20190317 – Monday to Sunday – South Adelaide

20190317 – Monday to Sunday – South Adelaide

Almost a week has passed and here I am thinking about what I should write today, and for the life of me I can’t think what I did last week. 

I remember what happened yesterday, though. 

Yesterday was Sunday, and Fay B picked me up at 10.30 am and we drove to South Adelaide.

I am so enjoying my time with Fay each Wednesday and Sunday.

We seem to think alike on so many things, and because we have been friends from way back in the early 80s, conversation  flows easily and well.

Fay doesn’t look as if I have known her for that long, because she still looks the same as she did in those days and has scarcely aged at all.

I knew her husband before I knew Fay.

I met him in 1974 in New Zealand and often used to go hiking with him when later he came to Australia to live.

Dennis used then lived with Colin B and his wife Joan.

And I simply LOVED both of them and especially Colin.

He was the kindest of men and I was selling real estate during those years so I could often call in on them in my travels and have a cup of tea and a chat.

When Colin died of a wasting of his muscles many years later, I mourned his death every day, for a very long time, after he died.

He is one of those people I look forward to seeing again in the kingdom, I hope, very soon.

Well, since I am 80 years old in November this year, it is not surprising that my memories of people go back so far.

We arrived at the hall, and Fay helped me with my walker and bag and we went inside.

We were greeted at the door by Jane S and enfolded in a big hug before we entered the hall. 

I saw Joseph walking up to the piano and my spirits lifted even further, knowing that he would be playing today.

During Lucy’s announcements, I leaned that Mike and Chris Hearn had been visiting South last week.

I was so sorry that I had missed them because I have been in touch with them for years on facebook but have never actually met them.

 

John Davey was the exhorter this morning, and his reading was 1 John 4v7-21.

He was speaking about the righteousness of God and how it could be defined.

John said that in the light of the terrorist attacks in New Zealand in this last week he had begun thinking about the differences in beliefs of Muslim and Christians. 

And he continued thinking about them as he prepared his exhortation for today. 

And he asked himself the question “Is it possible that Muslims are righteous.”

  

“What does righteousness MEAN?”

It cannot be just a matter of law and obedience to law.

In Gen 6v9 we are told that Noah was a righteous man who walked with God.

What did that mean? 

Wha it does surely mean is that Noah was righteous and everybody else was not.

In Rom 5 we are told that Sin was in the world before the law was given, and yet transgression requires a law to be in place.

And Noah was righteous without the law.

So without the law he was deemed to be a righteous person.

How could this be?

The law contained ideas about justice and morality and cleanliness.

So we must be talking about a natural type of justice and morality and cleanliness that existed outside the law.

So morality and moral behaviour requires interaction with others and walking with our righteous God and obedience to him.

How we reveal God’s righteousness is in the way we interact with others.

John then asked himself if there was something by which we can determine what is moral and therefore righteous behaviour.

There are behaviours in the Bible times which would be condemned today.

David lied to the priests and took the showbread which wasn’t his to take.

Where does “moral” start and end?

David took the shewbread and as a consequence, Doeg, Saul’s servant set abut to murder the priests and their children.

So what David did was not condemned by God, but nonetheless it had tragic consequences.

Christ’s disciples did what was not lawful on the Sabbath, and Christ uses the incident of David’s eating of the shewbread to defend his disciples because of eating grain on the Sabbath.

But he doesn’t defend his disciples on the basis of Law.

Instead he uses a precedent of unlawful activity and  pronounces his disciples guiltless.

He doesn’t say that they DIDN’T disobey the law.

Hosea 4v1-2 “There is no steadfast love of God in the land.”

Despite keeping the law they are found lacking in love.

God says he “desires love and not sacrifice.”

The  pattern of moral high ground is so much superior to keeping the law.

The foundations of morality are empathy love and care for others and so pure righteousess has nothing to do with keeping laws.

When laws are good laws they are a shadow of righteousnes,but they were not rightesousness.

Obedience to law can not be confused with righteousness, even if the results of that righteousness.

There is a saying that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

That is not true.

If you want to do good and even if you don’t achieve it, God looks upon the heart.

Love and empathy and care for others is required, you can’t show your empathy without care for others.

Would you refrain from stealing because it is law? 

Or If you want to do good and even if don’t achieve it, God looks upon the heart.

Love empathy and care for others.

You can’t show your morality without empathy with others.

Would you refrain from stealing because it is law, or would you refrain because of empathy with the owner of that thing?

Would you have empathy with the owner

The righteousness of God we are talking about is his love and empathy to us

We do the same as him because we want to be like him.

God is merciful, gracious slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love forgiving iniquity transgression and sin. 

And then it says “visiting iniquity on the children’s children to third and fourth generation.”

I used to have difficulty with this concept.

God requires that one does not bow down to idols.

Why is it that God is so concerned about people who serve other Gods?

His jealousy is not because of insecurity, because God is not insecure. 

It is because he loves righteousness.

If we have idols we are worshipping something that does not and cannot have the love of others.

These Gods were gods of war, pleasure. 

They are all God’s of self- interest.

If you have me as Gos, you have godly jealousy, for his Name.

So to love the God of righteousness is to love righteousness.

As expressed in his name

He is our example

It is not just avoiding of sin, it is being righteous in our interactions with others.

Matt 5. Ye shall love your enemies, pray for them

Ye must be perfect as God is perfect.

This God so loved the world, that he gave his son for it.

Yet Jesus did not come to condemn he world.

However whoever does not believe, is condemned already.

Christ bears his father’s name which is merciful gracious with steadfast love, forgiving.

Who has seen me has seen the father, says Jesus.

He came to his own but they did not believe him

The word became flesh, 

Full of grace and truth.

We are to demonstrate his name in the way we live.

By the righteousness of Jesus Christ

Through the knowledge of him 

Precious and partakers of divine nature

Unrighteousness breeds unrighteousness.

We need to maintain our sensitivity for what is moral and what is righteousness and so we will interact with others as righteousness people.

If we are born of God and know God we will love one another. Love one another.