that it is so easy to use against socialists. Heh.

vs 3

I suppose just because they do one right thing, like walk along the road, doesn't mean that they are wise. Fools find ways of doing correct things foolishly.

vs 4

Compounding errors never helps. Even if you haven't done anything wrong, or especially so, there is no point then doing something wrong in an attempt to escape ire.

vs 5

And now we see another evil under the sun. This time it is a top down problem. Wisdom and leadership are no more linked than foolishness and youth, remember.

vs 6

No, he really does mean rich. Verse 7 makes that clear. I'm not actually sure what his point is, though. I mean, I could make up some logical stuff to explain it, but I feel it would be eisegetical. I don't know what was going on at this time for him to say this.

vs 7

I don't think this can be so easily read as to be referring to some idea that some people are born into legitimate rulership. That just doesn't seem to gel with what he says about cities putting people in charge who are wise etc earlier on.

vs 8-9

The thing about these little proverbs is that I don't think there is anything wrong with doing this work. He is simply observing that doing work can cause injury. It's just a way of life.

vs 10

I think this proverb is saying that while a sharpened axe is of some value, a really sharp axe in the hands of someone who doesn't know what to do with it is of little value. To use more modern terms, a pocket knife isn't as good as a scalpel, but a surgeon with a pocket knife is a hell of a lot more useful than a plumber with a scalpel, if your appendix needs to come out.

Ecclesiastes chapter 9

vs 10

See, that doesn't sound like heaven to me. It sounds like a grave. Because I'm pretty sure all those things will exist in heaven. After all, it is a remake, but fundamental principles will still apply, right? Just perfected.

vs 11

How many people in history have simply been born into the right family, or been at the right place at the right time? The serendipity of science is truly the most pathetic thing about it.

vs 12

Just as good things happen by chance, so do many bad things often happen. Who predicted the economic crisis? Did they predict it with enough certainty to escape its effects? That's the thing - you might know there's a famine coming, but what can you do? The vast majority of people won't listen. Who predicted the tsunami? Or 9/11? Regardless of whether something is natural or man made, they happen and take so many people by surprise. You can't plan for everything, good or bad.

vs 13

Ooh, it must be story time.

vs 14

Small town versus powerful king. They're goners.

vs 15

That's a boring story. What did he do? How did it work? It sounds awesome. Possibly that's the most boring way that story can be told. The poor, wise man saves the city with his wisdom! But no details. And the reason is because that's not the punchline. The punchline is that nobody remembers that poor man. Short memories, all of us.

vs 16

The fact of the anectode is to prove that wisdom is better than strength - a single wise man, though poor, defeats a powerful king's army, with all its seige works. But even though wisdom is better, it is still not remembered. It dies with the man, and drifts into the ether, just like all of man's achievements.

vs 17

Of course, no doubt you need some wisdom to tell which is which. It's a great proverb though. I think we often listen to the loudest voice (usually because it's a big group of voices) rather than the wisest voice. I'm not here advocating an anti-academia, either. Remember that academics are usually the ones that are outvoted by the "people of the pub", who suggest things like sending Aboriginals overeas and locking up refugees in detention centres.

Off topic, but I read in an article a week ago that it costs Australia about $730 a week to keep each person they have in detention locked up. That's more than my wife and I make a week. So they could actually save money by just paying each family in detention that much (then you save $730 for every person after the first) so they could afford to rent a place, buy stuff, and get their lives in order, and they would in fact have a better standard of living than me. But why don't we do that? Because of that exact reason - people can't stand that we might help people so much that they end up with a better life than what they've got. Keep shouting, fools.

vs 18

The stark contrast lies here. Wisdom might be powerful, but sin can so easily destroy anything, regardless of its power. Wisdom by itself even isn't enough to combat sin. Solomon is the obvious example!

Ecclesiastes chapter 9

vs 1

I'm not sure how to read "love and hatred". I mean, the auto-reader in me just reads, "Oh, that must just mean good and bad, and he's being hyperbolic." And that's easy enough to read there. But what if he really does mean love and hate? I mean, it can't mean that we don't know whether we will face God's love or hate, can it? Scripture would say no. The love and hate of other people is surely fickle, so it could mean that. I'm going to stick with good and bad and hyperbole, but it's a little uncomfortable this morning.

vs 2

The common destiny of death awaits all regardless of their life. It's interesting that this sort of talk exists in the OT, where we struggle to find a well formed doctrine of heaven and afterlife, but what he really is saying is that death itself is not much of a punishment for evil, since even the righteous die. Whether the author was aware or believed in something beyond that is beyond me, but it would seem to be something necessary from his argument, if God is to remain good and just.

vs 3

Now here comes a distinct shank into the side of some people's theology. Those who argue that Adam and Eve were always going to die (because death was a part of God's creation, rather than a consequence of the fall - usually people who come from the evolutionary perspective) will have a little difficulty explaining how death can be evil, and an enemy of God (a la 1 Corinthians 15). You can do what I did, uncomfortably, in verse 1, and just shave the edge off it, and say, "It's hyperbole, he just means it's bad," but even then, why is it bad if it's part of God's perfect plan in creation? Why is death something we fight, something to be overcome? I can't answer that. I must say that I do sometimes find the whole idea of an evolutionary ktisiology attractive, but this is the bit that stumbles me.

vs 4

This is, interestingly, the opposite of the attitude of Job, who thinks it's better to be stillborn than have to live in a world of pain and suffering. Of course, I think Qoheleth actually says that somewhere too.

vs 5

Death is the end, at least for a while, according to Qoheleth. It's the end of cognition, as far as he's concerned. No disembodied floating spirits for Qoheleth, apparently.

vs 6

Well, that's possibly a more full definition, although to me it still reads as a pretty complete end of cognition, rather than, say, the idea that death separates us from the body, and therefore from feelings of love, hate and jealousy. That's totally dualistic, and unbiblical.

vs 7

This is one of those classic conclusive verses in Qoheleth, bringing out the conclusive summary of his thoughts. But the idea that God has approved our actions is somewhat odd. It could be a passive approval in the form of allowance, in which case it could mean that you can do whatever you want. Or it could be saying that he approves of good actions, and so you will be able to eat and drink with joy and gladness. This fits more with what he has said previously, but the wording is difficult to me.

vs 8

Wearing white and being anointed with oil is a celebratory thing. It happened when you went to a wedding or to someone's house, for example. The white can obviously also mean cleanness, but I don't think that fits so well here.

vs 9

The pointlessness of this life means that all you can do, in the end, is enjoy it. There's no other option - if, that is, you are even given the option of enjoying it, which really only comes from God.

Sermon: Parable of the Lost Sons

Prodigal Sons

The second son really isn't prodigal, in the sense that prodigal means lavish or excessive spending. But of course we tend to think of the prodigal son as running away from the father, so in that sense it probably fits.

Main point – God seeks and saves the lost.

- The prodigal lost must reach a point where they recognise their situation and repent

- The found must recognise that there is no injustice in God accepting repentant sinners

Application – if you're far away from God, recognise your situation and repent

- if you're in church, don't look down on people who have sinned

Words

(show movie clip from The Nugget?)

There are some things that, if you lose them, you will go to extraordinary lengths to get them back. In the Aussie movie, “The Nugget”, the character Lotto (the unluckiest man in the world) wins $100,000 on an instant lottery ticket. In his excitement, he accidentally drops the winning ticket down a drain. Does he shrug his shoulders and walk away? Not on your life. He calls his council work mates around and they try everything to get that drain grill off. They pry at it with crowbars, they try jackhammering around it, until someone spraying a hose washes the ticket further down the drain. Do they give up then? Never! They spend two days digging up the main street, cancelling the water to the shops on the street, and even bring in an excavator and telling the locals there's a gas leak, looking for the lost ticket. Of course, they never find it – he is the unluckiest man in the world, after all.

These days, it's hard for us to misplace something really valuable and to not be able to replace it. For many people, the days are gone when you are given a week's pay in an envelope that you can easily leave at a bus stop – it gets transferred into a bank account. Most of us keep money in the bank, so if you lose your keycard, you can just go to the bank and get another one. If you lose your keys, you can call a locksmith and get new keys cut. You can even replace an expensive train ticket if you keep the serial number. If we leave our laptop at the airport, it's probably insured, but you will lose all the information on it. So when we turn to Luke 15 and read about people losing a sheep, or losing a coin, it's a bit difficult for us to empathise. We don't measure our wealth in terms of animals that can wander off and get lost, but a shepherd who has 100 sheep and loses one loses 1% of his total wealth. We have ATM cards, but a woman with 10 silver coins has a day's wages in each coin, and coins are notorious for being able to roll across floors and find their way in behind couches. It can be hard for us to really empathise with the people in the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. You might “lose” money in an investment, but that's not like misplacing it - you're hardly going to search around and find it again.

Those parables were told by Jesus because he was surrounded by people who were obvious sinners, and Jesus wanted to show them that God rejoices when a sinner, like them, turns their life around and seeks him out, like a shepherd does when he loses a sheep, or a woman does when she loses a day's wage. He's showing them in these parables that God is actively seeking them out, looking for them, and will rejoice when he finds them ready to come home with him. We're talking about those people who the rest of society reject and marginalise. The kind of person who you'd feel ashamed to have in your house, because you wouldn't want the neighbours to see you hanging around with people like that. Back in those days, it was prostitutes, tax collectors, alcohol sellers and drunkards. Nowadays, tax collector is a legitimate profession, owning a pub is an attractive business enterprise, prostitution is a lifestyle choice for some, and alcoholic is synonymous with Australian. So when we think about obvious sinners, people whose sin is obvious and detestable in today's culture, you might think of drug dealers, wife beaters, dole bludgers, terrorists, paedophiles – anyone who 'A Current Affair' could make a story out of that would shock the average Aussie. These were the type of people who are covered under the term “sinners”.

Such “sinners” in fact clambered to see Jesus and to hear him speak. There was something attractive about what Jesus had to say to them. Jesus didn't reject them like the rest of polite society, he ate with them and talked to them.

Now, imagine what would happen if you were to have a known paedophile turn up at your door for a dinner party. What do you think would happen? Some people might make excuses and leave, or make awkward looks. Probably some people would mutter under their breath, “I thought the Weldons were respectable people. Why did they invite him? Why would they socialise with someone like that?” Well, that's pretty much what happened to Jesus – people like the Pharisees were looking at the people who surrounded Jesus and muttering, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” You can see that in verse 2 of chapter 15 of Luke's gospel.

So Jesus tells his two parables for the sake of those “sinners” around him – the parable of the lost sheep, and the parable of the lost coin. But he saves his most detailed parable on the subject for last. It has a message both for the “sinners” around Jesus, and the Pharisees who question him. We often call it the parable of the prodigal son, or the lost son. The video in the modern parable series is called “Prodigal Sons”, which a pedant like me can't help but point out isn't literally correct. Prodigal means, “wastefully extravagant spending” which obviously only refers to the one son in the parable. But the idea is to show that the parable is not just about one son, but two sons, and that's absolutely correct. Indeed, we could call this, “the parable of the lost sons” and probably be more correct.

You might be fairly familiar with the parable, but let me retell it quickly, and fill it in with some cultural commentary that we might not otherwise recognise. A younger son asks his father for his share of the inheritance, which is the equivalent of saying, “I want you dead now, so I can cash in.” His share is 1/3, because the eldest son gets a double share of the inheritance, so if there's two sons, it's 2/3 to the older, 1/3 to the younger. His father agrees and gives it (which is of course crazy – what father would divide his inheritance between his sons before he dies?), and the son goes off and lavishly spends his money in wasteful extravagance.

This younger son is living the life of the sinner, and the sinners around Jesus would recognise it easily. We must remember that Jews grew up in a society that was all about God – they didn't question whether God existed or cared about them. They were Jews! Of course he did! So the sinner would recognise themselves in that son who wished his father was dead, so he could live his life the way he wanted. That's what they had done – they knew God was there, but they wished he wasn't, and so they lived as though he was dead. In Australia today, people don't grow up assuming God exists and cares for them. In fact, it's gone the other way - people don't question whether God exists. Today they just say, “I'm a 21^st century rationalist humanist westerner! Of course God doesn't exist!” They assume he doesn't, so why live as though he did? That's the thing – if you look at the world knowing God exists, then you will see God revealed. But if you look at the world as if God doesn't exist, guess what you'll see? You'll see a world without God. It's not about starting from nothing and then trying to find God. It's about starting from God and seeing how everything then makes sense.

Is that what we do? As we live our lives as Christians, do we live it on the first and primary basis that God exists and cares for us? Is that what our whole life is built on? Is that what undergirds your thinking? Does it affect how you act? Because that's not what schools teach. It's not what TV and movies show. It's not what parliament says, or newspapers, or the internet, or universities. But it is what the Bible teaches, and it's what Jesus says. If we're not living with our primary assumption in life that God exists and cares for us as revealed in the Bible, then how can we expect anyone else to?

Back to the parable. Tough times hit, a famine, and the younger son finds himself out of cash, and needing to work for a non-Jewish family, feeding their pigs. Just think – a Jew, one of God's chosen people, feeding pigs, an unclean animal! It's the lowest of the low. He's so hungry he wishes he could eat what the pigs are eating. He remembers how well-treated the hired hands on his father's farm are, and he thinks, “Why am I starving here? I know my father can't ever accept me back as a son after what I did, but if I ask forgiveness for my stupid actions, perhaps he will let me work as a hired hand on the farm.” So he turns around and returns home.

When we sin against God, it means we turn our back on him. To come back to him, we have to repent, which means turn our lives around, so that we're turning our back on that life of rebellion, and we come home to God. You can't return to God without realising that you need to make that change, and leave your old life behind you. Now, the sinners that were surrounding Jesus may not have made that change yet, but at least they'd accepted the first step – they knew that they had turned their back on God. So Jesus could then share with them this message – the need to take the next step, and return to God. We have to meet people where they are at – it's no good calling on people to repent, to turn their lives around, if they don't even realise they've turned their back on God in the first place. Of course, when they do realise that bad news, then we can give them the good news – that it's not too late to turn around and walk back home to God.

Of course, when the father sees his poor son walking down the track to the family homestead, he runs out and grabs him in a big hug. That's a big deal – back in those days, the patriarch of the family did not run. Children run. Women run. Fathers do not run. But this father did. The son starts on his spiel, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I'm not worthy to be called your son...” but before he can get any further, the father has asked for the servants to bring out the best cloak, the best shoes, and the family ring, and puts them on his son. Then he throws a party to celebrate the return of the son who was dead to him, but is now alive. The son wrote the father off as dead, but the father never forgot his son. And that is the good news that Jesus brings to those who recognise that they are sinners. God hasn't forgotten you. He lets you do your own thing, he lets you take your inheritance and spend it like an idiot, if that's what you want. But he hopes that you will realise what you've done, and if you turn around, he will come running.

But then the older son returns from his work in the field, and he finds that his father has spared no expense in throwing some huge party. He's even killed the fat calf – the best calf, which you would save for religious celebrations. One of the servants tells him why – because his free-loading brother has returned home – and so in a fit of anger, he refuses to join the celebrations. Not celebrating at a “welcome home” party is pretty much saying, “I wish you didn't come home” - it's dishonourable, it's rebelling against his father's will. So the father goes out and pleads with his older son to come and join the party. But the older son is angry with his father. He says, “I've done nothing but what you've asked, and yet you've never thrown me a party, even just to celebrate with friends. But then this son of yours goes and wastes your money on whores, and when he comes back you kill the fat calf?” You can just hear him say, “It's – not – fair!” And the thing is, there is a ring of truth to what he is saying. Anyone who has ever worked in the family business knows that the rules protecting employees from overwork and underpay do not extend to members of the family. When you're short staffed, or need someone to work a public holiday, or to fill in a dropped shift or to do jobs other people don't want, you can always rely on family to do it. And the idea is generally that they are contributing to something that will grow and eventually become theirs. So there's no special rewards for working in the family business – it's expected of you.

The same formula worked back in Judea – the sons would work for the father, and eventually would gain a share in the land that was their inheritance. That is what the older son has been doing – faithfully working the land and waiting for the appropriate time when he will inherit. But you can see his reaction – he sees the party as some sort of reward for his younger brother's irresponsibility, and as such he then compares it to the lack of reward he has received for doing his duty. The father is kind, but firm in his response to this attitude. “My son, you are always with me, and you will inherit everything in the due time. But we must celebrate, we are constrained to celebrate, because your brother was dead to us, but now he is alive again. He was lost to us, but now he is found!”

If ever a parable was going to be understandable to us in the 21^st century, this parable is it. Although it involves some farming talk and a bit of cultural difference, I think we can all feel the tension when the younger son asks for his inheritance. We can all imagine the squandering on a wild lifestyle, and the hitting rock bottom that comes afterwards. And we all, especially the parents out there, can imagine the joy of seeing a child who you thought was dead return and ask forgiveness. It's the human element in this parable that makes it strike such a chord when you read it or hear it. And so this is the parable that Jesus leaves till last, the most powerful one. And this second message, involving the older son arguing with his father about accepting the younger back, is not included in the parables of the lost sheep or the lost coin, but here. So it is an important section. What is it about? Well, remember that Jesus is surrounded by sinners when he is telling these parables. But he actually tells them in response to put-down comments by the Pharisees about how he hangs out with sinners. Remember, they were muttering about how they couldn't believe Jesus would do such a thing as hang around with people who have obvious sin in their lives.

This section about the older son, who is so irate at the acceptance of the younger son, is a picture of the Pharisees. The older son in the parable could not understand that the celebrations of the father were necessary, because a son was found alive and returned to him. All he saw was his sinful brother getting a party that he didn't deserve, and he was jealous because to him it looked like a reward for being rebellious. But it wasn't about whether he deserved it or not. When children inherit money from their parents, it's because they're children, not because they are deserving of it. In fact, it was an act of grace in forgiving the son and welcoming him back joyfully. But the older son can't see grace, all he can see is a reward that he thinks he deserves but isn't getting.

This is a picture of how the Pharisees saw Jesus spending time with sinners, and it shows a fundamental flaw in their understanding of God. People with an attitude like the Pharisees fail to understand that the grace that God shows in accepting obvious or marginalised sinners into his kingdom is the same grace that God shows in accepting hidden or accepted sinners into his kingdom. Because that's all we are. We're not righteous. You don't have to be a paedophile or a terrorist to be a sinner. If you're not loving God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, then you're a sinner. If you're not loving others as you love yourself, you're a sinner. Just because society thinks you're all right, that makes no difference. But after you've been in church a while, it can become easy to start thinking that you somehow deserve praise for the life you're leading, as if going to church and encouraging people and sending money overseas and helping people in need and sharing the gospel and praying for people was somehow your idea, when in reality those things are simply what is expected of a member of the Christian family. Those are the family business. It's as if the goodness you have is somehow something you have worked up and earned and is something special, rather than you being as totally reliant on the grace of God as someone who is an obvious sinner.

But that is not how it works in God's kingdom! Remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, just a few chapters ahead of this one, in Luke 18. "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." We as Christians can often try and pick who we want to share God's message with. Usually it's people that we feel comfortable around, people we already find it easy to relate to. People with a similar background. People who are already living a pretty good life, but just don't go to church. But God has shown time and time again that it is the marginalised, the rejected, the fringe dweller and the obvious sinner that responds with repentance.

I remember hearing the story of how the Betel ministry was started. A group of Christians went to Spain trying to spread God's message among businesspeople and the middle class. They had a good plan, they had dedicated people, they had some resources. But they made no progress amongst the businesspeople – they would just walk past and didn't see any need for help. The people who kept coming up to them and asking for help were heroin addicts – thin, emaciated, pale faced people with a syringe behind the ear like a pencil. The heroin addicts knew they had a problem, and yet no-one was prepared to help them turn their lives around. Many were dying of HIV from sharing needles. To the world they were a lost cause, worthless. They were prodigal sons who had squandered whatever they had, and had hit rock bottom. But to God, they are still sons, so they are still valuable. Betel is a thriving ministry now in 13 countries, including Australia, helping addicts turn their lives around for God and the kingdom. Some of them do more for God's kingdom in the 18 months between their conversion and their death from AIDS than we do in our whole normal, clean churchy lives. That's humbling to think about.

If you are an obvious sinner, rejected by society, then remember that God still loves you and accepts you. He can turn your life around and make you a part of the family again. That's Jesus' message to sinners. But those of us here today are far more likely to fall into the camp of the hidden, accepted sinners, like the Pharisees, than we are to be in the camp of obvious, rejected sinners that Jesus was also talking to, like the prostitutes and tax collectors. So listen to the message that Jesus has for us: God's grace is the only reason your life has any meaning. Don't forget that. Don't forget that it's the same grace that God uses to call the drug addict and the terrorist to himself that he uses to call you to the kingdom. You are a benefactor of that same grace. Jesus died as much for your sin as he did for theirs. We have to be humble and realise our position before God. Then perhaps we can start seeing sinners the way God seems them – as prodigal sons who need to come home, rather than as that person who should have known better than to throw his inheritance away.

Jesus' parable points out that a son can be just as lost from the father while still at home working the farm as he can going far away and living the wild life squandering his inheritance. It is actually easier to slip away from God in church, because you might not even notice you've done it. You're still doing the right things, still trying to live a good life, but it stops being for God, and starts being for yourself. Whereas if you go and squander your inheritance with heroin and prostitutes, you know you're doing the wrong thing, and you can easily identify your break with God.

Check yourself. Search your heart. Do you get angry with God when things go better for people who you don't think live as righteous a life as you? Do you get angry because you think you deserve a party for the good you've done? Do you do what God wants because that's what he wants, or because you think it will pay off, either with a good life here, or in heaven? When you see someone who does have obvious problems of sin in their life, do you look at them with mercy and love, or do you look down on them because if you can live a righteous life, why can't they? Those are marks of being lost. We all must recognise our constant need for God as sinners, and be humble before God, along with realising the loving grace of God and our sonship with Christ.

Don't be a wild younger son and squander what God has given you. But if you have, recognise where your life has led you, away from God, and turn back to him. Don't be a lost older son and do God's work for yourself, rather than for him. But if you are, recognise that while you might be living a good life, you're not living it for God, and turn back to him. God's kingdom is where we glorify God, not ourselves. Let that be the focus of our lives.

Let's pray.

Revelation talk for Oasis: People of God

So this is a talk that I prepared for giving at Oasis tonight. I really prepare everything I say when I speak, even things like, "Thanks for listening," otherwise I forget.

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WORDS

So you guys have been looking at the book of Revelation over the last few weeks. What have you looked at so far? I know my wife Penny talked to you about the general vibe of Revelation, and that it's a bit weird. Tonight we're going to look at what the book of Revelation has to say about the people of God. And then we'll look at what we should learn from this for ourselves.

In fact, I'm going to tell you right now what the book of Revelation has to say about the people of God. It says that they're chosen, that they suffer, that they are comforted, vindicated and saved. To each one of these topics I've given a Bible verse from Revelation. What I want you to think about is this: when I read the Bible verse, I want you to tell me whether you think John is talking about the people of God in the past, the people of the God during his time, the people of God now, or the people of God in the future, at the end of time. So before John, during John's time, during our time, or at the end of time.

We start off with the fact that God's people are chosen. There's obviously more than one verse in Revelation that makes this point, and all these points - that's what makes them important points. But I've chosen one that just highlights the point well. Rev 18:4-5. The context is important. Its telling of a great city called Babylon, which is being used to represent the wicked ways of this world - lusts, cravings, desires, addictions. The confusing thing is that the city is then also pictured as a woman. But just think about it for the moment as if God was talking about this city in the same way captains talk about their boats - like a woman. "She's a good ship," "She's a beautiful city," that sort of thing. So here's this city that represents all the sickness of humanity living apart from God, and John says, "Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes."

The point is here that God is calling out his people from this city of ungodly lifestyle. God doesn't call everyone out of the city - there are people who are going to get punished with plagues and so forth - all the stuff we know and love about Revelation. But some people are chosen by God to be called out, to not associate with the sin, to escape the punishment. So my question is: is this referring to the past before John, is it referring to John's time, is it referring to our time, or is it referring to the end of time?

The answer is that it is referring to all of them. God has always called and chosen a people for himself. He has always wanted them to be separate from the way the world does things. And at the end, when he punishes the sins of the world, his people will be stood apart from that. The people of John's time could be as encouraged by that thought as we can be now, because we are called to be his people in the same way - to separate ourselves from sin, so that we are separated from punishment, which will be the ultimate result at the end of time.

The second point is that God's people suffer. Again, lots of verses, but I've chosen this one, Revelation 13:6-8. The context, well. chapter 13 is all about the beasts coming out of the sea, so it's pretty weird. The main thing to know is that the beasts represents the enemies of God, both on earth and in the spiritual sense, so Satan. So when we get to verse 6, we find that the beast "opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb." The enemies of God make war against the people of God. And in war, people suffer. Do you guys know what celebrated its 60th anniversary on Wednesday? It was the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, which exist to protect the rights of people captured in war, people wounded in war, and civilians caught up in the middle of war. They exist because we know full well that in war, people suffer. There is a war between good and evil, and as people of good, God's people will suffer in that war, specifically because they are oon God's side. So, is John in Revelation talking about God's people suffering in the past, during his time, during our time, or at the end of time?

The answer is that God's people have always suffered. They suffered in Egypt and they suffered exile. In John's time, they suffered persecution, torture and death. And during our time, they suffer the same. More Christians are killed for their faith today, in modern times, than in any other time in history. So the answer is before, then and now. We have to take note of this - it shows just how seriously you should take being a Christian. Are you prepared to suffer for it? Because you will be called to suffer, to give things up, to go without. It can be painful.

The question is then, will God's people continue to suffer? John tell us in the book of Revelation that God's people will be comforted, they will be vindicated, and they will be saved. Revelation 21:4,6-8 say, God "will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

The context of this verse is at the end - when John is being given a vision of the new heaven and new earth, where God's people will be with him forever. So when is he talking about? The past, his time, our time, or the end of time? The clear and obvious answer is that he's talking about the end of time - when his people have been saved from the punishment of sin, where his people will find eternal comfort after lives of suffering, and where they will be vindicated by God's judgement of those who made war against them for being his people. Don't get me wrong, the Bible makes it clear that when you become a Christian, you are saved, on the spot as it were. And during suffering, we can always look to God for comfort - we don't have to wait till heaven. But John's message in Revelation is all about sticking it out to the end, so he focuses on the end point for our final salvation, comfort and vindication in the face of judgement.

Because that's the lesson John is giving to the people of God who read this - both back then, and today as well. And it comes out right at the start of the book, in Revelation 1:9 "9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus." He has lived the Christian life, he knows what it's about. It's about suffering, it's about the kingdom, and it's about patient endurance. We can't control the suffering - God's people will suffer, because the enemies of God will always make war against us. We can't make the kingdom come any faster - it will come, but in God's time. So our job, then, is to have patient endurance. In a way, the whole book of Revelation has that message - be patient, endure the hard times, and when you overcome, you will be rewarded.

It's easy to get angry when things go bad, and especially when things go bad for you when you're trying to do what's right by God. We've all been there. Once some Christian friends and I met this mentally disabled guy, about 19, who got kicked out of his parents' house and had nowhere to go. We gave him a place to sleep, and to repay us he smeared pooh everywhere and stole our rent money. Ouch. If you do things God's way, you will suffer. But we have to overcome with the patient endurance that God gives us, if we ask for it, and one day we will be rewarded.

Thanks for listening guys.

Ecclesiastes chapter 8

vs 9

The alternate translation is not really helpful, changing the meaning totally as it does. The NASB does a great job of making the translation vague. Someone is getting hurt, at any rate, by the exercising of authority by one man over another.

vs 10

Now here the alternate translation is showing the real difference between the NIV tradition and the KJV tradition - where the NIV accepts what they think are the most accurate manuscripts, and the KJV tradition accepts whatever is in majority. Going with the NIV, we have the idea that the wicked went into the holy place, came out again, and receive praise. He died, but not because of entering the holy place. It's meaningless because he was wicked, received praise for it, then died and was buried.

vs 11

Think about what this is actually saying. It is saying that if you wait to punish people, they are more likely to do wrong. Well, God does not execute punishment quickly. He waits for a long time. Sometimes the person dies first. Are we then surprised that people continue to scheme and do wrong things, knowing that there punishment might be a long time coming?

vs 12

This is the whole truth - God gets them in the end. He lets them become fully wicked, to pass that point of no return. That sounds awful, but some people have a huge tolerance of what they think they can achieve and still be an okay person. I think we know as Christians that God is quite happy to let people steep themselves so deeply in sin that they realise they can't dig themselves out, and that only God can help them.

But there are still those who turn their back on God, and though they might have long lives and seem wealthy and even successful, Qoheleth is sure, in his wisdom, that those who fear God will get the better deal.

vs 13

He says this, knowing fully that wicked people do live for a long time sometimes. Sure, many times the life of the wicked person is one with the sword of Damocles hanging above, which can cut it short at any minute. But sometimes the sword never strikes. So we have to read an eternal context into this to make it more than just proverbial wisdom, which would ultimately be futile, even in Qoheleth's view.

vs 14

Everyone has seen this. It's not just that people get unjustly arrested while criminals get off scot free (a la Shawshank Redemption). It's that criminals get rich, famous and treated specially, while righteous people end up poor, sick, friendless etc. Scoundrels can be incredibly popular and successful. But note that this is meaningless.

vs 15

Qoheleth's solution to the futility of life is fairly simple. Enjoy what you have. He's repeated this several times now. Even the righteous person, in the face of total unfairness, can still enjoy whatever little they have, because they have the joy of God. Enjoyment is not something that comes easily, according to Qoheleth. Only God gives it. So the righteous are as likely to have it as not, regardless of their situation. Sure, wisdom and wealth help, and the author acknowledges that. But at the end of the day it's God who awards happiness, like he awards everything else.

vs 16

This is entirely a build up clause. I'm not actually sure how much work people could do at night. I suppose you had to burn lots of torches.

vs 17

It's just too much. I really have to learn to live by this statement. I would love to look at the world and compartmentalise everything and say, "Yes, this fits into my understanding. It's all gone on just as I thought it would, because I have such a great understanding of how the world works." But that's just bollocks. I don't even know how they make my shoes. More than that, though, my way of looking at the world is regularly disturbed by innacuracy.

Some people might say, "Ahh, but I have God's wisdom, so everything fits into my worldview perfectly, because it is correct." Best of luck to you on that, mate. But I'll bet that even God acts in ways that are surprising to you, and that don't fit into your systematic theology. I'm not saying that systematic theology is not a worthwhile pursuit, only that it will always be wrong.

Ecclesiastes chapter 8

vs 1

I wasn't aware that wisdom was a beauty treatment. I think the point of the first half of the verse is that you need to be wise to be... er, wise. Sometimes simple things need to be pointed out.

vs 2

If he's talking to Israelites, then I guess that's true. Reading this, though, doesn't it just seem odd that Solomon would have to say it? A mark in favour for psuedopygraphy, methinks.

vs 3

I'm not quite sure of the reasoning behind this advice on court ettiquette. I mean, I understand the advice itself. But why is it here? Because obeying the king is wise?

vs 4

Perhaps it is giving a picture of God? I mean, that's what a king is, ultimately.

vs 5

It could be just wise advice for those living under kings. Sometimes they go nuts, but disobeying them won't make you live any longer under a crazy king than obeying him.

vs 6

Hearkening back to chapter 3 a little here, I think.

vs 7

And that's the thing - you may as well follow the rules, even if you're in a bad position, or the king is nuts or whatever, because eventually things might work out for the best. And if they don't, well, you've already had the rest of the book tell you life sucks.

vs 8

I think wind sounds better than spirit, because it leaves a cool little wordplay, but keeps the window open on the metaphor. It's an interesting statement with regards to wickedness. It really is a trap. Baited with something tasty, but once it has you, it doesn't let go. Bastard.

Ecclesiastes chapter 7

vs 21

And why wouldn't you want to hear that? Such behaviour requires some sort of action, surely! A beating or somesuch.

vs 22

But in fact, we all say things like that sometimes. And hence we see the idea of not judging others, because not only will we be judged by the same measure, but we will be found guilty by that same measure.

vs 23

It's not that there isn't wisdom in what he has said so far. But the wisdom hasn't really led him to any enormous conclusions, and it certainly hasn't led him to break free of the cycle of meaninglessness.

vs 24

I think the idea of wisdom is still reflected in this verse, implicitly. The NIV put it in, but no-one else has. But it still reads that way. So it is wisdom that is far off and profound, outside of our discovery. Not all wisdom obviously, but all of wisdom.

vs 25

He might not be able to grasp everything, but he can know the general scheme of things (I guess this is what we call 'science' - in the loose sense that we are looking at the scheme of things, whether it be a biological scheme, a physical scheme, or a cultural one). He can also know how stupid foolishness, or a lack of wisdom, is.

vs 26

Snap. So much wisdom is about finding a good woman. We can't ignore the fact that marriage relationships (and no doubt other liaisons) were a part of life, and an important one, in ancient times. Such relations can obviously be sinful as well as good, and this is a description of one such. I actually think it's quite a good picture.

vs 27

So not doing anything super difficult - just adding ideas together.

vs 28

Now, I think we can choose how to read this. Either you can read it that there's a righteous man 1 in every 1000, and that women are worse than men, or you can see this as a somewhat poetic statement, where a,a+1, which is not uncommon in Hebrew poetry at all. So there are so few righteous people, men and women alike. I don't think he's really seeking to divide here, but to show that righteousness is not really the province of men or women. Sure, the way he's written it does slightly suggest women are a bit more troublesome. But in a maleocentric world, that's going to happen to be the case - not only that he is going to say it, but that it's going to be true.

vs 29

So we got a good start, but then we fudged it.

Ecclesiastes chapter 7

vs 11

Which is sort of odd, because apparently inheritance is also a meaningless thing. But hey, that's just one more thing that it shares with wisdom. Just because something is meaningless in terms of life, death and eternity, though, doesn't mean it isn't useful. A life with plenty of wisdom and a bit of wealth is better than a life without either, but both are ultimately meaningless if that is all there is to them.

vs 12

And because death is the ultimate bringer of meaninglessness, then preserving life becomes worthwhile, if only for delaying the inevitable. Better alive and poor than rich and dead.

vs 13

I love this idea that God has made some things crooked. We can't fix what he's broken. It's not our job. When we look at broken things, we mourn, and perhaps rightly so. But we can't fix them. God made them (or more appropriately, broke them) that way.

vs 14

This I don't love so much, but it's absolutely true that God made both. It perhaps is wrong to label it 'bad' in that case, but it's certainly convenient for conveying the difference between the two. I'm not so sure about the 'therefore'. Or the whole discovering future thing. But especially how it relates to God being author of both the good and the bad. I suppose perhaps people look to good things to see what their future holds, because God is the author of those, but they deny the bad things? I remember talking to a guy who was the leader of a church, and he said to me, "Ben, when something bad happens in the life of a Christian community, are we more likely to interpret it as God telling us "Don't do that," or are we more likely to think it is the devil getting in the way of us doing good things for God?" The question (and answer, "The devil one") were in the context where that was really the only right answer. But this verse shows us the truth - that even if it is the devil who is causing ruckus, God has made the one as well as the other. He does take responsibility.

This is not denying our responsibility for the consequences and reactions of sin. But we have to remember too that sin doesn't always have direct consequences on our lives - that is not how God made it. It's not specific sin = lightning bolt. Sometimes it's not even specific sin = suffering (thank you Job). However, it is always within the will of God.

Still stuck on the discovering future thing. What it does do is make anything God tells us about the future that much more valuable.

vs 15

This is Job and anti-Job, taken to extremes. It happens every day that bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. That's reality. That's God's world.

vs 16

How does one read this verse? Is there such a thing as overrighteousness? I might be being pedantic, but I think that while someone can act in a way they think is righteous, if it isn't actually right, then it isn't actually righteous. So it is possible that someone can adopt a 'holier than thou' attitude, even towards God. But that doesn't make them righteous. Perhaps that is really the only connotation that can logically be taken from a word like 'overrighteous'?

So, with that in mind, being overrighteous is obviously wrong (which I find just a little ironic). Overwise could be said to be the same, but I think Qoheleth has actually made a case for too much wisdom being a bad thing in its own right.

vs 17

Interesting that there is a 'middle path' theology forming here. But what is 'overwickedness', and how is it different from just regular wickedness? Perhaps regular wickedness is that shared by all people, whereas overwickedness is that perpetrated by those who know it's bad but do it anyway, for the purpose of gain or pleasure?

vs 18

So in fearing God we come to him with righteousness as well as wickedness, with wisdom as well as foolishness? Tell me another way? I'm not saying I disagree with the idea that there is no-one who is righteous. But the fact is that everyone has done at least one righteous act. Surely. And everyone has acted like a fool at some point. Everyone accepts some sort of truth, too. So really, we must understand who we are and how we present before God.

But there's more to it, too. We have to understand who God is, and how he views these things. We can't just say, "This is me, God. Take it or leave it." We have to acknowledge that our wickedness and foolishness is bad before him, and that only he can change it.

vs 19

Knowledge is apparently power. However, 10 armies and a city do help.

vs 20

Bam. Qoheleth stitches it up here. This verse feels like the sorts of things I say - covering ass theologically. Go Qoheleth!