being sanctified

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." Philippians 3:12

That very statement is key to endurance and joy "Christ Jesus has made me his own". All my reaching and yearning and striving is not to belong to Christ (which has already happened), but to complete what is lacking in my likeness to him.

"For by a single offering [namely himself] he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" Hebrews 10:14


Passage taken from 'The Passion of Jesus Christ' (pages 48-49) by John Piper

A small diversion...

I've escaped the wilds of northern Lancashire for the weekend, and have headed to the lovely east coast to spend some time with my Grandparents. Similarly, In this post I'm making a little diversion away from Colossians, taking up one of the apostle Paul's desires for the colossian church and have studied some of the old testament (the first half of the Bible, written before Jesus' ministry).

Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.")

So here's a quick overview of what I learned from the book of Haggai!*

*Disclaimer: My context and study was done without the wisdom of others. I've tried to back up all I've said from the book of Haggai or other books of the Bible, however I realise that in my inexperience/young knowledge I may have gone awry! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Context
This book is in the old testament, and so it pre-Jesus' ministry. Haggai was around during the reign of Darius, a Babylonian/Chaldean king (Hag 1:1, 1:15, 2:10). Darius was relatively leniant towards the Israelites (Dan 6:2-6). The people of Israel were mostly exiled to Babylon and the temple in Jerusalem destroyed. A remnant of the people however remained in Judah (Hag 1:12). The Judeans were beginning to repent and return to God (Dan 9:1-20)

NB I was quite excited when I discovered that Daniel (exile) was written at the same time as Haggai (remnant)!

Breakdown

1:1-11 - God (Yahweh) has judged & witheld his blessing, because his people have not worshipped him

1:12-15 - The people of Judah realise, turn back to God, and rebuild the temple as much as they can

2:1-9 - God's temple will one day be rebuilt to give him full glory, true peace then

2:10-17 - The people of Judah will always be unclean, and so not fully deserving of God's blessing

2:18-19 - They are to remember God blessed/es them, though they don't deserve it. The relationship is undeservedly restored.

2:20-23 - God will restore his kingdom

Summary

Judah, the surviving part of the promised land in (southern Israel), had been captured by the Babylonians, and the holy temple in Jerusalem [the sign of God's presence] looted and destroyed (2 Chron 26:18-20, Dan 1:1-7). The majority of Judeans had either been slaughtered (2 Chron 36:17, Hab 2:17) or exiled, as in the case of Daniel (Dan 1:3-4), with only a small, poor remnant remaining (2 Kings 25:12). All this was forewarned judgement for the Judeans repeated, and long term rejection of rebellion of God (Hab 1, Micah 1).

Haggai was a prophet to the remnant left in Judah. Inspite of the judegement the people hadn't learnt from God's punishment to them - they still cared only for themselves. God, ever patient, speaks to the remnant through Haggai, after they have experienced several years without his blessing. Without him, they could not even meet their most basic needs! Haggai addresses all the remnant (Governor, High Priest, and people), reminding them that they have been and are being judged, because they didn't treat or want to treat God (creator, sustainer, provider) with the respect and glory that was truely due to him.

This realisation amongst the remnant leads to them to return to God, and start to rebuild the destroyed temple in Jerusalem - the traditional place when they met with God. Their work was nothing like as splendid as the original temple was, or indeed as much as God deserved/s. God reminds them of his promises to his people, and despite their inability to worship him as he deserves, he will bless them once again, promising that he will more than restore his kingdom.

Paediatric themed illustration (lol, my current med school rotation)
Turning back to God might be like... a 3 year old trying really hard to draw a picture for their father because they want to please him. It's not a masterpiece, however when they give it to him, he shows his joy and love to the child, welcoming and encouraging him. God wanted Israel (and all people today) to stop living to serve themselves, and to turn back him.

Points for thought

- We see how truely reliant man is on God
- No one's attempts to be in control will ever be truely enough

- We need to live for God and not for ourselves

- God's rule and kingdom is and will be fully restored (through his new king - Jesus!)
- There will be a judgement, and justice will be revealed

- God is a gracious and forgiving father, accepting us back if we truely desire his forgiveness i.e. turn (repent) back to him

Quick personal reflections
I take far too much for granted, and despite my too often feeble efforts in trying to live for him, I've still got a long way to go! I need to trust God a lot more in the situations around me - he's the one in control. I guess in some ways, it's blasphemous to thing that I can handle everything!!! I should also rejoice more in the blessing of his kingdom now, and rejoice in the certain hope of the kingdom to come!

Letter to the Colossians - Getting a feel for the letter

For a bit of background, Colossae was a small town in located in western Turkey. Paul, one of the early Christian disciples, wrote a letter to a young church that had been planted in this town. The church was under considerable pressure from various factors, and overall the letter seems to be an encouragement to them to keep on trusting in who Jesus was, and what he had done.

Task 1: Getting an overview of the letter
Following the much appreciated notes downloaded from the website of st-helens, bishopsgate, my first task was to get a general feel for the letter. Although divided up into chapters and verses, originally the letter would have been read outloud in the church in one go. After reading the whole letter, a lot of things previously looked at in Bible studies at random points during my time as a Christian suddenly started to click together. The mantra, "text without a context is a con", is starting to hit home - exciting stuff! I'm starting to realise how everything (i.e. all topics adressed in the letter) was/is to be based on their trust on who Jesus is.

Task 2: Thinking through it's structure
The next task was to divide the letter up according to different topics adressed. After advice from the notes, I scribbled over the paragraph headings (lol, Paul didn't write those), and examined for different themes myself. These were then summarised into headings, giving me the following:

1:1-2 --- Author & recipients
1:3-8 --- Paul's thanks for their living in light of the gospel [faith in Christ, hope in heaven, love in light of this]
1:9-14 --- Paul prays that they will contiune to grow, to mature, and to endure
1:12-20 --- Jesus is supreme over all [creator, sustainer, head of the church, first to rise from the dead, holy, sacrifice, reconciler]
1:21-23 --- The Colossians are saved because of Jesus
1:24-29 --- Paul's example and mission in light of Jesus
2:1-7 --- Paul desires for them to get greater spiritual riches in their relationship with Jesus
2:8-15 --- Jesus has proven himself victorious, don't be trapped by the world's ideas
2:16-23 --- Salvation and growth is through Jesus, we're free from rituals and regulations
3:1-4 --- Having citizenship of heaven (with Jesus), live like it!
3:5-11 --- Therefore put your old sinful natute to death
3:12-17 --- Live your life as a child of God [love and the bible are key in this]
3:18-4:1 --- Don't seek personal pride, but submit yourself in relationships, in the name of Christ
4:2-6 --- Pray always, especially for opportunities to live for and speak of what Jesus has done
4:7-18 --- We should encourage, support and challenge each other in out walks with Christ

Task 3: Next was to pick out recurring themes and anything I didn't understand
Recurring themes: Jesus, foundations, growing to maturity, supremacy
Questions: The how to's of greater spiritual riches in JC, word of God dwell in you richly (OT?)

Summary
So, off the top of my head, Colossians in a nutshell would be...

Paul, one of Jesus' disciples, is thankful to God for the how the good news of what Jesus has done, is transforming their lives. However Paul is eagre that this spiritual growth contiunes. He reminds the Colossians that Jesus is supreme over everything; creator, sustainer, holy, a perfect sacrifice and first to rise from the dead. Although saved, Paul is eagre that they keep on growing and get the very most from their salvation. This can only come through a greater understanding and rooting in Jesus. Jesus has more than proven himself, and is the only life that will provide true fulfillment. In light of this, the Colossians should realise that all previous/current religious activity and ritual were there to point to Jesus. So now that the Colossians have a place in heaven because of Jesus, they need to start living like citizens of heaven. This means putting to death their old self serving ways, desires, and speech, and living as God wants them to be living, love for each other being a key aspect. Humble submission in all relationships (marriage, parent-child, worker-boss) is another key aspect of this. Paul concludes by telling them to be praying, for opportunities and wisdom for himself and themselves to be telling others about the good news of Jesus. The end of the letter has a few notices for the church, showing that we should be encouraging, supporting and challenging each other in our walk with Christ.

In the blink of an eye, half the year's gone by...

Looks like I haven't written a post since July... Thought I better squeeze one in before November arrives - very much has happened in the world of Aaron Poppleton.

After completing my BSc I've now entered the second stage of my medical degree, where I'm studying/working/shadowing in a clinical (hospital) setting. My first attachment has involved being placed in both the Accident and Emergency and Elderly Care departments. I've met many lovely and helpful people and had a plethora of interesting and exciting learning experiences. However this has of course been compounded with some of the hard hitting realities of a world where there can be great pain, suffering and death. Much to think about - especially when combined with an almost life consuming syllabus!!! God has been good to me, in spite of my decreased time reading his word. I know this is to my detriment and am trying to make amends. It's slightly scary to see as to how the study of medicine fully consumes people; I know this is something I am struggling with myself. A battle as to how one prevents a very good thing becoming one's greatest thing (hopefully the beauty pictured beneath will help me in this battle!) - I will indeed endeavour to keep you posted on this! In the meanwhile, I was recently struck by a particular talk on the nature of God. The bible tells us of the trinity where God is made up of three persons in perfect unity, bound by love. I fear no illustration I could give could ever detail this perfectly, but the human relationship between man and wife - two different people united in a permanent relationship by love for one another as one couple - reflects some of the principles! Either way, the perfect Jesus died for people on the cross to take the punishment that humanity deserved for its selfish lack of desire to serve God (sin). This switch of places means that if we choose to follow Jesus, God sees Jesus' clean conscience and not our dirty ones. That means God will direct the same sort of cosmic loving relationship that we see in the trinity on us!!!! Love that is beyond comprehension and experience in this fallen world. We can feel a little experience of this now - but more is indeed to come. Fantastic Hope.

So the aim for the next three years of med school and beyond, is to remember this hope (whilst at Salford's Hope hospital - lol) and to try to be a doctor that lives to work in a manner that praises and glorifies God.


P.s.
Something I'm currently very excited about! Only four days to go!!!!

Review
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Lessons from the Judges

Time seems to be going past pretty quickly - revision for the finals is well underway, gonna be a little touch and go though. However in the grand scheme of things there are more important things!

Recently I've been working my way through the seventh book of the Bible, Judges. It's about the fledgeling nation of Israel under the rule of various judges (although not as we would interpret a court judge today). A pattern that keeps repeating itself is that no judge can keep the Israelites faithful to God - despite the many great things God had done for the nation a relatively short time previously. Even the best judges can only keep Israel faithful during their lives. The result of the Israelites continual desertion from God is invasion by those nations they were originally told, but chose not, to conquer. Each time they cry out to God for help and he reminds them of their desertion and then gives them a judge to rescue them. For what is becoming sadly predictable, soon after being rescued the rebellion repeats itself yet again...

This is until chapter 10...
Israel seems not only to have started worshipping one god of their enemies, but seem to go for any and every other god they can get their hands on. This includes pretty much all of the gods from the nations they were originally told to conquer. As usual they are invaded and suffer at the hands of a foreign nation - however this time when they cry out to God, he tells them they should go to their "new gods" for help and see what happens. The Israelites realise they've overstepped the mark big time, and for the first time in the book of Judges seem to earnestly turn back to God. God has pity on them and gives them a Judge in the unlikely form of Jephthah.

Abstract ancient history...
For many of the days I've been reading Judges it's felt like reading abstract ancient history. If the Bible is there to instruct us about God and how to be living life in light of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, the history of a rebellious minor middle eastern nation >3000 years ago seems a bit hard to tie in. However I've realised that my impatient and short sighted reading may actually be more of the problem. After 10 chapters I'm beginning to see the pattern and finally realising how this could apply to the world today and also to an impatient now-culture individual like myself...

Firstly, no human leader can save the Israelites from their rebellion from God - no matter how tactical or great a man/woman they are, the Israelites will want to serve themselves and their desires - not submit to God. Secondly, it's God that saves them. Each time they cry out to him in their distress and he sends a Judge to rescue them. Often it's not someone that would be expected to save them, however they all stand out for their trust in God.

The nature of individuals hasn't changed over 3000 years. We each want to do what is best for ourselves, often ignoring what would be best for others/society, but also more importantly what God would want (in a nihilist model their is no place for morality - yet it seems ingrained in every person). Jesus says that judgement will one day come and that like the Israelites we will reap the results of living for "other gods". We need another judge to come and save us really - however humans don't seem to cut it - even the best... Good thing God stepped in once again. Jesus, being fully human and fully God, could both lead and save. He was able to directly relate and empathise with us, yet at the same time defeat the enemy that faces us. Will we stick by this leader? He's different to the others, this time there's potential for permanent defeat of the enemy, will we choose to be part of this Israel where the surrounding nations don't pose a threat? We get the chance to, if we like the Israelites in Judges 10 earnestly turn back to living for God.

I guess a comparison for today's world and myself could be - 'will my career or studies save me, when the world is ending?'. Something I should remember as my exams rapidly approach, and the temptation to push God and serving those around me out of the equation... Will I remember what God has done for me in Jesus, or will I like the fledgling nation of Israel forget and live for me? Let's hope the former!